SARASWATI MOONS
EQUINOX MOON
Governed by SARASWATI to realize the sacred marriage of Self and “other” for psycho-spiritual clarity.
EQUINOX Journal
Mantra
Week 1: Sacred Union
Week 2: Individuation
Week 3: Alchemy & Sacred Union
Week 4: Sacred Union & Non-Dual Tantra
Ayurveda: Pitta/Vata Transition
Autumn Equinox Ritual
EQUINOX Journal
September Initiation
Autumn Equinox and the Sacred Union
READ: SEPTEMBER EQUINOX JOURNAL
If you have any challenges with the Scribd document, please click the pdf file, below, to download and print your journal.
| elevenmoonsseptemberjournal.pdf |
DEAR FRIENDS
Imagine a culture that collectively recognizes equality for all people, demonstrates a sustainable engagement with the Earth’s resources, and honors the human body as sacred. Human survival may hinge on the realization of this vision. Recent events, however, ensure us: we are not yet there.
What is required is a new level of consciousness—one that embodies the recovery of the feminine principle. —one that embraces the individual and cultural wounding from her suppression. —one that celebrates a “sacred marriage of opposites.”
So, my work seeks to find her, to unpack centuries of suppression and reclaim her power for the world today…a task that, in the beginning, I was frankly terrified to undertake.
I had never claimed to be a “feminist” and when I said the word “feminist” or even “feminine,” I often used “air-quotes” as if to separate myself from any conviction in those words.
It felt too divisive: the whole masculine/feminine distinction.
…and too socio-politically loaded—embedded with confused questions of gender and sex identity—beyond my direct experience—or so I argued. The truth is, it was just too vexing, so I tried to keep things very simple:
In my twenties and throughout my thirties, I might have said, “Yes, I identify as a woman. I love being a woman. And gentlemen, thank you for holding the door for me, now please don’t rape me; and if you get paid more than I do, well ok. Then you can pay for my dinner too. I promise not to be overly sentimental as long as you’re not overtly aggressive.”
It was like a resignation compromise that I had begun drafting in my youth.
But then, something changed.
I am thrilled to share it all with you as a celebration of the Autumn Equinox. I hope you enjoy these soul stories and contemplative explorations.. Please let me know what moves you...and what questions arise in you. I am here for you, always.
Love, Shakti
What is required is a new level of consciousness—one that embodies the recovery of the feminine principle. —one that embraces the individual and cultural wounding from her suppression. —one that celebrates a “sacred marriage of opposites.”
So, my work seeks to find her, to unpack centuries of suppression and reclaim her power for the world today…a task that, in the beginning, I was frankly terrified to undertake.
I had never claimed to be a “feminist” and when I said the word “feminist” or even “feminine,” I often used “air-quotes” as if to separate myself from any conviction in those words.
It felt too divisive: the whole masculine/feminine distinction.
…and too socio-politically loaded—embedded with confused questions of gender and sex identity—beyond my direct experience—or so I argued. The truth is, it was just too vexing, so I tried to keep things very simple:
In my twenties and throughout my thirties, I might have said, “Yes, I identify as a woman. I love being a woman. And gentlemen, thank you for holding the door for me, now please don’t rape me; and if you get paid more than I do, well ok. Then you can pay for my dinner too. I promise not to be overly sentimental as long as you’re not overtly aggressive.”
It was like a resignation compromise that I had begun drafting in my youth.
But then, something changed.
I am thrilled to share it all with you as a celebration of the Autumn Equinox. I hope you enjoy these soul stories and contemplative explorations.. Please let me know what moves you...and what questions arise in you. I am here for you, always.
Love, Shakti
Mantra
Ardhanarīswara Stotram
|
Champeya gaurardha sareerikayai,
Karpooragourardha sareerikaya, Dhamillakayai cha jatadaraya, Namath Shivayai cha namashivaya. Kasthurika kumkuma charchithayai, Chitha raja puncha vicharchithayai, Kruthasmarayai vikrutha smaraya, Namath Shivayai cha namashivaya. Chalath kanath kankana noopurayai, Padabja Rajatphani noopuraya, Hemangadhayai bhujagangadhaya, Namath Shivayai cha namashivaya. Visala nilothphala lochanayai, Vikasi pangeruha lochanaya, Samekshanayai vishamekshanaya, Namah Shivayai cha namashivaya. Mandhara mala kali thalakayai, Kapalamalnkitha kandharaya, Divyambarayai cha Digambaraya, Namah Shivayai cha namashivaya. Ambhodara syamala kunthalayai, Thadithprabha thamra jata dharaya, Gireeswarayai nikhileeswaraya, Namah Shivayai cha namashivaya. Prapancha srushtyun muka lasyakayai, Samastha samharaka thandavaya, Jagat jananyai Jagatheka pithre, Namah Shivayai cha namashivaya. Pradeeptha rathnojjwala kundaayai, Sphuran maha pannaga bhooshanayai, Shivanvithaayai cha Shivanvithaya, Nama Shivayai cha namashivaya. |
Salutations to Parvati and Shiva,
To Her whose body shines like molten gold, To Him who shines like burning camphor, To Her who has a well made hair, And to Him who has the matted lock. Salutations to Parvati and Shiva, To Her whose body is smeared with fragrances To Him whose body is smeared with ashes To Her whose beauty radiates love, And to Him who destroyed the God of love. Salutations to Parvati and Shiva, To Her who shines with golden anklets, And to Him who wears snakes as anklets. Salutations to Parvati and Shiva, To Her whose eyes are wide as the blue lotus, To Him whose eyes are fully opened lotus, To Her who has an even number of eyes, And to Him who has an odd number of eyes Salutations to Parvati and Shiva, To Her whose hair is decorated with divine flowers, To Him who wears a garland of skulls, To Her who dresses in great silks, And to Him wearing the eight directions. Salutations to Parvati and Shiva, To Her who has black hairs like the swollen cloud, To Him who has copper matted locks like lightning, To Her who is the goddess of the mountains, And to Him who is the Lord of the universe. Salutations to Parvathi and Shiva, To Her whose dance marks the creation of the world, To Him whose dance destroys everything, To Her who is the mother of the universe, And to Him who is the father of the universe. Salutations to Parvati and Shiva, To Her with earrings of glittering jewels To Him who wears a great serpent as an ornament, To Her who is divinely unified with Shiva, And to Him who is divinely unified with Parvati. |
Week 1: Sacred Union
September Week 1: Sacred Union
(Please review your September Equinox Journal for full content.)
Non-dual Tantra is not about sex. It is about AWAKENING.
Allow me to introduce the God/dess image of September: Ardhanarīshvara (the god who is half man/half woman—Shiva and Shakti (masculine and feminine principles) together in one body. It is a reminder that to truly realize wholeness, each person must embrace all opposite dualities as unified aspects of oneself—solar/lunar, masculine/feminine, fire/water, nature/spirit, and Self/other in balanced harmony.
Soul Questions & Action Steps
- What seeds of intention did you plant at the beginning of this year? How are they growing into fruition? How have you been tending your seeds?
- What choices you have made along the way to ensure a fruitful harvest?
- Now is the time to establish your most healing practices as we move into the new season. What have you discovered to be the most nourishing and supportive to your overall well-being this year?
- How have you grown in your power this year?
- As we celebrate the union of opposites this moon, what is ending for you?
- What is just beginning?
- What final flourishes are your passion projects calling for this month? What can you finish now, so that you can reap the rewards by year’s end?
Week 2: Individuation
September Week 2: Individuation
(Please review your September Equinox Journal for full content.)
The unconscious must become known so that its affects on our everyday experiences
may be understood.
Uniting inner opposites in sacred marriage is, therefore, required for psychological wholeness.
may be understood.
Uniting inner opposites in sacred marriage is, therefore, required for psychological wholeness.
In the early twentieth century Carl Jung advanced a theory of an unconscious aspect of the mind.
“We must bear in mind,” he wrote, “that conscious psychic phenomena are only a very small part of our total psyche. By far that greater part of the psychic elements in us is unconscious.” (CW 1, 171).
The unconscious is the vast unknown “other” to the conscious ego personality.
The archetypal feminine has become “other” to anyone—from any gender identity—who rejects their emotional wisdom, natural urges, interdependence, and sacred human-ness.
Mother is “other,” where breast-feeding in public is considered inappropriate and absurd.
Nature is “other,” where there is a desperate attempt to subdue the Earth’s mysteries and exploit its resources—where fear and hostility has resulted in environmental crisis, violent aggression, over-consumption, and greed.
Death and decay is viewed as “other” where, rather than an inevitable phase within an on-going creative cycle, death is viewed as a terrifying finality; opposite to life.
“We must bear in mind,” he wrote, “that conscious psychic phenomena are only a very small part of our total psyche. By far that greater part of the psychic elements in us is unconscious.” (CW 1, 171).
The unconscious is the vast unknown “other” to the conscious ego personality.
The archetypal feminine has become “other” to anyone—from any gender identity—who rejects their emotional wisdom, natural urges, interdependence, and sacred human-ness.
Mother is “other,” where breast-feeding in public is considered inappropriate and absurd.
Nature is “other,” where there is a desperate attempt to subdue the Earth’s mysteries and exploit its resources—where fear and hostility has resulted in environmental crisis, violent aggression, over-consumption, and greed.
Death and decay is viewed as “other” where, rather than an inevitable phase within an on-going creative cycle, death is viewed as a terrifying finality; opposite to life.
Reclamation of the divine feminine signals a movement toward integration of the “other” that has been deeply repressed by the monotheistic, androcentric, and patriarchal consciousness.
The feminine is being restored to the personal psychology of both men and women.
Her archetypal attributes are being summoned for new forms of spirituality that embrace nature, the body, and the planet. Because God/dess is all-encompassing, she rises as a guide for the postmodern ideals of inclusivity. The mythic image of God/dess reflects a living, dynamic, organic, universe with its infinite expressions of the sacred. Her womb harbors all life. She provides shelter, nourishment and continual change. She takes shapes as the myriad potentialities of nature, including creation and destruction. She indiscriminately allows all to recoil back into her body of life, death, and transformation.
Connection happens when people examine their complexes, embrace their wounds, and believe they are worthy of love, even in their totality. Feminine consciousness invites us to contemplate the shadows within our own psyches, to gather the scattered projections and realize Self as whole—ego and soul, anima/animus, dark/light, Eros and Logos, masculine/feminine.
With willingness to live beyond duality, in the sense of wholeness, an individuated psyche becomes essentially connected with the totality of the universe (CW 14, 132).
The feminine is being restored to the personal psychology of both men and women.
Her archetypal attributes are being summoned for new forms of spirituality that embrace nature, the body, and the planet. Because God/dess is all-encompassing, she rises as a guide for the postmodern ideals of inclusivity. The mythic image of God/dess reflects a living, dynamic, organic, universe with its infinite expressions of the sacred. Her womb harbors all life. She provides shelter, nourishment and continual change. She takes shapes as the myriad potentialities of nature, including creation and destruction. She indiscriminately allows all to recoil back into her body of life, death, and transformation.
Connection happens when people examine their complexes, embrace their wounds, and believe they are worthy of love, even in their totality. Feminine consciousness invites us to contemplate the shadows within our own psyches, to gather the scattered projections and realize Self as whole—ego and soul, anima/animus, dark/light, Eros and Logos, masculine/feminine.
With willingness to live beyond duality, in the sense of wholeness, an individuated psyche becomes essentially connected with the totality of the universe (CW 14, 132).
Soul Questions & Action Steps
- Jungian theorists generally agree that while the feminine principle is available to both sexes, it has been “disastrously suppressed in Western culture” (Rowland 47). Has your life been affected by the suppression of the feminine? If so, how?
- Cultural stereotypes of masculine and feminine attributes contribute to social and psychological ills in postmodern society, straining individuality. How have you personally been effected by cultural stereotypes?
- At the same time, however, inherent qualities of masculine and feminine archetypes may be celebrated as socially and psychologically supportive on the path toward realizing one’s whole, integrated, and balanced Self. Do you celebrate archetypal difference between masculine and feminine principles? If so, how?
- What is your experience of “the masculine principle?”
- What is your experience of “the feminine principle?”
- Have you felt attachment or aversion to any of the characteristics that you associate with those archetypes?
- Which people in your life (they can be real-life or fictional) have provided your most prominent images of masculine and feminine archetypes? In other words, who comes to mind when you think, “masculine?” Who comes to mind when you think “feminine?” How have those people inspired or influenced your relationship to and identification with the masculine and feminine principles?
Week 3: Alchemy & Sacred Union
September Week 3: Alchemy & Sacred Union
(Please review your September Equinox Journal for full content.)
Like yoga, individuation is a moment by moment practice applied to all of life.
Ultimately, yoga—like Jung’s quest for wholeness—expands beyond the individual psyche (ego and unconscious) as you recognize that your individual experience influences the world around you.
The effort required for individuation—conscious engagement with your unconscious mind—is a hero’s quest. It is not for the faint of heart. Realizing wholeness requires you to establishing an intimate connection with your deep wounds and fragmented pieces. It is befriending your body in brand new ways, listening to the beat of your own heart revering your emotions and hearing the wisdom in your guts. It is awakening to your dream visions and attuning with the rhythms of Nature. It is establishing an unconditional connection, a deep reverence, and interdependence with all things.
Remembering Self means expanding beyond ego consciousness to rescue soul—your own soul and the soul of the world. Like Tantrik yoga, which unifies the finite with the infinite, a bi-product of individuation is the recovery of sacredness to the everyday, human experience.
Jung was fond of using alchemical symbolism to express the process of individuation.
The alchemical sacred marriage (the hierosgamos) is a body/soul/spirit reunion that includes a recovery of the anima mundi (the soul of the world). Like the Tantrik myth images of a unified Shiva and Shakti, the sacred marriage is symbolized by the embrace of the primordial divine couple, the alchemical coniunctio oppositorum.
Ultimately, yoga—like Jung’s quest for wholeness—expands beyond the individual psyche (ego and unconscious) as you recognize that your individual experience influences the world around you.
The effort required for individuation—conscious engagement with your unconscious mind—is a hero’s quest. It is not for the faint of heart. Realizing wholeness requires you to establishing an intimate connection with your deep wounds and fragmented pieces. It is befriending your body in brand new ways, listening to the beat of your own heart revering your emotions and hearing the wisdom in your guts. It is awakening to your dream visions and attuning with the rhythms of Nature. It is establishing an unconditional connection, a deep reverence, and interdependence with all things.
Remembering Self means expanding beyond ego consciousness to rescue soul—your own soul and the soul of the world. Like Tantrik yoga, which unifies the finite with the infinite, a bi-product of individuation is the recovery of sacredness to the everyday, human experience.
Jung was fond of using alchemical symbolism to express the process of individuation.
The alchemical sacred marriage (the hierosgamos) is a body/soul/spirit reunion that includes a recovery of the anima mundi (the soul of the world). Like the Tantrik myth images of a unified Shiva and Shakti, the sacred marriage is symbolized by the embrace of the primordial divine couple, the alchemical coniunctio oppositorum.
Soul Questions
The alchemical process generally begins with a “wounding,” or a feeling of deep psycho-spiritual challenge.
- In what way have you experienced the solutio—the feeling of “sink or swim?”
- In what ways have you experienced the “burn” of the calcinatio—the feeling of being “stung” or “burned?”
- In what ways have you experienced the conjunctio in your life—the feeling of reunification?
- What are the extreme dualities that face your biggest life challenges today? (To find these, you can begin by thinking of a quality that would be of great service to you right now. Then think of its opposite.
- Do these two qualities hold principles of masculine and feminine for you? In other words, do you associate one aspect as more masculine in nature and the other as more feminine?
- Who in your life exemplifies these principles? How has their personality influenced your life?
- How can you adopt and activate both principles in a way that brings you more clarity, balance, and peace?
Week 4: Sacred Union & Non-Dual Tantra
September Week 4: Sacred Union & Non-dual Tantra
(Please review your September Equinox Journal for full content.)
I often joke with my husband that life is simply a series of making messes and cleaning them up…in these ongoing cycles where the ego forgets the Self…then remembers, then forgets. We have good days and bad days—little deaths and rebirths. We fall in and out…and back in Love again.
The practice of non-dual Tantrik yoga allows us to become awakened within these relentless cycles, so that we are not attached or averse to the feeling of “mess” or the feeling of “clean” but can enjoy the complete human experience without suffering.
The practice of non-dual Tantrik yoga allows us to become awakened within these relentless cycles, so that we are not attached or averse to the feeling of “mess” or the feeling of “clean” but can enjoy the complete human experience without suffering.
my cheeky little girl
The Tantrik view of consciousness parallels the Jungian vision of a “primordial division of original oneness” (Edinger, The Creation 37). Tantrik texts describe binary opposition as foundational to human consciousness. For Jung, as has been examined, these are the conscious and unconscious phenomena of the psyche. From the Tantrik perspective of Kashmir Shaivism, the polarities are envisioned metaphorically as finite and infinite reality. In both systems, the ultimate objective is reunion. Tantrik mythology, which reclaims the divine feminine, together with Jung’s investigations of alchemy provide a new perspective—one that embraces the “other” as an aspect of the Self, bridges the body and spirit, and brings the masculine and feminine to balance within all things.
According to the non-dual doctrine of Kashmir Shaivism, there is no duality in Shiva/Shakti. The organizational intelligence of the universe is both masculine and feminine in blissful union (Feuerstein, Tantra 78). God/dess is a continuity of consciousness and power within one Reality (79).
Kashmir Tantra presents a cosmology of emanation, whereby all things proceed from the one Reality in a dynamic pulsation of universal unfolding. Each individual creature is essentially unique, but also unified by the indivisibility of the one. It is the cosmic split, only colored as a divine LOVE story. Shiva/Shakti (Consciousness) assumes material form (‘the other’) to have an experience of its own Reality.
Once phenomenal nature is birthed, according to Tantrik lore, there is a psycho-spiritual twist. With her power embedded in the manifest world, Shakti forgets that she is one with her divine beloved, the source of all.
In the Tantrik text: Vijnana Bhairava, Shakti beseeches Shiva, “Lord,” she asks, “How can I know you more?” Shiva lovingly replies, “You are me” (Saraswati 23).
To Tantrik traditions, creation is an expression of divine love—a cosmic game of concealment and revelation (63). The concealment is a necessary part of the process in the creation of consciousness. On the one hand, it is Self-forgetting. On the other, it is self-expression, just as the ego differentiates itself to develop a stable identity. Shiva and Shakti maintain a sweet sense of separation in order to enjoy the blissful play of recognition, the with-ness, between them.
This Tantrik perspective celebrates the with-ness of ‘the other’ as absolutely vital for the realization of the Self. The mythologies of Hindu Tantra celebrate the tension of the opposites and, in so doing, progress the idea of what it means to be whole.
According to the non-dual doctrine of Kashmir Shaivism, there is no duality in Shiva/Shakti. The organizational intelligence of the universe is both masculine and feminine in blissful union (Feuerstein, Tantra 78). God/dess is a continuity of consciousness and power within one Reality (79).
Kashmir Tantra presents a cosmology of emanation, whereby all things proceed from the one Reality in a dynamic pulsation of universal unfolding. Each individual creature is essentially unique, but also unified by the indivisibility of the one. It is the cosmic split, only colored as a divine LOVE story. Shiva/Shakti (Consciousness) assumes material form (‘the other’) to have an experience of its own Reality.
Once phenomenal nature is birthed, according to Tantrik lore, there is a psycho-spiritual twist. With her power embedded in the manifest world, Shakti forgets that she is one with her divine beloved, the source of all.
In the Tantrik text: Vijnana Bhairava, Shakti beseeches Shiva, “Lord,” she asks, “How can I know you more?” Shiva lovingly replies, “You are me” (Saraswati 23).
To Tantrik traditions, creation is an expression of divine love—a cosmic game of concealment and revelation (63). The concealment is a necessary part of the process in the creation of consciousness. On the one hand, it is Self-forgetting. On the other, it is self-expression, just as the ego differentiates itself to develop a stable identity. Shiva and Shakti maintain a sweet sense of separation in order to enjoy the blissful play of recognition, the with-ness, between them.
This Tantrik perspective celebrates the with-ness of ‘the other’ as absolutely vital for the realization of the Self. The mythologies of Hindu Tantra celebrate the tension of the opposites and, in so doing, progress the idea of what it means to be whole.
SOUL QUESTIONS & ACTION STEPS
- This final week of September and first week of October is an important time of transition from summer to autumn. It is time to prepare you body and mind for the coming months of cooler weather and slowly turning inward. Season shifts can be supported with an Ayurvedic reboot and psycho-spiritual inquiry.
- Reset your digestion this week with a cleanse. You don’t have to do anything drastic. Simply eliminate those things you know aren’t supportive to you: sugar, caffeine, alcohol, gluten. Just for one week, can you eat who foods with loads of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants: grains, veggies, fruit?
- Use turmeric and yin chao to flush your body of toxicity and purify your tissues.
- Drink lots of tea (tulsi is a great option) to rehydrate your system and boost your immunity.
- Take a 10 min. breathing break between 2-6 p.m. (vata time) everyday to simply calm your body and mind. You can use the nadi shodhana practice to balance your energy.
- Begin establishing a daily self-care routine, if it got lost over the summer.
- Take time to notice the ongoing cycles of creative change happening all around you. Notice where you get stuck in attachment or aversion—wanting things to stay the same sometimes…at other times, wanting to hurry life along. Commit to be present in every situation, balancing the lunar qualities of receptivity and introspection with the more directive and expansive solar qualities.
- How can you use both the lunar and solar qualities to become a better leader?
Ayurveda: Pitta/Vata Transition
Pitta/Vata Transition
(Find more recipes in your September Equinox Journal.)
Balancing for both pitta and vata, rice pudding can be served warm or cooled.
I adapted this recipe from Maharishi Ayurveda at www.mapi.com. It is easily digested and can be modified to avoid intolerances. Rice pudding for breakfast. Rice pudding for dinner. Rice pudding for lunch. It’s an Ayurvedic winner!
Kheer (Rice Pudding)
Rinse and soak ½ cup basmati rice overnight, then drain. Gently heat 3 cups milk (I like to use coconut milk, but almond or cow’s milk work wonderfully too!). Add your rice to the milk, along with 1 tsp. chopped dates, 2 tsp. cashews or pistachios, ½ tsp. cardamom, 1 Tbs. agave nectar or maple syrup. Boil gently for 30 minutes or more, until the mixture reaches a slightly thick consistency, but you can stir it easily. You may add more milk as needed.
It will thicken a little more as it cools.
Garnish with shredded, toasted coconut or pistachio nuts.
I adapted this recipe from Maharishi Ayurveda at www.mapi.com. It is easily digested and can be modified to avoid intolerances. Rice pudding for breakfast. Rice pudding for dinner. Rice pudding for lunch. It’s an Ayurvedic winner!
Kheer (Rice Pudding)
Rinse and soak ½ cup basmati rice overnight, then drain. Gently heat 3 cups milk (I like to use coconut milk, but almond or cow’s milk work wonderfully too!). Add your rice to the milk, along with 1 tsp. chopped dates, 2 tsp. cashews or pistachios, ½ tsp. cardamom, 1 Tbs. agave nectar or maple syrup. Boil gently for 30 minutes or more, until the mixture reaches a slightly thick consistency, but you can stir it easily. You may add more milk as needed.
It will thicken a little more as it cools.
Garnish with shredded, toasted coconut or pistachio nuts.
Autumn Equinox Ritual
Autumn Equinox Ritual
THE "OTHER"
This is the dawning of a new yoga, beyond the confines of East or West.
The work in our September journal provides psycho-spiritual introspection.
It invites you to claim the feminine power of the Goddess as a transformational energy—one that brings the opposites into union, heals fragmentation, repairs social inequity, and supports psychological wholeness.
Reclamation of the divine feminine signals a movement toward integration of the “other” It calls for a true encounter with one another—relationship that honors each person as an expression of one universal consciousness desiring to experience itself—to witness itself. In this way two people may become for each “other” effective mirrors for awakening. Together we can celebrate (rather than fear) the illusion of “otherness.”
Edward Edinger writes: “When enough individuals carry the consciousness of wholeness, the world itself will become whole” (Creation of Consciousness 25).
This is the dawning of a new yoga, beyond the confines of East or West.
The new focal center of consciousness will be found in relationship—the awareness of universal sacredness that vibrates within each of us as individuals and throughout the material world. Instead of outwardly projecting the principle of Love as a dogmatically expressed God (or Goddess)-Image, it must be realized within the natural human experience. We must become conscious that cosmic unity, the philosopher’s stone, the Reality of divine Love is dynamically alive—living as each of us.
It invites you to claim the feminine power of the Goddess as a transformational energy—one that brings the opposites into union, heals fragmentation, repairs social inequity, and supports psychological wholeness.
Reclamation of the divine feminine signals a movement toward integration of the “other” It calls for a true encounter with one another—relationship that honors each person as an expression of one universal consciousness desiring to experience itself—to witness itself. In this way two people may become for each “other” effective mirrors for awakening. Together we can celebrate (rather than fear) the illusion of “otherness.”
Edward Edinger writes: “When enough individuals carry the consciousness of wholeness, the world itself will become whole” (Creation of Consciousness 25).
This is the dawning of a new yoga, beyond the confines of East or West.
The new focal center of consciousness will be found in relationship—the awareness of universal sacredness that vibrates within each of us as individuals and throughout the material world. Instead of outwardly projecting the principle of Love as a dogmatically expressed God (or Goddess)-Image, it must be realized within the natural human experience. We must become conscious that cosmic unity, the philosopher’s stone, the Reality of divine Love is dynamically alive—living as each of us.
Practice: The "Other" Meditation
The Autumn Exquinox practice is an embodied ritual that facilitate the recovery of the sacred feminine, through the development of mythic consciousness, sacred relationship, and embodied ritual.
It is a meditation to share with an "other"—a partner, family member, and/or friend.
Begin sitting next to that person.
Press play:
It is a meditation to share with an "other"—a partner, family member, and/or friend.
Begin sitting next to that person.
Press play:
Please share your experience and insights in the comments, below.
