Hunter's Moon

A Full Moon rising can be a dramatic celestial sight,
and Full Moons can have many names.

Today, October 14, 2008 is the day of the October full moon. Some said that in future, the name would be changed to "Alien Landing Moon". But of course, there was no proof that so-called alien space ships landed on earth on this day in history, 2008. Darn. I think I was hoping that a big ship would land in my front yard and take me out of my life. But when I think about it, I guess I really wouldn't want that. I think I actually like my life too much and I really feel that I want to stick around to see how humanity as a whole handles this evolving to a new level. What will we become when all is said and done?

That all said, my intent for the post was to honor the Grandmother Moon, and give some notes about the names that are given to this full moon.

In many traditions, the October full moon is known as the "Hunters" or "Blood" Moon and is so named from the hunting practice of riding over the stubble of reaped grain fields pursuing foxes, deer or other night animals, by the light of the moon. This moon is defined as the first full moon following the Harvest Moon.

The Harvest Moon is always the full Moon closest to the autumnal equinox. If the Harvest Moon occurs in October, the September full Moon is usually called the Corn Moon.

Names of Full Moons, by tradition

Colonial America Hunter's Moon
Celtic - Harvest Moon
Medieval English Blood Moon
CHinese Kindly Moon
Neo Pagan Blood Moon

American Indian
Cherokee Harvest Moon
Choctah Blackberry Moon
Dakota Sioux Moon When Quilling is Done

In other traditions, the October full moon may also be known as Full Travel Moon, Full Dying Grass Moon.

http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/moonnames.htm
http://fiddlinowlssquaredance.org/moonnames.html

Prayer for Peace

Imagine
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today . . .
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace . . .

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join me
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world . . .

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one.
by John Lennon, 1971

*** See Imagine Peace Tower
dedicated by Yoko Ono on October 9, 2007,
which would have been John's 67th birthday.
Happy birthday, John, wherever you are.
Thanks for the memories. ***

A Prayer for the Fall

Great Spirit, Mother Earth,
Powers of the four directions,
My allies, my medicine animal, my ancestors,
And those who love me,
Be here with me now, and hear my prayer.

Beyond the landscapes of ordinary life
Lie dimensions of higher consciousness
And perfected reality.
Somewhere in your dimension, oh Great Spirit,
The Great Mother opens her arms
And receives our spirit shields,
Which spin for all eternity.
This earthly life is a gift from you, Great Mother.
I honor your presence in my life, Great Spirit,
And your gift of eternal life.
I know that my spirit shield is in need of balance,
That in this lifetime I have the opportunity
To tear away the veil of ignorance
And walk the earth in my sacred androgynous form,
Balance equally between
The male and female energies,
Within myself and within the cosmos.

I will manifest within this lifetime my true destiny
By finding the hidden passions
That live within my heart and my soul,
Those hidden passions for truth,
For harmony and balance and goodness,
That live within me.
I will not be afraid to look at
The dark side of my being.
That dark side is my instinctual nature,
Which I have denied in some way in my life.
To repress who I really am is to live a lie,
And to live my life through the eyes of others,
Not through my own eyes.
I pledge, Great Mother, to take responsibility
For who I am in this life,
For my weaknesses and my strengths.
I pledge to walk the path
as a spiritual warrior of heart.

As I see the many mirrors I have created
Around me in my life,
I will not be afraid to look in them.
And I will realize that no matter what reflection I see,
It is the reflection of some aspect of you, Great Spirit,
And for that I will love all that I see.

To take my power in this lifetime
Is to understand that I am made of power, and
That power is the reflection of you, Great Spirit.
I understand that the first lesson of power is
That we are alone in the struggle
toward enlightenment.

I also understand that the last lesson of power is
That we are indeed all one.
You are my light and my love and my way,
Oh Great Spirit,
And I honor you all the days of my life. Ho!
From Prayers for the Seasons of Life
by Lynn V. Andrews

More good news

Bently Biofuels opens on Buckeye
Bently Biofuels Outpost is Nevada’s first full-sized alternative fuel station and LEED-certified convenience store opened in Minden Tuesday. With solar panels and skylights, bamboo shelving and biofuels, the idea was to "take a Whole Foods market, and shrink it down to the size of a 7-Eleven.”

A working monument of American innovation opened off Buckeye Road in Minden, Nevada on Tuesday.
Read More...

Gathering Harvest

Fall is a season of reckoning, a time when all that you have sown and all that has blossomed is now to be reaped. It is a time of gathering, a time of great beauty, and a time of change and letting go. So often we are terrified of change (especially when it comes in the form of perceived financial crises), not only because of the mystery of the unknown but because change implies letting go of what we do know and what we have always held as a kind of security in our lives. Even bad habits can provide a kind of security.

So fall is a time to pray for understanding and for strength to reap what serves you and to discard what holds you back from you enlightenment and your true power in the world. You have chosen your arrow in the spring. You have pulled back the bow, you have set the arrow, and you have even chosen the target. In summer, the time when your arrow makes its flight and reaches its mark, you blossomed. In the fall you are in a time of reckoning.

In some of the ancient languages of the world, the word sin, when translated, means "missing the mark." It signifies losing the opportunity you had, because once you sow the seed, and once that seed blossoms, you must then reap what you deserve, what is yours. In the fall, you are pulling in all of your energies and thoughts that have been scattered outward throughout the year. Collect them in, like sheep gathering back to the fold. Then let go of what is no longer essential to your life process, whatever misses the mark for you. Let go of whatever no longer serves your highest good.

During the fall, may you find strength to be all that you are. May you reap all the abundance of the universe that is meant for you.

Until next time,
Enjoy your harvest.

Sybil

Prayers

Prayer -- Every word we speak and every thought we think. We are always praying.

I have come to the realization that I simply need to practice mindfulness in my daily living. Be more conscious of what I speak and what I think and of the prayers that I send forth. To that end, I have gone looking for specific, directed prayers that I can post in a highly visible location so that I can see them each day to remind me to focus on mindfulness. I need a new one every day so that my mind does not get bored and block / blank the prayers out. I have previously used The Great Invocation, and today I located a copy of what is known as "The Lord's Prayer" that was translated directly from Ancient Aramaic by by Neil Douglas-Klotz in Prayers of the Cosmos. I love this. It seems to flow more natural and invoke a feeling of love, peace and well-being in me. I hope you may find something here that you can use as a guide in any time of need.

In reading the book, Prayers of the Cosmos, I learned that the closing word of most Christian prayers'amen' literally translates to

Sealed in trust, faith and truth. (I confirm with my entire being.)

WOW.

Lords Prayer, from the original Aramaic
as translated by Neil Douglas-Klotz in Prayers of the Cosmos

O Birther! Father - Mother of the Cosmos
Focus your light within us - make it useful.
Create your reign of unity now-
through our fiery hearts and willing hands
Help us love beyond our ideals
and sprout acts of compassion for all creatures.
Animate the earth within us: we then
feel the Wisdom underneath supporting all.
Untangle the knots within
so that we can mend our hearts' simple ties to each other.
Don't let surface things delude us,
But free us from what holds us back from our true purpose.
Out of you, the astonishing fire,
Returning light and sound to the cosmos.

Amen.

The sky is faling! The sky is falling!

Today, as I read the news, I read about more bank failures, gas shortages in Atlanta, more foreclosures, gas prices are outrageous, the Dow Jones plummets 777 -- the biggest drop ever, stocks are down, a terrorist sprays gas into a church, the government refuses a bail out (that is bad news how?), and the list goes on and on and on ad-nauseaum. And the talking heads only tell us how bad it is and how worse it is going to get.

Don't you just get sick and tired of it all? Don't you just wish the "talking heads" would just stop with all the bad news, for just one day, and give us some good news? Well, I do. I'm tire of it. Someone told me that one person can make a difference. So I went looking for good news...

In my hometown:
Good news #1: Gas prices in my area are down to $3.53 a gallon, from a high of $4.49 last week, that is a 96 cent decrease in a week! That is mighty good news! I can fill my tank and buy oil for the engine for less than $50 today. Woo-Hoo!

Washington D.C.
Good news #2: The Congress listened to the people, for once, and voted against a bailout of the private banking buccaneers (A ruthless speculator.). I have a bail-out plan -- make the CEO and other officers of those banks pay back the billions they collected in bonuses while engaging in their ruthless speculation. Then allow the banks to go out of business -- one less leech in the pond. Now, declare Jubilee, allow every home loan owned by those defunct banks to be "paid in full" and send the deed to the homeowner. And if the investors don't like it, let them take on the debt of the bank, and pay off the loans for the beleaguered homeowners. As part of the deal, make it so that there can be no other loan on that home as long as the "deeded owner" owns it, other than for emergency repairs to the home, and then only at 3% interest.

Personally, I can't think of anything that would put more money into the economy than to have people know that they are not going to end up homeless. If I didn't have to pay for housing, I would buy a new car, new furniture, new clothes, take a cruise, save for college, hire a tutor, etc. Many of my friends and acquaintances tell me they would do the same.

Transportation
Good News #3: The next piece of good news that I found was this one from The Good News Network:

Boeing last week joined Virgin Atlantic and eight other major air carriers, along with Honeywell's energy arm, in an organized effort to develop new sustainable aviation fuels that will lower carbon emissions and free the airlines from the grip of high oil prices.

WOOO-HOO. Lets hope that project goes forward quickly. To my mind, we can't lower carbon emissions quick enough.

Hero
Good News #5:

Eighteenth century viola that was left in a cab has been returned by the driver to the owner. Woo-Hoo! I hope he was justly rewarded!

Globally - Goodwill
Good News #6:

The Hamas rulers of Gaza said on Sunday they released five leaders of the rival Fatah faction as well as 30 other prisoners ahead of celebrations marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

"We are releasing these men as we hope the leaders in the West Bank will do the same for the Hamas prisoners," a spokesman for the Islamist movement told AFP.

I send prayers of peace and love to both groups that this release will also open talks of peaceful co-existence between the two groups.

OK. I think that is just about all the good news we Americans can handle at one sitting. Don't want to get too sappy here. Go out and find your own good news and report it here in comments.

Until next time,
Sybil
The Cosmic Catalyst

The Great Invocation

From the point of Light
within the Mind of God,
Let light stream forth
into the minds of men.

Let Light descend on Earth,
From the point of Love
within the Heart of God,
Let Love stream forth
into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.

From the center
where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide
the little wills of men --
The purpose which
the Masters know and serve.

From the center
which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.

Let Light and Love and Power
restore the Plan on Earth.

Ah-men!

Politics

A quote that although taken out of context, stands on its own - but apparently obvious to most people.
"It's usually the out-of-power party that runs against the establishment," said Leroy Dorsey, a professor of communications at Texas A&M University. "It's sort of odd this year, given that the Republican Party is sort of running against itself."

Mind Control Alive and Well

Barry and Heather, the folks over at Life Without Limits, recently posted a blog which they titled The Eckhart Effect. Although in it they are talking about a current spiritual guru who has set himself up as fully enlightened and who says that anyone who can't follow his way and do his way are asleep and unenlightened.

Although in this article Barry and Heather were specifically talking about one guy, I believe this applies to any of the so-called enlightened leaders who would have you blindly follow them and tell you that discussion and questioning show your lack of enlightenment.

As far as I can tell, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, Krishna -- the great teachers of the ages of this current earth cycle, all encouraged us to question, test, discuss, search out the Truth for yourself. No one can force feed it to you. You have to find it for yourself. This is the only way to true spiritual awakening.

Historically, when leaders insist that people turn off their questioning and blindly follow the teachings and instructions of the leaders we end up with untenable situations where the rights and personal power of the individual is completely disregarded. When people turn off their discernment and blindly follow leaders we get Ho Chi Men, Hitler, Heaven's Gate, Jim Jones.

I just have this comment on Eckhart Tolle's work - reading, writing, speaking -
When I look at his picture, I see an emotionless, ego-maniac staring from his eyes. Yeah, so that is possibly 'judgment' but as a human with an intact ego, I reserve the right to judge as I choose. And take responsibility for that judgment and accept any fallout.

Honestly, people talk about the coming of the Anti-Christ. I believe that if there is such a being, he would come wearing a false mantle of goodness and light and under that false mantle he would be teaching "A free thinker is the slave of Satan". He would say, "If you can't understand me, you must be still unenlightened. Let me teach you how to turn off your mind and stop thinking..." He would say discussion stimulates the mind, and he would say it such a way as to make a stimulated mind bad. I am not suggesting that this Eckhart Tolle guy is powerful enough to be the Anti-Christ that has been prophesied, I am merely suggesting that such a being would come bringing this type of message.

(this probably dates me)
When I read his books, or hear him speak in that deadpan way, red flags go up, whistles start blowing and my shields instantly become fully active. I keep looking around for the guy with the Kool-aid or the pudding.

The ease with which the masses are hypnotized got us the Hebrews in slavery to Egypt, witch hunts, the US civil war, nazis, communism at its worst, the US GOVERNMENT - we will take care of you from cradle to grave - as it is today and dare I say it -- American income taxes and the Patriot Act; and many other such situations to numerous to enumerate here. I for one, choose to the best of my ability, to disallow such control. And to lock out anyone who attempts to gain such control.

I, a fully realized spirit and light from the Creator, came here to engage fully in the human experience. From the other side, it looked like such fun! The full human experience - with the ego of the Monkey Mind and the Ego of the Spiritual Self fully in tact, in all its duality ups, downs, pains and glories. Love, joy, pleasure, emotion and judgment. I came here to experience it all. Because to fully experience everything that we can (all the parts of me that Eckhart would deny) in this physical reality that we have so generously created with our minds is how we move to higher levels of spiritual advancement, when we choose to move out of the physical reality. We are here to fully experience everything! Because our volunteering to have a physical experience is how the Divine also grows.

There are times, such as prayer and meditation, that you want to turn off the Monkey Mind that stops you from moving forward in your life. I am suggesting that you do not want to turn off your mind in such a way as you give up complete control to some self-styled guru who would have you believe that his way is the only way up the mountain.

My advice? For what it is worth: Think, discuss, disagree, agree, do whatever you have to do to stimulate that mind. Get it moving. Enjoy life to the fullest. Have fun, experience pleasure, joy, grief, pain, in other words, every emotional level that you can think of to experience it. Choose love and forgiveness. Do whatever it takes to keep that mind of yours (a terrible thing to waste) active and healthy.
In doing so, you forward the growth of all. Remember, it only takes one. If you don't believe that, then just take a look at the huge changes that Eckhart has wrought. Whether I agree or not, whether I like it or not, he has brought change to the spiritual landscape. It is up to you to decide whether or not this change is one you choose to participate in.

Until next time,
Live, Learn, Laugh

Sybil

What I write here . . .

I set this blog up several months ago, then got busy with life and did not post anything. I actually completely forgot I had it. I just kept my own written journal and did not think to post to the blog. So this is still somewhat new to me. But I read an article today that made me realize I have something to say on the subject (of the article) and putting it in my private journal is not going to make a difference in anyone's life - probably not even mine. Since I am here on this planet to be the difference, I decided to post my thoughts.

I know there are many who will disagree and many who may want to flame me for the thoughts expressed here. But before you turn on the flame thrower, I want to suggest that you stop, turn your mind back on, connect with the living, loving God of your Being and find if you are flame throwing because the thoughts expressed here may in some small way reflect thoughts you, yourself have had and for some reason judged wrong. Now, rather than have that mirror in your face, you may feel a need to flame others for those very same thoughts so as to in some small way reduce your guilt.

I assure you, from many long years of experience, throwing flame and mud at others will in no way reduce your own feelings about any issue. It just gets piled higher and deeper.

Remember -- What I write here are my thoughts, feelings, judgments, statements, creations, etc. I will not defend anything I write here. I am entitled to them, same as you are entitled to yours. And sometimes, I know that I can be pretty damned opinionated. I invite you to remain fully thinking, thoughtful, and conscious when you read anything written here. I do not want control over your mind or thoughts. I accept no responsibility for what you think, feel, judge or speak because of what you read here. I expect every human above the age of 12 to be fully responsible for their own thoughts, feelings, emotions, judgments, etc. I simply want to give you some food for thought and invite you to comment on that "food" in a peaceful way that moves the action forward. Please leave the flame thrower in the closet.