Fingernail Moon

Dear Friends and Loved Ones:

The delicate curved white slice of lunar light that inspired me to write this has already widened considerably. On New Years's Day it will be at the First Quarter, 7.4 days after the New Moon. I breathe through this awareness, for after all, the nature of such a cycle is that comes around again and again. During recent excursions outside for celestial viewing, well bundled up, my breath puffs tangibly in trailing clouds. Clear and cold nights now...

This lovely planet that we ride into the next year speaks for itself, when we're able to slow down enough for a really, really REALLY deep DEEEEEP listen. It's delicate as a shimmering, iridescent soap-bubble, and tough as a mother tigress guarding her cubs. The planet has a flavor of persistence and intensity that you can actually taste, when you realize it's the taste of your own mouth. No difference. We're ALL its Children.

Though that Fingernail Moon's in my mind at this moment, outside my window it's late afternoon, what I call the Time of Long Shadows. I've closed up the greenhouse for the night already, so it can hold onto the heat its absorbed today. I've dispatched the latest draft of a new non-fiction book to the editor at my publisher... Tomas is outside pouring concrete for a project, so maybe I'll call my mother up in Colorado, just to check in.

Of such details, is life made, not so much of the sweeping romances and huge events, but the little nibble on a lover's ear, or scooping out the kitty's litterbox and peeling some sweet potatoes to steam for supper...

I'm not so fixated on the numbers of 2012, though that year looms large. My take on it is it's nothing special, except that we will (as a certain famous starship captain says) "Make it so!" Plus the cycle of the Moon has synchronized exquisitely with the transition to CE 2012. According to my beloved friend Rowena Pattee Kryder, ( http://creative-harmonics.org/ )--among the wisest and most beautiful people on the planet that I know--the Moon waxing from New to First Quarter can be described in some detail:

The Sickle Moon is the Mother of Galactic Space (someone I call NUIT!); The Crescent Moon is the Sea and Moon Mother; the Emerging Moon is the Child in the Garden; the First Quarter is the Sacred Marriage. Indeed, as we glide into this upcoming annum, it's time for our species' childhood to end. Time for humanity to grow up and perform the Tantric Rite of the Inner Marriage, to achieve balance within.

This prepares us for the impending Singularity when the rate of change truly goes exponential! No problem, so long as we listen to the Voice of the Silence, and feel that Stillness Beyond understanding.

Enjoy and feel joy!

Peace & (((HUGS)))
Bruce
_________________________
Nada Te Turbe*
      -- Theresa of Avila
*(Let Nothing Disturb You)

Shakespeare's Earring (A poem)

Dr. Dee sets angels dancing between your ears…

            Poor Harry, afraid the Muse will desert you

                        if he deigns this favour.

                                    Lord Southampton,

Long since cat caught dragonfly—

            Virgin Queen Olympics, wrestlers fully dressed,

                        There but for your Vermeer morning,

                                    clever scorching lips go I:

                                                Ideogrammic (keep them guessing!) Method,

                                    Mr. W.H., H.W.; What-the-Hell?

                        What the Purgatory?

            Crocodile half-steps into Limbo

not much of a story.

Dr. Dee sets devils dancing under your cap…

            Poor Harry, afraid you will disdain him, if he does,

                        under the greenwood tree of afternoon nap.

Sandalwood fans open and close

etched by elves with forest scenery

griffins unfold their wings

emerald of listening:

SHAKESPEARE’S

EARRING.

Reclaiming Your Ancient Egyptian SOUL: An experiential workshop with Bruce P. Grether

Dear Friends:

Vividly I recall looking up the side of the Great Pyramid at Giza in the year 1957. I was four years old. I thought it looked like a rocky roadway to the center of the sky, and in a certain sense, that's exactly what it is! The Egyptian civilization peristed for several thousand years, and like the pryamids themselves, much of it still IS with us.

The Egyptians of antiquity always remained closely connected with Nature, no matter how "civilized" they became. That unbroken link with living things, the environment and natural cycles, gave them tremendous vitality and joy in living! Eventually the world changed around them so radically, that their culture faded away... or did it?

In a real sense so much of our world today reflects what those clever and canny people created. As our own civilization has gone global, most people in today's world have at least some deep roots in Ancient Egypt. Whether your link is genetic, historical--or perhaps even previous lifetimes?--to reconnect with that core aspect of yourself helps you make sense of today's world. It can help you thrive through the radical changes now unfolding.

For over fifty years I have studied Ancient Egypt. Now, in order to share my enthusiasm and knowledge I offer a workshop that will arouse the essence within you that already knows these things. The subject is not actually so complex as it may seem... a handful of stories and images can be absorbed quickly and helps you make sense of the whole thing.

You will be guided through vivid meditative visualizations, offered simple experiences and sounds to bring the subject to life, and given a packet of original materials I have created that serve as a key to open the door of your heart to Eternal Egypt, the archetype of that realm.

"Reclaiming Your Ancient Egyptian SOUL: An experiential workshop with Bruce P. Grether":

  * Discover the Seven Sacred Spirits of Your Soul
  * Reconnect your human nature with Nature itself
  * Learn the intuitive key to all Egyptian writing and art
  * Be able to "read" Egyptian culture without further study
  * Remember who you are on the deepest levels
  * Allow your Third Eye to open
  * Connect with Ancestors

I am honored to present this workshop at Wimberley's Premier Yoga Studio, Heart of Texas Yoga (http://www.heartoftexasyoga.com/index.html ) in Wimberley on Sunday, March 4th, 2012, from 1:30-5 PM.

I you feel at all drawn to this experience, please check this link for more  information, and for how to register:http://www.9realities.com/egyptian_soul_workshop.html

You can also respond to this email if you are interested.

I always love to hear from you!

Peace & (((HUGS)))
Bruce

_________________________
Nada Te Turbe*
      -- Theresa of Avila
*(Let Nothing Disturb You)

How to Thrive in 2012 and Beyond!

As the amazing year 2011 draws to a close, I’m outside my house on the Ravine Bench to observe and meditate upon the Moon that is nearly full again. The night is chilly, my breath blows visibly before my face, and the vivid white disk in the sky floats embedded in a lovely aura that seems delicately fashioned of iridescent feathers.

            The Moon speaks to me on many levels without and within me. To anyone who listens deeply (including you!) this world says the same essential thing. Just as the Aztecs and some other cultures often showed the Moon and Sun at opposite sides of the same image, the moonlit night speaks of the sunlight daytime. The deep, deep secret here speaking from your inner heart is this: Duality always whispers silently the unavoidable, unimaginable truth of Oneness!

            Duality exists only to remind us that in reality all is One. Once you settle into this kind of deep listening to the Voice of the World, all Sacred Numbers can proliferate from there from nothing. As the great sage Lao Tzu said: “Out on nothing comes the One; out of One comes the Two; out of Two comes the Three; from Three comes All Things.”

            You actually need no book, guru or teacher to “get” this. The simplest insights like this make the whole world legible and meaningful to you. You can read the significance of the wonders of the physical, material world as an expression of Spirit without a need to study or interpret anything. Your inner self knows.

For example, the same profound Oneness can even be seen in such artworks as the remarkable paintings of the Mexican artist Frido Kahlo, who sometimes showed both Sun and Moon at left and right of her paintings. Through her pain and personal drama, that great woman saw deeply into the heart of the mystery. Allow awareness of Oneness to sort things out naturally—it does this!

Listen deeply and the year 2012 becomes an adventure in which anything is possible.

Bruce P. Grether is a regular Austin All Natural. He lives in Wimberley where he offers a workshop called “Reclaiming Your Ancient Egyptian Soul,” and other workshops. Find him on Twitter @BrucePGrether. To explore some of the worlds Bruce creates in his writing and for workshop info visit www.9realities.com .

Crushed Petals (A poem)

1.

You read to me from the Upanishads

Where lions come to drink

Beneath the bridge

At the kosmic brink.

From the white peacock flows

The milk that always expands

A million eyes shine all around:

Serendipity understands.

You keep me between your hands

And I pray with song

With winged heart;

A rainbow where my colors belong

And cannot be taken apart.

I give you my geometry

And letters from A to Z!

2.

Invisible eyes

And jaguar skin

Where you can see within

To my skeleton.

I dance like a starship

Shudder at the shore—

Changes howl and grip

Beneath Heaven’s floor.

The radiant skull

That feeds your hole

Is not emptiness to me

Nor is it full.

I am the hummingbird

Frozen in your hands.

3.

The gentle sound of water

Growls like weakness in my knees.

You are the foxy daughter

Of miraculous symphonies.

Walk on fire,

Stroll the sea,

Seemingly unaware

Of oxidation and gravity.

I know your eyes are blue fishes;

In Atlantis I’m the centaur

Then the mounted bowman of Aryans;

Now the arrow returning to Source.

I am the shaft of Light to the Sun,

In the Garden of Earthly Delights.

The voice of the turtle

Scatters seeds in the endless night.

4.

Know me by my bones…

For the flowers are magnetic centers

Pollen spins in LOADING ZONES

Where the Grand Insect enters!

And all in Hyacinth do you come

Here to the House of the Sun!

Chitter and gossip of bats

Beginning to rouse/

I add myself to the Magick Circle of Elk.

Daylight dips into the sweet rose

Her bower of flowers chastely.

Luminous colors of the Garden breathe deep.

Scarlet and feathers become her in sleep.

5.

I am the can-opener

Of your canned heat.

My flame between your hands.

You lived like a poisonous frog

All over South America.

Meditation rustles its feathers

As the unseen becomes visible…

O Volleyball

And your tanned legs

Leap to spike the ball

Over the net

                                              Into my dream.

Are You Ready To THRIVE?

Following several nights of overcast, it's clear and cold again. The heavenly vault at 3:33 AM when I'm outside on the Ravine Bench is a dome of darkness studded by the loveliest gems in existence. Though I look forward to the sharp Horns of the Moon only a couple of days away from the New phase, Luna does not rise until 4:44 AM Eastern Time according to the Farmer's Almanac.

On profound cellular levels I recognize those stars "out there" as perfect reflections of the deepest microcosm of inner space within my matter. "As Within, So Without." These are One. Indeed, we live in times that demand alchemical wisdom, the ability to transmute realities, and alter consciousness at will, the very definition of Real Magick.

Clearly the experience of what we call "time" now accelerates for our species and in fact goes exponential even as I tap this into the keyboard! So to gaze up at the stars and understand that this is also gazing deep within myself at the molecules and atoms I'm composed of, helps to keep me more balanced... it brings Deep Peace.

Plus I cannot recommend too highly a marvelous little book, THE GOLDEN MOTORCYCLE GANG, which concerns riding smoothly into the year 2012 and beyond. This small gem by Jack Canfield and William Gladstone is both a delightful story and a resource guide for Conscious Evolution at this time on Planet Earth. Likewise there is a fascinating film called THRIVE, that you may be able to watch free on Youtube if you search for "Thrive full movie." The film is beautifully crafted and though it ventures into some dark conspiracy issues concerning economics, it's responsibly designed to overall inform, inspire and encourage. Watch it to the end and you will not regret the 2 hour investment! I promise!

"Our crisis is a birth. We are one living system and we have come to the limit of one phase of natural growth on a finite planet… We must learn ethical evolution quickly… As we seek to facilitate a gentle birth, a graceful and nonviolent transition to the next stage of our evolution, we will discover a natural pattern, a design of our birth transition, and develop a plan to cooperate with this design.”
     -- Barbara Marx Hubbard

Resources for Conscious Evolution on an Accelerating Planet:

www.goldenmotorcyclegang.com
www.barbaramarxhubbard.com
www.drewdellinger.org
http://vimeo.com/2547973
www.shiftmovement.com
www.birth2012.com
www.thrivemovement.com

H.O.M.E. (Humanity's One Mother Earth)

The beautiful garden where I live can be entered from the driveway through a gate that Tomas made in the form of a copper spiderweb studded with colorful glass jewels. This web offers a glimpse of the lush living things within and merely a hint of the Deep Magick of co-creating with Nature that manifests there. The path curves with excellent Feng-Shui, to invite a flow of energy among the growing and flowering things, and helps to keep it vital, vibrant, flush with life.
      Tomas says Nature does all the work; I know better, for he co-creates exquisitely with Nature.
      This place is his heart and his inner world turned outward and made visible.
      The image of the front porch (above) suggests the marvelous integration of human presence with natural life-forms. And the title here, possibly one too many acronyms from me (?) is one I've significantly modified. Originally during the escapist 1980s "H.O.M.E." was coined to mean "High Orbital Mini-Earths," or space colonies in orbit--complete with their own biosphere.
      A cool idea to be sure, however as the intervening decades have unfolded and point more than ever to the importance of a conscious connection with the living planet. Much as I'd love to see our species inherit the stars, it's only possible if we end our suicidal War Against Nature.
      First we've got to make peace with ourselves, inside. That's where it all really happens and stems from, just as a plant grows from its roots.
      With a million trendy distractions, this process requires deliberate focus.
      Not long ago I said to a new friend, "Now I'm thinking there may be hope for our species."
      "I hope not," she said without hesitation, and I admired her honesty.
      In reality, the Earth matters more than our species. It's presumptuous to think we can "Save the Earth," for it has its own life, power, momentum. Our relationship with it is immensely complex and collective, around 7 billion of us now, to one Earth! What we can do is focus awareness on how to treat the planet better, with love, care and respect--for our own sake as much as the Earth's sake.
      Is there actually a difference between ourselves and the Earth? That belief in such a separation, a difference of interests is the problem itself! It's a matter of awareness.
      In search of a more current explication for H.O.M.E. I recently heard a little voice inside say: "Humanity's One Mother Earth."
      No human is exempt from this truth, this reality. And the Old Earth is over.
      Deep inside, in your own heart you know all of these things.
      This is the New Earth.
      H.O.M.E.