I don’t know about you but I am finding the days at the moment to be tumultuous, painful, joyous; full of wonder; full of sorrow & suffering. Full of heart & full of love. There seems to be a stretching of consciousness & a stepping up & rebalancing. The sense of realignment has been so extreme that I have needed to be still and pray. I personally, recite the prayer below : which I first wrote about (p 113-4) in The Gift of An Angel ; this steadies me. It feels important to put it into context so I have included that too & have highlighted the sentence that I find most important.
“As I work through my day doing my holy work I have a prayer in mind from Forms of Prayer for Jewish Worship by the Assembly of Reform Rabbis Great Britain; it is a prayer that augments my own personal, spiritual, transformative socio-economic and environmental worldview. I have partially but not wholly been influenced through the economics of transition and Deep Ecology taught by the Schumacher College in Dartington, Devon. The prayer encapsulates my hope for the world:
‘Soon let us witness the glory of Your power; when the worship of material things shall pass away from the earth, and prejudice and superstition shall at last be cut off; when the world will be set right by the rule of God and all mankind shall speak out in your name and all the wicked of the Earth shall turn to You. Then all who inhabit this world shall meet in understanding, and shall know that to You alone each one shall submit, and pledge himself in every tongue. In Your presence Lord our God they shall bow down and be humble, honouring the glory of You’re being. All shall accept the duty of building Your kingdom so that Your reign of goodness shall come soon and last forever. For Yours alone is the true kingdom, and only the glory of Your rule endures forever. So it is written in Your Torah: “The Lord shall rule forever and ever,” so it is prophesied: The Lord shall be as a king over all the earth. On that day the Lord shall be One and known as One.”
I add a footnote to this prayer. This prayer does not expect anyone to convert to any religion; for me it is about respecting the faith of each person in the universe whatever that may be. Try asking a roomful of a hundred people for their definition of God; there would I believe be a hundred different answers. In the case of this prayer when I read the word God I conjure up the Divine. I see the Divine in the same way as I see Angels as neither masculine nor feminine. For me, God or the Divine is an energy outside of the human split of male and female and “Just is everything and limitless and all knowing and all being and is everything.”
I have posted the photo of the bindweed because I saw it at the beach & noticed that it has these sweet stars in the centre of each flower; and because although the flowers seem so fragile bindweed is in fact pretty strong. The photo of the basket has content that is also transitionary but which helps to make me strong: Flowers given by my friend Alison who has much on her plate but still found time to pick them for me. Her courage is immense & inspirational. The bread is the extra large loaf from The Almond Thief in Dartington. I have it on order every Friday; the nearest thing that I can find to Shabbat Cholla. The Almond Thief bake their bread with passion; so I see this as a holy loaf. I picked the Raspberries from the PYO farm in Ashprington. I have been going there every year for the past decade; with my sons when they were smaller; with friends and up until now with Lily the Patterdale Terrier; who was often very naughty & a huge distraction; but much missed on my last visit now that she is with me in spirit only.
I heard from Kindred Spirit that I did not win the emerging writer of 2017 award. But it hardly mattered. So many of my friends, family, clients & colleagues were so kind in supporting me and telling me that I deserved to win that the whole process awarded much nourishment. To be nominated is honour enough.
In the meantime I carry on knitting my life; helping where I can help, working as much as I can. Sending blessings, remembering to engage in Tikkun Olam (repair of the world); appreciating my every moment. Doing my best to walk in grace.
Here is an angel reading for today:
“Indeed you are correct; the realignment takes place; all changes; stay strong in the eye of the storm. All is well, all will be well. The Divine Mother arises”.
Wishing you dear reader a blessed week.
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