LAKSHMI MOONS
The Milk Moon
MILK MOON BOOK
Mantra
Lotus Milk | Invoking Lakshmi
OSHUN SWEETNESS | A New Moon Ritual
Deep Beauty
Big Time Sensuality
Lila (Love at Play)
Ayurveda: Full Spring Detox
Full Moon Community Council
Further Study for May
Conversation: Sensuality and the Feminine
MILK MOON BOOK
Milk Moon Book & May Initiation
It's really happening now…
Something huge is coming up. Things are beginning to grow!
The Milk Moon, also called the Flower Moon, celebrates the signs of the earth’s fertility all around us. It beckons you into the sweetness of natural delight.
Dive into the Big Time Sensuality of the human experience. Recognize the sacred beauty in your body and trust your creative spirit.
Celebrate the sprouts, shoots and blossoms that are already
making their way into this world...
because of you!
This month invites you to prepare your life, like you might prepare your environment for bringing home a new baby. You would purify, detoxify, and make sacred space.
You are birthing something new.
And it is glorious.
Something huge is coming up. Things are beginning to grow!
The Milk Moon, also called the Flower Moon, celebrates the signs of the earth’s fertility all around us. It beckons you into the sweetness of natural delight.
Dive into the Big Time Sensuality of the human experience. Recognize the sacred beauty in your body and trust your creative spirit.
Celebrate the sprouts, shoots and blossoms that are already
making their way into this world...
because of you!
This month invites you to prepare your life, like you might prepare your environment for bringing home a new baby. You would purify, detoxify, and make sacred space.
You are birthing something new.
And it is glorious.
Mantra
Lakshmi Gayatri
May you realize your True Nature as limitless beauty, wellness, and bliss.
CHANT: MANTRA—Lakshmi Gayatri
ॐ श्री महालक्ष्म्यै च विद्महे
विष्णु पत्न्यै च धीमहि
तन्नो लक्ष्मी प्रचोदयात् ॐ॥
Om Mahadevyai Cha Vidmahe
Vishnupatnyai Cha Dheemai
Tanno Lakshmi Prachodayat Om
Om, Let me meditate on the great goddess,
who is the consort of Lord Vishnu.
May she grant me the highest awareness.
May she inspire and illuminate my mind. Om.
The Laskhmi Gayatri is an invocation of abundant wealth, health, and beauty. It provides a profusion of positive energy to uplift your heart and mind.
This is a particularly potent mantra this time of year, when we celebrate the abundant beauty and richness of Spring and open our awareness to the limitless potential of our lives.
May you realize your True Nature as limitless beauty, wellness, and bliss.
विष्णु पत्न्यै च धीमहि
तन्नो लक्ष्मी प्रचोदयात् ॐ॥
Om Mahadevyai Cha Vidmahe
Vishnupatnyai Cha Dheemai
Tanno Lakshmi Prachodayat Om
Om, Let me meditate on the great goddess,
who is the consort of Lord Vishnu.
May she grant me the highest awareness.
May she inspire and illuminate my mind. Om.
The Laskhmi Gayatri is an invocation of abundant wealth, health, and beauty. It provides a profusion of positive energy to uplift your heart and mind.
This is a particularly potent mantra this time of year, when we celebrate the abundant beauty and richness of Spring and open our awareness to the limitless potential of our lives.
May you realize your True Nature as limitless beauty, wellness, and bliss.
Lotus Milk | Invoking Lakshmi
Lotus Milk
(Please review your May Journal for full content.)
Pause. Soften. Take a deep breath...
Something HUGE is coming up.
Something HUGE is coming up.
Make some time this week to catch up!
If you have been feeling behind with the Eleven Moons content or any of the projects in your life...give yourself the abundance of time. Breathe deeply, and remind yourself to find the beauty in the process. This life is like a fragrant wreath of blossoms that has been handed to you. Now, what will you do with it?
If you have been feeling behind with the Eleven Moons content or any of the projects in your life...give yourself the abundance of time. Breathe deeply, and remind yourself to find the beauty in the process. This life is like a fragrant wreath of blossoms that has been handed to you. Now, what will you do with it?
This moon, choose a favorite photo of yourself and put it on your alter next to your Lakshmi images. Each time you look at your photo, cultivate an attitude of gratitude and celebrate the beauty that is in you.
Soul Questions & Action Steps
- Are your ready to birth something new? A new way of seeing things...a new way of experiencing yourself...a new way of being in the world? Are you ready for Lakshmi to rise from the waves of your life?
- Take some time this week to seriously play with the idea of bringing a symbolic baby home to your life. Have you done everything you want and need to do, to make room for transformation? What still needs to be cleared out of your heart, mind, body, or physical space?
- The Kali moons were all about churning up the waters of your life, so that poisons could be released. What were those poisons? Like Shiva, transmuting the halahala through sacred sound, have you spoken (or written) your poisons so that they might be transformed? If not, do it!!…then put that book aside for now.
- Embrace the real possibility of receiving the most beautiful gifts this Spring. Imagine the Goddess ascending from the waters. What does she hold in her hand? What is the nectar she offers you?
- Prepare for the Weeklong Transitional Cleanse that begins Sunday May 29.
- Prepare for our second 3-Day Tech Break: May 30-June 2
- It's time to get clear on all levels–body and mind.
OSHUN SWEETNESS | A New Moon Ritual
May New Moon Ritual
Celebrate the archetype of Oshun in this new moon ritual by honoring the beauty of your chaos, your messiness, your "imperfections." Claim your sensuality, ecstatic joy, creativity, fluid adaptability, and the power of your Self-Love.
Oshun is the African Yoruban orisha (deity) of the rivers. Like the Hindu Lakshmi, she is an archetype of sensuality, fertility, abundance, beauty, wealth, art, and love.
She is the mysterious presence of potentiality, the possibility of life which springs forth from the waters of creation. She is the flow of universal wisdom expressing the secrets and mysteries of the Universe.
Oshun communicates and is communicated through stories, symbols, and rites. Her nature is as fluid and amorphous as the water through which she travels. She overflows with beauty and dynamism, and is often capricious and unpredictable.
The geographical origin of Oshun traditions—Nigeria—lies in the country of the Ijesa in West Africa. Oshun is the living energy of the river that runs through the settlement of Osogbo, where each year the largest Ijesa festival is dedicated to her worship. This river, however, is not her only river. Springs flow wherever she is revered and her essence is considered the sacred vitality of each one.
She is the mysterious presence of potentiality, the possibility of life which springs forth from the waters of creation. She is the flow of universal wisdom expressing the secrets and mysteries of the Universe.
Oshun communicates and is communicated through stories, symbols, and rites. Her nature is as fluid and amorphous as the water through which she travels. She overflows with beauty and dynamism, and is often capricious and unpredictable.
The geographical origin of Oshun traditions—Nigeria—lies in the country of the Ijesa in West Africa. Oshun is the living energy of the river that runs through the settlement of Osogbo, where each year the largest Ijesa festival is dedicated to her worship. This river, however, is not her only river. Springs flow wherever she is revered and her essence is considered the sacred vitality of each one.
LISTEN: Oshun Chant
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Oshun is often depicted gazing in a mirror, not because she is vain, but because she represents your awakening to your divine Self-image. She invites you to honor your true Self as a reflection of Infinite Love.
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Even today, the myths of Oshun offer powerful insight and empowerment into feminine power, seduction, and transformation.
Incarnations of Oshun are found in Yoruba communities of Bahia, Brazil, in Cuba, in the South Bronx of New York City, and in the Santería communities of Miami. She is expressed throughout Afro-Cuban art and ritual. The myriad forms of her nature encompass lifeʼs complex experiences—both the beauty and the challenges—of love, erotica, and material abundance. To her devotees she retains wholeness within her complexity, as the governess who celebrates the sensual joys of life (Castellanos 35-37).
The àṣẹ (energy) of Oshun is often a metaphor for the concealed feminine power.
When the Supreme god, Olódùmarè, sent the orisha (deities) to Earth to complete the mission of creation, he sent sixteen male spirits and one female—Oshun, “the sweet source of all good things." In their efforts to organize the world, the sixteen male orisha ignored Oshun's presence among them. They worried she would bring chaos and the "messiness" of erratic, erotic flow. Striving for perfection and ruled order, the male orisha used intellectual fires, mighty stone, and brut force winds to create the natural world. As a result, their endeavors failed. Epidemic plagued the earth and healing rains refused to fall.
The Creator admonished them. They would never succeed without that one who cures with sweet, seductive, and sensual waters.
This story tells us to value the soft powers of sensuality and pleasure. It reminds us that real transformation—creative power—doesn't come from the fires of our judgements or perfectionism, but from the sweetness of our self-nurturing compassion and self-care.
Incarnations of Oshun are found in Yoruba communities of Bahia, Brazil, in Cuba, in the South Bronx of New York City, and in the Santería communities of Miami. She is expressed throughout Afro-Cuban art and ritual. The myriad forms of her nature encompass lifeʼs complex experiences—both the beauty and the challenges—of love, erotica, and material abundance. To her devotees she retains wholeness within her complexity, as the governess who celebrates the sensual joys of life (Castellanos 35-37).
The àṣẹ (energy) of Oshun is often a metaphor for the concealed feminine power.
When the Supreme god, Olódùmarè, sent the orisha (deities) to Earth to complete the mission of creation, he sent sixteen male spirits and one female—Oshun, “the sweet source of all good things." In their efforts to organize the world, the sixteen male orisha ignored Oshun's presence among them. They worried she would bring chaos and the "messiness" of erratic, erotic flow. Striving for perfection and ruled order, the male orisha used intellectual fires, mighty stone, and brut force winds to create the natural world. As a result, their endeavors failed. Epidemic plagued the earth and healing rains refused to fall.
The Creator admonished them. They would never succeed without that one who cures with sweet, seductive, and sensual waters.
This story tells us to value the soft powers of sensuality and pleasure. It reminds us that real transformation—creative power—doesn't come from the fires of our judgements or perfectionism, but from the sweetness of our self-nurturing compassion and self-care.
READ MORE:
Oshun Sweetness
Oshun Sweetness
Click the cover image to download the ebook in celebration of Oshun and the power of sensuality and delight.
LISTEN & PRACTICE: Pleasure Meditation
Prepare to get NAKED!
This New Moon is all about finding stability and sensual power by letting go of unrealistic goals of perfection. Set aside the next 10 minutes to be completely alone, naked in front of a mirror. Play your favorite music, or listen to the beautiful Oshun Chant (above).
...and let's begin:
This New Moon is all about finding stability and sensual power by letting go of unrealistic goals of perfection. Set aside the next 10 minutes to be completely alone, naked in front of a mirror. Play your favorite music, or listen to the beautiful Oshun Chant (above).
...and let's begin:
(Please give the audio file several seconds to begin.)
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STAY TUNED: Honey Dew
The sweet sensuality of an African water goddess saves the Earth. Listen to my contemplative retelling of this compelling orisha myth from Africa. Let Oshun inspire you to embody the provocative, essential Power of the Feminine.
Coming for the Honey Moon in June.
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Soul Questions & Action Steps
- Did you find this practice difficult? ....or easy? ...uncomfortable? ...or freeing?
- Can you free yourself from your limiting thoughts and just FEEL?
- What makes you feel beautiful?
- What "messed up" ideas do you hold about your body?
- What "messed up" ideas limit your experiences of sensual freedom and pleasure?
- Are you ready to completely let them go? ...or not quite yet?
- If not today, set a date with yourself to confront and destroy your limitations, soon!
Together, we create community. Please share your answers below.
I look forward to reading your responses!
(Please email me, privately, if you want to connect further: [email protected]).
I look forward to reading your responses!
(Please email me, privately, if you want to connect further: [email protected]).
2018 COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS
5/21/2018 07:14:20 pm
"Oh my goddess, I LOVE Oshun!!! I can't believe I am just meeting her now! The May content has facilitated a lot of healing for me. These practices of appreciating beauty and messiness and celebration feel like coming home. They really speak to my true nature but in the past 5 or so years of "trying to get my life together" I have placed much more value on structure and progress. In embracing this archetype I actually feel like I am slowing down and stopping to smell the roses. Beautiful!!! Thank you, Shakti!!"
–C. Mickler, Avon CO
"Oh my goddess, I LOVE Oshun!!! I can't believe I am just meeting her now! The May content has facilitated a lot of healing for me. These practices of appreciating beauty and messiness and celebration feel like coming home. They really speak to my true nature but in the past 5 or so years of "trying to get my life together" I have placed much more value on structure and progress. In embracing this archetype I actually feel like I am slowing down and stopping to smell the roses. Beautiful!!! Thank you, Shakti!!"
–C. Mickler, Avon CO
Deep Beauty
Deep Beauty
“The earth is full of thresholds where beauty awaits the wonder of our gaze.”
― John O'Donohue, Divine Beauty: The Invisible Embrace.
― John O'Donohue, Divine Beauty: The Invisible Embrace.
LOUIE SCHWARTZBERG
NATURE. BEAUTY. GRATITUDE.
NATURE. BEAUTY. GRATITUDE.
What is authentic beauty?
In an image-obsessed culture, so many people rely on superficial means to connect with the energy of “beauty.” But superficial thinking has nothing to do with true beauty, at all.
Beauty is something we FEEL.
Neurologically, what we experience as beautiful hits the limbic system of our brains pre-cognitively.
Beauty is felt before any thoughts arise to manipulate the experience.
Beauty can be experienced as a sensorial paradox including poignancy, sorrow, compassion, transcendence, humanity, and/or bliss, all rolled into one moment.
Perhaps the feeling of beauty strikes us most often when we experience the presence of the Infinite—something beyond the everyday experience of the ego’s reign. It takes you out of your self—out of the busy-ness of your preoccupations—the ideas of self-importance.
In the story of Lakshmi’s birth from the ocean of milk, beauty had been tossed away by an over-achieving Indra. The king of the gods considered his mission as demon-slayer more important than any wreath of fragrant flowers. He treated its beauty as frivolous, trivial. He was much too busy to be bothered. The beauty was trampled instead of celebrated. That ungrateful and mindless act sent the entire universe out of balance.
Similarly, our life becomes imbalanced when we forget our relationship to deep beauty.
But when we allow our lives to become a playful search for beauty, we remember that beauty grows where-ever it is celebrated. Gratitude=Beauty=Gratitude, and each day is a precious and joy-filled gift.
We become like the wise sage, Durvasa, who dances in delight and in so doing, is rewarded with the exquisite awareness of infinite and divine beauty all around, in everything…just waiting to be enjoyed.
In an image-obsessed culture, so many people rely on superficial means to connect with the energy of “beauty.” But superficial thinking has nothing to do with true beauty, at all.
Beauty is something we FEEL.
Neurologically, what we experience as beautiful hits the limbic system of our brains pre-cognitively.
Beauty is felt before any thoughts arise to manipulate the experience.
Beauty can be experienced as a sensorial paradox including poignancy, sorrow, compassion, transcendence, humanity, and/or bliss, all rolled into one moment.
Perhaps the feeling of beauty strikes us most often when we experience the presence of the Infinite—something beyond the everyday experience of the ego’s reign. It takes you out of your self—out of the busy-ness of your preoccupations—the ideas of self-importance.
In the story of Lakshmi’s birth from the ocean of milk, beauty had been tossed away by an over-achieving Indra. The king of the gods considered his mission as demon-slayer more important than any wreath of fragrant flowers. He treated its beauty as frivolous, trivial. He was much too busy to be bothered. The beauty was trampled instead of celebrated. That ungrateful and mindless act sent the entire universe out of balance.
Similarly, our life becomes imbalanced when we forget our relationship to deep beauty.
But when we allow our lives to become a playful search for beauty, we remember that beauty grows where-ever it is celebrated. Gratitude=Beauty=Gratitude, and each day is a precious and joy-filled gift.
We become like the wise sage, Durvasa, who dances in delight and in so doing, is rewarded with the exquisite awareness of infinite and divine beauty all around, in everything…just waiting to be enjoyed.
Soul Questions & Action Steps
- The Lakshmi moons are about turning compassion into creativity. Take a moment to journal again: What will you create with your one amazing life?
- How does your perception of your own physical appearance influence your attitude and actions?
- Imagine Lakshmi ascending from the ocean of milk holding a mirror for you to see yourself in the most beautiful light. Make a list of at least 5 things that you find beautiful in your physical appearance right now.
- List 5 things that you find beautiful in your personality.
- List 10 things that are beautiful about your life.
- Choose your favorite photo of yourself and put it on your alter, next to your Lakshmi images. Each time you look at your photo on your altar, cultivate an attitude of gratitude and celebrate the beauty that is in you.
- Allow each day to be a celebration of beauty in your life, and pay attention to the ways in which the celestial nymphs reward you with more abundant beauty.
Big Time Sensuality
Week 3: Big Time Sensuality
(Please review your May Journal for full content.)
Sensual pleasure and sexual fulfillment are possible when you are most open and comfortable, balanced between relaxation and wakefulness. In this way, experiencing and exploring pleasure becomes a kind of mindfulness meditation. You must get out of your head and into your body. You must get out of your judgements and ideals of “perfection” and into a creative expression of unconditional acceptance and self Love.
Here is a true confession: I never used a vibrator until I was in my 40s! Not once.
A conversation with a close friend inspired me to try it. So, after a little research, I decided on ordering a “Rabbit”—mostly because I remembered seeing the device on an old episode of “Sex and the City.” I was surprised to find that it was still on the market and had actually been improved upon since the ‘90s ...so one night, after dinner, I found one on amazon.com.
After weeks of getting the mail, my package still hadn’t come. It painfully occurred to me—like stubbing my toe—that I had previously shipped a package from Amazon to my mama’s house in Indiana. I was terrified to investigate further...
Sure enough, when I checked the shipping address in my Amazon account, it was my mom’s address they had sent the "Rabbit" to. The purple, perfectly penis-shaped dildo had been auto-shipped to my MOTHER! (Gasp!!)
READ THE WHOLE STORY IN YOUR MILK MOON BOOK.
A conversation with a close friend inspired me to try it. So, after a little research, I decided on ordering a “Rabbit”—mostly because I remembered seeing the device on an old episode of “Sex and the City.” I was surprised to find that it was still on the market and had actually been improved upon since the ‘90s ...so one night, after dinner, I found one on amazon.com.
After weeks of getting the mail, my package still hadn’t come. It painfully occurred to me—like stubbing my toe—that I had previously shipped a package from Amazon to my mama’s house in Indiana. I was terrified to investigate further...
Sure enough, when I checked the shipping address in my Amazon account, it was my mom’s address they had sent the "Rabbit" to. The purple, perfectly penis-shaped dildo had been auto-shipped to my MOTHER! (Gasp!!)
READ THE WHOLE STORY IN YOUR MILK MOON BOOK.
It is time to cut my own sex-stigmas loose so that I can teach my daughter to develop a healthy relationship with pleasure. I want her to know that sensual pleasure is a rite
...and her RIGHT. ♥
...and her RIGHT. ♥
Soul Questions & Action Steps
- Contemplate your first impressions of sex. What were they?
- How have those impressions remained with you into your adult life?
- Have you rebelled against any “messed up conditioning” in a positive way, a way that is respectful to yourself and others?
- Or, have you carried stigmas, shame, and taboo around with you into your adult life?
- How many other people’s opinions are you using to create your life?
- How would it personally FEEL to adopt a radical theory of pleasure positivity and sensual freedom?
- Where and how have you begun to adopt this attitude for yourself, OR where and how WILL you begin to cultivate a healthy relationship with pleasure?
Together, we create community. Please share your answers below.
I look forward to reading your responses!
(Please email me, privately, if you want to connect further: [email protected]).
I look forward to reading your responses!
(Please email me, privately, if you want to connect further: [email protected]).
2018 COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS
5/21/2018 10:50:26 am
"Holy cow! I've really loved this May Journal and your comment about your relationship with food is a clue to your relationship with sex and sensuality just stopped me in my tracks. I've never thought at it that way, but boy is that true. I've had a complicated and restrictive relationship with food for a long time. It started as a child listening to my mom express her insecurities about her body and growing up as a gymnast with a coach who stressed staying lean. I was very attached to my string bean body with long limbs. I still remember the dismay I felt in puberty when I filled out a little bit and was not on board with those changes. I was in a long, toxic relationship, and now that I think about it, as i became less happy in the marriage my relationship to food became more and more restrictive and certainly didn't bring me any pleasure. That was a mirror into how I felt about our sex life. I am in a much happier and healthier place in my life and I am with someone who is all about pleasure in food and sex, haha! I've loosened up a lot in both areas, but still have some work to do here. This really helps me think about this differently, and also makes me think that completely letting go and giving myself the gift of sensual freedom may actually be obtainable. THANK YOU!"
– J. Scott, Los Angeles CA
6/10/2018 06:39:13 pm
Julie!
Your share brought happy tears to my eyes! Thank you!
It is so amazingly sweet to hear about your breakthroughs and imagine you thriving with freedom and in love!
Infinite LOVE coming your way!
– R.R. Shakti
"Holy cow! I've really loved this May Journal and your comment about your relationship with food is a clue to your relationship with sex and sensuality just stopped me in my tracks. I've never thought at it that way, but boy is that true. I've had a complicated and restrictive relationship with food for a long time. It started as a child listening to my mom express her insecurities about her body and growing up as a gymnast with a coach who stressed staying lean. I was very attached to my string bean body with long limbs. I still remember the dismay I felt in puberty when I filled out a little bit and was not on board with those changes. I was in a long, toxic relationship, and now that I think about it, as i became less happy in the marriage my relationship to food became more and more restrictive and certainly didn't bring me any pleasure. That was a mirror into how I felt about our sex life. I am in a much happier and healthier place in my life and I am with someone who is all about pleasure in food and sex, haha! I've loosened up a lot in both areas, but still have some work to do here. This really helps me think about this differently, and also makes me think that completely letting go and giving myself the gift of sensual freedom may actually be obtainable. THANK YOU!"
– J. Scott, Los Angeles CA
6/10/2018 06:39:13 pm
Julie!
Your share brought happy tears to my eyes! Thank you!
It is so amazingly sweet to hear about your breakthroughs and imagine you thriving with freedom and in love!
Infinite LOVE coming your way!
– R.R. Shakti
Lila (Love at Play)
Week 4: Lila (Love at Play)
(Please review your May Journal for full content.)
"In your light I learn to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight become this art."
–Rumi
–Rumi
According to a non-dual perspective of Tantra, there is no duality in Shiva/Shakti.
The organizational intelligence of the universe is both masculine and feminine in blissful union. Shiva is pure potentiality—pure consciousness. Shakti is the kinetic, dynamic creative force. God/dess therefore, is a continuity of consciousness and power within one non-dual Reality.
These teachings present a creation story of emanation, whereby all things proceed from that one divine 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 a divine LOVE story. Just as energy cannot be experience with matter. Shiva/Shakti (Consciousness) assumes material form to have an experience of its own divine 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.
The organizational intelligence of the universe is both masculine and feminine in blissful union. Shiva is pure potentiality—pure consciousness. Shakti is the kinetic, dynamic creative force. God/dess therefore, is a continuity of consciousness and power within one non-dual Reality.
These teachings present a creation story of emanation, whereby all things proceed from that one divine 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 a divine LOVE story. Just as energy cannot be experience with matter. Shiva/Shakti (Consciousness) assumes material form to have an experience of its own divine 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. Shiva and Shakti maintain a sweet sense of separation in order to enjoy the blissful play of recognition, the witness or “with-ness,” between them.
I often joke with my husband that life is simply a series of making messes and cleaning them up. This is true on a psycho-spiritual level as well, in the ongoing cycles where the ego forgets the whole Self... then remembers, then forgets.
It is also true in LOVE. We have good days and bad days—little deaths and rebirths. We fall in and out of love. The “falling out” of Love has become just as precious and meaningful as all the other experiences...because without the “falling out” part, we would not get to enjoy the exquisite bliss of “falling back in” Love. Without the forgetting, the remembering would not be so sweet.
I often joke with my husband that life is simply a series of making messes and cleaning them up. This is true on a psycho-spiritual level as well, in the ongoing cycles where the ego forgets the whole Self... then remembers, then forgets.
It is also true in LOVE. We have good days and bad days—little deaths and rebirths. We fall in and out of love. The “falling out” of Love has become just as precious and meaningful as all the other experiences...because without the “falling out” part, we would not get to enjoy the exquisite bliss of “falling back in” Love. Without the forgetting, the remembering would not be so sweet.
This is what is meant be the Sanskrit term:
lila
It is the sacred and dynamic PLAY of remembering and forgetting your most balanced Self. The cosmic pastime of experiencing your infinite spirit as a human being.
lila
It is the sacred and dynamic PLAY of remembering and forgetting your most balanced Self. The cosmic pastime of experiencing your infinite spirit as a human being.
This philosophy is exemplified in the vision of Ardhanārīshvara, the Hindu deity who is half male, half female. Georg Feuerstein describes Ardhanārīshvara as like a hologram that “yields one image when viewed from a certain angle and another image when viewed differently” (Tantra 80). His description matches the intention of Tantrik practice—to reveal a complete vision of the totality of reality. Divinity is recognized in the cosmic līlā (sacred play) of a subject that is also both the object and the experience of being. The divine witness and enjoyed existence are one. Tantrik motifs of sexual intercourse only hint at the bliss of transcendental union—the realization of one’s true nature as BOTH manifest human form and infinite spirit.
We also see beautiful images of līlā in the stories of Krishna and Rādhā (incarnations of Vishnu and Lakshmi) enrapt in divine love for one another. He is the symbol of infinite consciousness. She is the personification of eternal beauty and unconditional love. They become lost to each other, then find each other again. Ultimately, they become unified in a sacred marriage that binds them together, forever as ONE.
Stories in the Dasāvatāracarita, for example, describe Krishna as disconsolate as he desperately seeks any glimpse of his beloved (Kinsley, Hindu 83). In another text, the Sidhahemasabdānusāna, “Hari [Krishna] sees every person with full regard, still his glance goes wherever Rādhā is—who can arrest eyes ensnared by love?” (qtd. in Kinsley, Hindu 83). In the sixteenth century plays of Rūpa Gosvāmin, Krishna “is often pictured doting on Rādhā, concentrating his mind on her with the single-minded attention of a yogi...” (90).
Like the stories of Shiva and Shakti, mythic images of Rādhā and Krishna constellate a theme of separation and ecstatic reunion. Rather than a symbol of creative power, however, Rādhā generally exemplifies the power and bliss of devotion. As Kinsley writes, “Her love is spontaneous and complete” (92). It is a sacrifice of ego, freely given without obligation. The love affair of Krishna and his consort becomes a metaphor and model for a devotee’s relationship to God (85). It can stand for the ego's surrender to the whole and balanced Self.
For lovers, this narrative is a reminder of what Rumi wrote when he said:
“Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.”
The Love you seek is within you. When you awaken to the unconditional Love of the infinite within—the Love beyond all opposites—you will discover that love, everywhere, in everything you do. You will fall into the cosmic play of līlā, forgetting and remembering your Self as Infinite, unchanging LOVE.
Stories in the Dasāvatāracarita, for example, describe Krishna as disconsolate as he desperately seeks any glimpse of his beloved (Kinsley, Hindu 83). In another text, the Sidhahemasabdānusāna, “Hari [Krishna] sees every person with full regard, still his glance goes wherever Rādhā is—who can arrest eyes ensnared by love?” (qtd. in Kinsley, Hindu 83). In the sixteenth century plays of Rūpa Gosvāmin, Krishna “is often pictured doting on Rādhā, concentrating his mind on her with the single-minded attention of a yogi...” (90).
Like the stories of Shiva and Shakti, mythic images of Rādhā and Krishna constellate a theme of separation and ecstatic reunion. Rather than a symbol of creative power, however, Rādhā generally exemplifies the power and bliss of devotion. As Kinsley writes, “Her love is spontaneous and complete” (92). It is a sacrifice of ego, freely given without obligation. The love affair of Krishna and his consort becomes a metaphor and model for a devotee’s relationship to God (85). It can stand for the ego's surrender to the whole and balanced Self.
For lovers, this narrative is a reminder of what Rumi wrote when he said:
“Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.”
The Love you seek is within you. When you awaken to the unconditional Love of the infinite within—the Love beyond all opposites—you will discover that love, everywhere, in everything you do. You will fall into the cosmic play of līlā, forgetting and remembering your Self as Infinite, unchanging LOVE.
Soul Questions
1. What does līlā: “the cosmic dance” or “sacred play” mean to you?
2. How do you experience it in everyday life?
3. In what ways could this life experience be more joy-filled, if you could
allow yourself to surrender to the divine dance of līlā?
2. How do you experience it in everyday life?
3. In what ways could this life experience be more joy-filled, if you could
allow yourself to surrender to the divine dance of līlā?
Ayurveda: Full Spring Detox
Full Spring Detox
(Find more recipes in your May Lakshmi Journal.)
There is so much nuance to a detox diet. So much more so, than what can be examined in this journal. However, if you have prepared your body with the cleanse suggestions in your April journal, experiment with limiting your diet this month to freshly prepared, organic juices, steamed greens and fresh leafy green salads (with a bit of lemon spritz for dressing). Let us know how you are feeling along the way. You should begin to feel lighter, more energized within the first week.
If you feel fatigued or irritated, either emotionally or physically, please send me a message so we can explore other considerations. You can also take this simple quiz to get an idea if your body is ready for a full detox:
If you have answered “yes” to any of these questions, please use the recipes provided this month to supplement your everyday diet. You may want to consult your doctor before engaging a full-blown detox. If you feel that you are ready, however, you can start today!
Drink fresh, organic, Kapha balancing juices blended in the morning. Leafy green salad and/or juice for lunch and steamed greens (no salt or oil) for dinner. If you find that you have trouble sleeping at night, you may add a ½ cup quinoa and/or avocado to your dinner meal.
I find it most cleansing to eat all my meals within a 8-hour window when digestion is strongest (10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. for example) allowing my body ample time to digest, absorb, and assimilate nutrients.
Here are a few simple recipes to get you started:
If you feel fatigued or irritated, either emotionally or physically, please send me a message so we can explore other considerations. You can also take this simple quiz to get an idea if your body is ready for a full detox:
- Do you experience excessive constipation (often longer than 24 hours between BMs)?
- Do you get several (more than 5) severe colds throughout the year?
- Do you suffer from excessive dryness in your mouth?
- Do you often experience the burn of hyperacidity in your stomach?
- Do you often suffer unexplained fever in the evening?
- …or nausea for no apparent reason throughout the day?
If you have answered “yes” to any of these questions, please use the recipes provided this month to supplement your everyday diet. You may want to consult your doctor before engaging a full-blown detox. If you feel that you are ready, however, you can start today!
Drink fresh, organic, Kapha balancing juices blended in the morning. Leafy green salad and/or juice for lunch and steamed greens (no salt or oil) for dinner. If you find that you have trouble sleeping at night, you may add a ½ cup quinoa and/or avocado to your dinner meal.
I find it most cleansing to eat all my meals within a 8-hour window when digestion is strongest (10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. for example) allowing my body ample time to digest, absorb, and assimilate nutrients.
Here are a few simple recipes to get you started:
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Spring Cleanse Juice
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Spiced Dandelion Greens
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Green Bean Salad w/ Mustard Seed & Tarragon
Ingredients:
Directions:
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups green beans, trimmed
- 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
- 2 1/4 cups snow peas, trimmed
- 1 mild fresh red chile, seeded and finely diced
- 1 3/4 cups green peas (fresh or frozen)
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds, roughly crushed with a mortar and pestle
- Grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 2 tablespoons chopped tarragon
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- Coarse sea salt
- 1 teaspoon nigella seeds
- 1 cup baby chard leaves (optional)
Directions:
- Fill a medium saucepan with cold water and bring to the boil. Blanch the green beans for 4 minutes, then immediately lift them out of the pan and into iced water to refresh. Drain and dry.
- Bring a fresh pan of water to the boil and blanch the snow peas for 1 minute only. Refresh, drain and dry. Use the same boiling water to blanch the peas for 20 seconds. Refresh, drain and dry. Combine the beans, snow peas and peas in a large mixing bowl.
- Put the coriander seeds, mustard seeds and oil in a small saucepan and heat up. When the seeds begin to pop, pour the contents of the pan over the beans and peas. Toss together, then add the nigella seeds, red onion, chile, garlic, lemon zest and tarragon. Mix well and season with salt to taste.
- Just before serving, gently fold the chard leaves, if using, in with the beans and peas, and spoon the salad onto plates or into bowls.
Full Moon Community Council
Full Milk Moon Community Council
Soul Artist: Making Love to Life
Yoga means union. On a physical level, it is the yoking of breath and body, for the benefit of both your body and mind. Regulated breath helps to tame stress and encourage clear and positive thinking.
From the perspective of philosophy and mythology, Yoga is the merging of the soul with a universal Source. Its goal is to facilitate an individual’s experiential knowledge that she is more than her body; more than the thoughts in her mind. Yoga aims for an experiential wisdom of natural and cosmic unity.
It enlivens the soul to create of itself a masterpiece, a unique and individualized expression of infinite potential.
According to Archetypal Psychologist, James Hillman, soul is the imaginative potentiality of human nature which gives life meaning, deepens events into experiences, and is communicated in love. Throughout his in-depth work, Hillman readily interchanges the terms “soul” and “psyche,” recognizing that psychology is essentially the study of the soul. Yoga, like Hillman’s Archetypal approach to psychology, seeks to support an individual in soul development.
By nurturing imagination—by honoring the diversity and resilience of one’s being, that person can become a radically authentic Soul Artist—someone who is intimately aware of the power of his choices to develop his own life. A Soul Artist’s quest is not a deliverance quest. The Soul Artist does not seek a scapegoat for life’s challenges and problems.
The Soul Artist’s doesn’t wallow in self-righteousness or self-pity, but instead transforms the lamentation, “Why me?” into the empowering questions of “Who am I?,” “What is next?,” and “What can I create of this situation?”
From the perspective of philosophy and mythology, Yoga is the merging of the soul with a universal Source. Its goal is to facilitate an individual’s experiential knowledge that she is more than her body; more than the thoughts in her mind. Yoga aims for an experiential wisdom of natural and cosmic unity.
It enlivens the soul to create of itself a masterpiece, a unique and individualized expression of infinite potential.
According to Archetypal Psychologist, James Hillman, soul is the imaginative potentiality of human nature which gives life meaning, deepens events into experiences, and is communicated in love. Throughout his in-depth work, Hillman readily interchanges the terms “soul” and “psyche,” recognizing that psychology is essentially the study of the soul. Yoga, like Hillman’s Archetypal approach to psychology, seeks to support an individual in soul development.
By nurturing imagination—by honoring the diversity and resilience of one’s being, that person can become a radically authentic Soul Artist—someone who is intimately aware of the power of his choices to develop his own life. A Soul Artist’s quest is not a deliverance quest. The Soul Artist does not seek a scapegoat for life’s challenges and problems.
The Soul Artist’s doesn’t wallow in self-righteousness or self-pity, but instead transforms the lamentation, “Why me?” into the empowering questions of “Who am I?,” “What is next?,” and “What can I create of this situation?”
This perspective is established and nurtured with gratitude, curiosity, and imagination
—until It is realized as unconditional LOVE for Life!
Yoga recognizes each unique individual, encouraging radical authenticity rather than social conformity. It explores the deeper meanings of the soul. It recognizes that in the furrows of the unconscious lie the gems of human potential; the perfection in imperfection, the seeds of inner power.
Among the roots of individuality, imagination is potent for the task of reworking one’s personal myth when the story ceases to serve the development of psyche. In her work: Wisdom of the Psyche, Depth Psychologist, Ginette Paris, writes:
“A richness of imagination is the best cure against despair” (196).
There is always hope for the soul. It maintains a constant state of development as an individual evolves and expands through social and personal myth.
To be a Soul Artist means to look at your life and recognize that each moment is a gift.
Gratitude awakens your curiosity— “What could happen next?”
Curiosity, in turn, sparks your imagination--
“What can I create with this one amazing, miraculous, and wonderful life?”
—until It is realized as unconditional LOVE for Life!
Yoga recognizes each unique individual, encouraging radical authenticity rather than social conformity. It explores the deeper meanings of the soul. It recognizes that in the furrows of the unconscious lie the gems of human potential; the perfection in imperfection, the seeds of inner power.
Among the roots of individuality, imagination is potent for the task of reworking one’s personal myth when the story ceases to serve the development of psyche. In her work: Wisdom of the Psyche, Depth Psychologist, Ginette Paris, writes:
“A richness of imagination is the best cure against despair” (196).
There is always hope for the soul. It maintains a constant state of development as an individual evolves and expands through social and personal myth.
To be a Soul Artist means to look at your life and recognize that each moment is a gift.
Gratitude awakens your curiosity— “What could happen next?”
Curiosity, in turn, sparks your imagination--
“What can I create with this one amazing, miraculous, and wonderful life?”
WATCH: Your Soul's Purpose
2018 COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS
"This tribal call was so liberating for me and has reminded me of the levity and power of my journey. The invitation to really ask yourself and cultivate a knowing of "what do I do?" was so powerful. Not what is my title, self-given or from society or otherwise...but what do I do, what are my actions that make me feel wholeness.
The meditative exploration of feeling into those things or places or ways of being that really fill me up was enlightening to say the least. And the opportunity to recognize that it exists in my chosen path and if it doesn't I can integrate it, remembering the wholeness is in everything I do.
So, now, based on feeling into my own knowing of "what fills me up", I now feel great joy at the thought of answering the question, what do you do? And although, I've spent nearly 3 years to complete an Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Masters Degree, my answer is not "I am an Acupuncturist". Because there is so much more that I do with or without titles that I love: teach yoga, explore the earth, actively engage my body in physical adventure, etc. etc. So, thanks to this liberating exercise!, now, rather when I answer the question what do you do?: I play music with the body-mind-spirit and dance with the rhythm of co-created beats from humans sharing space together. I use sky and earth to navigate the internal and external terrain of human souls. I weave patterns. I am an Earth-Sky-Goddess Guide.
Now that fills me up.
And that applies to ALL that I "Do", in this life, job-related or otherwise :)
Thank you to everyone on the call who shared and held space <3.
Thank you Shakti."
–J. Allen, Buena Vista CO.
The meditative exploration of feeling into those things or places or ways of being that really fill me up was enlightening to say the least. And the opportunity to recognize that it exists in my chosen path and if it doesn't I can integrate it, remembering the wholeness is in everything I do.
So, now, based on feeling into my own knowing of "what fills me up", I now feel great joy at the thought of answering the question, what do you do? And although, I've spent nearly 3 years to complete an Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Masters Degree, my answer is not "I am an Acupuncturist". Because there is so much more that I do with or without titles that I love: teach yoga, explore the earth, actively engage my body in physical adventure, etc. etc. So, thanks to this liberating exercise!, now, rather when I answer the question what do you do?: I play music with the body-mind-spirit and dance with the rhythm of co-created beats from humans sharing space together. I use sky and earth to navigate the internal and external terrain of human souls. I weave patterns. I am an Earth-Sky-Goddess Guide.
Now that fills me up.
And that applies to ALL that I "Do", in this life, job-related or otherwise :)
Thank you to everyone on the call who shared and held space <3.
Thank you Shakti."
–J. Allen, Buena Vista CO.
Further Study for May
Further Study for May
Conversation: Sensuality and the Feminine
Sensuality & the Feminine
w/ Jennifer Ellsworth-Bell
Sensuality has been oppressed in our culture because it became sexualized and the power of women in their sensuality is feared by the establishment/patriarchy.
Recovery of sensuality restores both women and men into vibrant, healthy beings,
living authentically and fully!
–Jennifer Ellsworth-Bell
For best video streaming, please be sure you have a strong internet signal and that all other applications are closed.
Recovery of sensuality restores both women and men into vibrant, healthy beings,
living authentically and fully!
–Jennifer Ellsworth-Bell
For best video streaming, please be sure you have a strong internet signal and that all other applications are closed.
Jennifer Ellsworth-Bell
photo: Amy Ro
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Jennifer Ellsworth-Bell is a former NYC prosecutor who became a personal growth sponge, soaking in countless new perspectives in order to design her own life path/blueprint.
These days, she loves to cultivate feminine intuition and body led movement to empower women to live in sensual bliss. She is a licensed S Factor instructor and co-creator of Sensual Embodied Dance in Boulder, CO.
"To me, feminine principle is finding what you innately need to live a more embodied, connected, meaningful, soul fulfilling life. Each person can find their own balance of feminine/masculine energy, and their BODY is the key to knowing when you are living the right balance for you versus one muscle being overdeveloped. How to do this? For women, connect to our SENSES. Touch, smell, seeing beauty, tasting yumminess, hearing sounds and your body's voice. PLEASURE exploration through your senses is essential to connect to your feminine energy." -Jennifer Ellsworth-Bell
These days, she loves to cultivate feminine intuition and body led movement to empower women to live in sensual bliss. She is a licensed S Factor instructor and co-creator of Sensual Embodied Dance in Boulder, CO.
"To me, feminine principle is finding what you innately need to live a more embodied, connected, meaningful, soul fulfilling life. Each person can find their own balance of feminine/masculine energy, and their BODY is the key to knowing when you are living the right balance for you versus one muscle being overdeveloped. How to do this? For women, connect to our SENSES. Touch, smell, seeing beauty, tasting yumminess, hearing sounds and your body's voice. PLEASURE exploration through your senses is essential to connect to your feminine energy." -Jennifer Ellsworth-Bell
Why I Dance from Why I Dance Film on Vimeo.
