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

Our Inner Muse

This week's exercise is once again inspired by Isha Lerner's Inner Child Cards.

The three fairies in this card celebrate the muse of the Triple Goddess.

The first goddess was said to be Mnemosyne, or memory, which is the sacred gift in us that offers the ability to recite prose, song, rhyme, and riddle.

The three muses provide clairvoyant insight and intuitive skills. From these divine creators come the words music and amusement.

The fairies pictured in this card play delicate violins. Such beautiful stringed instruments were said to have been made to echo the ecstasy of creation.

The fairies play their instruments with magic wands that have been transformed into bows, accentuating the divinity of their play.

They are among peach tree branches, from which magic wands were made in ancient China. The peach tree is associated with the planet Venus and represents art, music, and love.

The precious gift to you today is the memory of the muse in your heart. Open to the joy of artistic expression. The music of the universe is constant and flowing. The keynote here is the potential of joy -- your joy and the joy of life.

How do you satisfy the muse in your heart?

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Participants who have responded to this post:

1. Journey Through Life
2. The Modern Goddess
3. Aurora
4. Bohemian Mom
5. Hélène Deroubaix
6. i-Goddess
7. Infinite Bliss
8. MidWest Musings
   
   

Blossoming spirit

"Earth, ourselves, Breathe and awaken, leaves are stirring, all things moving, new day coming, life renewing."

Pawnee Prayer

This week we continue to work with Isha Lerner's Triple Goddess Tarot. The card is Blossoming Spirit and the goddess archeytype is the Virgin of Light.

Called the “visible face of God,” this “robe of light” comes to those who have become so familiar with the infinite power of love and wisdom in the universe that it has now merged with their inner being.

Blossoming Spirit (The Hierophant) comes to heal any rigid beliefs or misuses of power exhibited by the Emporer, reminding humanity of the never ceasing need for unity of body, mind, and spirit.

The power of the heart, the fourth chakra, has been activated, aligned, and utilised as the primary source of inspiration for the journey ahead.

At this stage of initiation, the essence of the divine spark becomes available to all living beings, sparking the potential for bliss within the heart of humanity.

The luminous core of all mani-festations is feminine in nature. Ultimately, the unseen face of the Goddess—sometimes detected in the imagery of sunlight filtered through the natural landscapes of the earth—is offered as “the Light of the world.”

The light of creation is born out of the spark of love embodied within the human being. Its source is the Great Mother Goddess.

Each day there is a seed of inspiration seeking fertile ground to gestate and grow. These various inspirations and ideas are ready to be fulfilled within your life.

What is ready to be fulfilled within your life?

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Participants who have responded to this post:

1. Creative Faery
2. Hélène Deroubaix
3. Aurora
4. Blessed Be
5. The Modern Goddess
6. Infinite Bliss

Opportunity knocks

I'm travelling again this week, so its unlikely I'll be able to get to a computer for the next couple of days, so I'm posting early.

This week we're staying with Isha Lerner's Triple Goddess Tarot.

A Pirali Bengali Brahmin from Calcutta, Tagore once wrote:

"The same stream of life that runs through the world runs through my veins night and day in rhythmic measure. It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth into numberless waves of flowers."

In The Spirit of Findhorn, Eileen Caddy wrote:

"The key to your happiness and contentment lies within you, within your own heart and mind.

The way you start each day is very important; you can start off on the right foot or on the wrong one.

You can wake up with a song of joy and gratitude in your heart for the new day, for being alive, for the very wonder of living, and for being in tune and harmony with the rhythm of all life. You can expect the very best from the coming day and therefore draw it to you.

Or you can start the day with a chip on your shoulder, disgruntled and out of rhythm.

You are responsible for what today will bring, and knowing it gives you an even greater responsibility than those souls who are not aware of it and therefore know no better. You cannot blame your state of mind on anyone else. It all rests with you."

At this stage of initiation, the soul moves beyond judgment, error, and limitation, for the lightning bolt has struck a responsive cord within. The aspirant is shown the power of his or her motral and spiritual choices.

At this level of awareness, the opportunity for self-transcendence is made known.

One is shocked into stillness and surrender. Defensive strategies and systems of denial fall away and all that remains is the wisdom of one’s true nature.

Through Her ability to swiftly change and alter realities, Oya (Goddess of Winds, Tornadoes, and Lightning) ignites the spark of transcendence within your soul.

She aids you as you burn through the veil of attachment that has hindered your ability to fully embrace your destiny. Her bolt of lightning, along with Her fierce winds and storm, electrifies your inner life.

Powerful, unexpected events may surface at this time, asking you to look deeply into the interior of your present life circumstances.

Have faith in yourself and the changes you are invited to make at this time. Move with this energy by speaking your truth and making the necessary changes to set yourself free from the confines of the past.

What growth opportunities knock
at the door of your heart?

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Participants responses to this post:

1. Hélène Deroubaix
2. Midwest Musings
3. Infinite Bliss
4. Blessed Be
5. The Modern Goddess