Open Heart

This is love:

to fly toward a secret sky,

to cause a hundred veils

to fall each moment.

First, to let go of life.

Finally, to take a step

without feet.

Rumi

Fill my heart with Love,

that my every teardrop

may become a star.

Hazrat Inayat Khan

This week we draw wisdom from Isha Lerner's Triple Goddess Tarot.

This stage of initiation entails dedication and commitment, for the tasks involved are some of the most difficult to comprehend for the human soul.

The individual must seek to embrace the essence of love within and avoid the temptation to seek it elsewhere.

The beloved with whom we choose to share our intimate life is but a reflection of our own loving nature.

To the extent we seek love outside ourselves, we meet with disillusionment and disappointment.

Imagine for a moment that love has two dimensions: the horizontal, confined and enclosed by time and space; and the vertical, representing the infinite, eternal link with spirit.

Human love often gets caught up in the horizontal zone, fostering the desire to own, possess, and control one’s “love object.” Such strategies, motivated by fear, are doomed to fail.

Aphrodite offers love to humanity from the vertical plane; her touch encasing us in an orb of shimmering joy.

Find more time to care for your body, your hair, your attire and your environment.

It is a very good practice to stand up with arms reaching toward the heavens in the shape of a chalice.

Imagine you are being filled with the elixir of divine love.

Let the radiant light of Aphrodite pour into your heart.

You will find that people cannot resist you, for the joy that emanates from your loving demeanor is both healing and contagious.

Light a candle in your home symbolising the purity of love you wish to share with the world.

How do you dare to be the rapturous beauty

that lives within your heart?

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Participants who have responded to this post:

1. The Witch & The Princess (see response in comments section)
2. Electric Recovery (see response in comments section)
3. Infinite Bliss
4. Spring Dawn
5. Creative Faery
6. Hélène Deroubaix
7. The Modern Goddess

Womb of Potential

How shall I begin my song

in the blue night that is setting?

In the great night

my heart will go out;

toward me the darkness comes, rattling;

in the great night my heart will go out.

Papago Medicine Woman Chant

This week we draw wisdom from Isha Lerner's Triple Goddess Tarot.

In her explanation of this card, Isha says:

The wheel of life moves me toward expanded horizons. The sky appears wider, the mountains stand taller, and the space around me is vibrant with possibility. In the midst of life’s wild and quickly flowering currents, I remain centered, allowing the rainbow bridge of opportunity to connect me with my destiny.

At this stage of initiation, the spiritual seeker confronts more and more subtle growth opportunities and challengers, in order that a more permeable and transparent ego identity can be forged beyond the confines of attachment and fear. This stage of life heralds a deep and abiding inner freedom.

The Rainbow Goddess carries the potential to manifest in all spheres and in all circumstances. You are invited into the Womb of Potential where, like the Rainbow Goddess, you gestate your dreams. Hidden treasures within you are waiting to blossom.

You are asked to open your heart and soul to the many opportunities that surround you each day. The wheel of fate is shifting and new values, concepts, and ideas are forming within. You may wish to take a class, rearrange your daily schedule, or branch out and do things you have been thinking about but have not taken the time for. It is not to your advantage to remain stuck in the same routines, fearing the significant changes looming on your horizon. Meet this wonderful opportunity with an open mind.

How are you stepping out of the norm and opening yourself to new opportunities?

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Participants who have responded to this post:

1. Infinite Bliss
2. Beverley Keaton Smith (see comments on this post)
3. Electric Recovery (see comments on this post)
4. Jessica (see comments on this post)
5. iGoddess
6. HopeSprings/SpringDawn
7. TurtleHeart
8. Hélène Deroubaix
9. The Modern Goddess

Awakened Aphrodite

Sorry I didn't post last week - I've had some technical issues which took some time to resolve.

This week we're working with Isha Lerner's Triple Goddess Tarot once more.

We are the mirror, as well as the face in it.

We are tasting the taste of eternity this minute.

We are pain and what cures pain.

We are the sweet cold water and the jar that pours. Soul of the world, no life, nor world remain,

no beautiful women and men longing.

Only this ancient love circling the holy black stone of nothing.

Where the lover is the loved, the horizon and everything within it.

Rumi

At this stage, the adept knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that the schooling of life is found within, and that each of us has the freedom to become fully awake through our own efforts and will.

New levels of spiritual insight and contentment flood in on a regular basis and are readily assimilated.

Wells of creativity and vitality are unearthed. Your power to serve the world with great compassion and skill comes to the fore. You are no longer hiding your light under a bushel, for there is nowhere left to hide.

The path into Awakened Aphrodite’s embrace entails constant discernment, for She embodies the truth of real love.

No longer does She confuse mere seduction, which is fear-based, with love, which knows no fear.

Loving and kind to all women and men, She refuses to perpetuate the competitive and jealous ways of others.

She is at home in Her physical body and grateful for the gift of life. She shares this joy with all around Her. She attracts many things to herself, yet knows the path of discrimination.

Take time for yourself. Sleep when you need to, vacation and play when it is appropriate. Do not overwork or bury yourself in competitive work habits.

Awakened Aphrodite accepts life.

Live life fully. Above all else, do not be afraid to love completely and honestly. Honour thyself and love will return one thousand times over.

How are you honouring yourself?

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Participantes who have responded to this post:

1. Cherry Girl (see her response in the comments section)
2. Bohemian Mom
3. Infinite Bliss
4. HopeSprings/SpringDawn
5. Hélène Deroubaix
6. The Modern Goddess

Who are you?

Praise and blame,

gain and loss,

pleasure and sorrow,

come and go like the wind.

To be happy,

rest like a giant tree

in the midst of them all.

~ Buddha

This weeks soul-searching exercise is from Isha Lerner's Triple Goddess Tarot.

We all need to establish the principle of universal harmony and balance firmly within ourselves in order to rest assured that behind all appearances, no matter how seemingly cruel or random, resides a greater truth, one that expresses the higher laws of spiritual governance.

At this stage of initiation, the spiritual aspirant pauses to reflect upon the origins of life and to seek a greater understanding of his or her karmic circumstances and conditions.

One of the many wisdom Goddesses, Athene applied her considerable wisdom to commerce, farming, and many other mundane arenas of life.

You are invited into the temple of Athene, where balance and discrimination are elevated to the level of skillful means. Careful consideration and observation give you the chance to set your karmic records straight.

We must strive to live according to higher principles and truths, walking a grace-centered path with awareness of spiritual laws and justice.

Cultivate discernment in your life, but learn to let go of the burden of judgment, condemnation, and criticism.

Embrace the notion that your judgments are always fundamentally about you and not about the other person.

We’re constantly creating circumstances and conditions in our lives that will help us see ourselves more clearly.

Reflect on your life objectively,

review it as if you are looking into someone else's world.

See yourself clearly .... who are you?

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Participants who have responded to this post:

1. The Modern Goddess
2. Infinite Bliss
3. Aurora
4. Hélène Deroubaix
5. Spring Dawn
6. Lilithmother ~ see comments for her response