Deep, Dark, Sweet and Full—COMING ATTRACTIONS: SUMMER 2014
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THE WEB IN THE WOMB by Joan Pancoe
“One has to come to terms with one’s loneliness one day or another. Once you face it, loneliness changes its colour, its quality; its taste becomes totally different. It becomes aloneness. Then it is not isolation; it is solitude. Isolation has misery in it; solitude has an expanse of blissfulness.” OSHO
Dear Friend,
One of the major themes of the summer season kicks-off this week as Neptune, ruler of the unlimited field of possibilities, stations in oceanic Pisces beginning his annual five-month retrograde cycle on June 9th. Along with Chiron, ruler of the healing of our karmic wounds, also stationing retrograde in Pisces in June, we may have started to hear the Universe whispering to us: “Time to rest, replenish and heal—go within, go within, go within.”
If you want to get the most out of your Neptunian energies, please read:
NEPTUNE: The Urge to Merge . . . and Then Some
There are an almost infinite variety of ways to meditate or go within. If you find the right mind/body/spirit practices* for your particular personality type, I can promise that you will discover THAT which you’ve been seeking through endlessly chasing after external sources of gratification.
Here’s one of my favorite ancient Vedic teaching stories on this theme:
“A musk deer was suddenly aware of an exquisitely beautiful scent, the likes of which he had never known. The scent stirred the inner depths of his soul so profoundly that he determined to find the source.
So keen was his longing that the deer carried on his desperate search day and night for the source of the sweet scent until, at last, happening to lose his foothold on a cliff, he had a precipitous fall resulting in a fatal injury.
While breathing his last, the deer found that the scent that had ravished his heart and inspired all these efforts came from his own navel. This last moment of the deer’s life was his happiest and most peaceful as he realized that he himself had, in a sense, been the object of all his search and endeavor.
All that he suffered and enjoyed—all his risks and adventures, all his sacrifices and desperate strivings—were intended for achieving the true Self-knowledge that all he had ever been seeking was always and only within his own Being.
Once we’ve cultivated a taste for what I call the “intangible fruits” of going within and merging with Source, we’ll discover that we won’t ever want to skip this daily touchstone of peace, equanimity and stillness as it sustains and carries us buoyantly throughout the day. And, just like stringing pearls on a strand, each day’s practice incrementally builds up our reserves of inner stability for times of crisis and emergency.
I can personally vouch for this, as the last three months have been extremely challenging and potentially destabilizing for me—as they have been for so many of us. But all is healing well—from my fractured fibula to dealing with simultaneous safety and security issues on the home front.
The main reason that I’ve been able to maintain my inner core of stability is especially thanks to my spiritual “bank account” from decades of daily practice. (Although a few pearls may have rolled under the fridge:)) And many thanks for all of your ongoing love, energy and support!
Over time, we’ll find that our daily practice is as necessary to our feeling of well-being as brushing our teeth or bathing. That’s when we realize—sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly—that our core essence has always been “DEEP, DARK, SWEET AND FULL!” (And you thought I was just describing your favorite chocolatey dessert treat.))
The good news is that this is not an either/or situation—we can have both—the intangible and the tangible sweets. But remember: One taste is cosmic and eternal and you CAN take it with you when you drop the body, and the other is ephemeral and of the senses and, perhaps because of that—especially precious and delicious. (I hope you know that I’m not just referring to dessert now—but to all sense pleasures—as their sweetness can only be fully enjoyed in the physical plane.)
In closing, the deeper we allow ourselves to go within to replenish and stabilize at the infinite still point of Source, also called home in the Earth Game, aka LEELA===the further outward we’ll be able to swing into action at the next level of co-creative manifestation in the Fall.
Here are some questions to contemplate, before locking in plans for the summer. Am I choosing to:
I. Distract myself with people that don’t support my need for “alone time” out of fear, guilt or people pleasing?
II. Sidetrack my growth with busyness rather than cultivating a taste for solitude that feeds my soul out of fear of loneliness?
III. Balance my time between enjoying playing well with others and learning how to play equally well with myself and the Universe?
IV. Affect the mass tone with the energies of peace and equanimity—or live with free-floating anxiety and agitation?
From a higher perspective, “all is well” in the sense that everything is always evolving perfectly for karmic healing and soul growth. There are no mistakes, just lessons—that many times can only be gotten when the Universe compels us to gather our inner forces because of challenging external circumstances. I call these FGO’s: F**kin’ growth opportunities—and we all get them in cycles—sooner or later.
When we’re driven to rely on our own inner resources, the feeling of total aloneness that arises is called “the dark night of the soul” in many spiritual traditions. And it is from surrendering and embracing this deep, dark place inside of each of us that we remember—once again—that our True Nature is always sweet and full. This realization brings an experience of ultimate freedom and bliss.
At least that’s my story—and I’m sticking to it!
Wishing us all a summertime filled with sweetness, as our channels to Source open wider and deeper than ever before,
J O A N
SEA SONG by Joan Pancoe
“I ask not good fortune. I myself am good fortune. Here or henceforward it is all the same to me, I accept Time absolutely. I celebrate myself and sing myself.” WALT WHITMAN
*PS. Here are three of my favorite practices for going within and becoming ONE with the inner void that contains everything—in other words, the Divine, Source, or the Tao:
1. Communing with Nature in all its ever-changing and infinite glory allows us to merge with All That Is.
2. Being in the present moment with our full conscious awareness—whatever we’re doing—as if it were the only moment that exists—opens us up to the eternal NOW.
3. Choosing to be fully present with whomever we’re with—as if they’re the only person that exists—allows us to experience our True Nature through dual cultivation.
To delve more deeply:
Spiritual Practices Reading List
Please don’t hesitate to call me for a free consultation to discuss how to customize the perfect session for your specific needs at this time. I’m looking forward to connecting with you:
Feel the need for some help in dealing with “the quickening” of energies now? Then it’s time for a daily mind/body/spirit practice that feeds your Soul! If you’d like to learn what keeps me sane, serene, internally stable and grounded, please check out:
Taoist Practices MP3s for $20.12
If you enjoy receiving these newsletters, I’m now posting more frequent planetary updates on my Facebook page:
Hope you “Like” and “Share!”
And on my website: NEWSFLASHES
To help catalyze an opening to a higher perspective, I’ve written a number of articles on themes such as: body karma, addiction, last incarnation, aliens, astrological themes and much more: WRITINGS
Most pertinent article to read NOW:
On Spiritual Teachers: Buyer Be AWARE!
If you’d like to read more about my karmic pleasure rut:
The Amorous Adventures of a Modern Mystic
For more of Joan’s art:
GALLERY OF MULTI-DIMENSIONAL DELIGHTS
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THE RIPPLE EFFECT—PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS