~ Unconditional Love

Unconditional Love

 

We have heard the words that we need to learn to love ourselves so much that it has become cliche.  I used to wonder HOW?  At first, I thought that it meant doing for myself what I would do for one of those special others.  So I would take myself to the movies or out to a nice dinner, buy myself flowers or take myself for a nice walk in the park.  That is certainly a part of it, but I learned that it goes much deeper than this.  It begins with SELF-ACCEPTANCE.  I had to learn to accept the parts of me that I had always criticized, judged and hated.  I hated that I felt needy sometimes.  I hated my vulnerability.  I hated the anger and rage that would sometimes erupt inside of me.  I hated that I couldn't ever be perfect.  Eventually, I had to accept that I was a human BEING and a human PROCESS.  And from there, the love began to flow and overflow, as I realized I'm beautiful enough just the way I am!  

Take a look in the mirror.  Look at the being looking back at you.  For a moment, just accept whatever there is about you that has been hard to accept.  Resisting it, hating it and beating yourself up about it, will not make it go away.  See yourself as a mysterious process of creation-beautiful beyond compare.  

When I was ordained into The Order of Melchizedek, the Reverend Dan Chesbro said something I will never forget.  It helped me to open the doors to my own source of unconditional love:

"There are only two beings who can love you unconditionally: one is God and the other is you...so what are you waiting for?"

~ Old Sage

Lunar Phase Reflections ~ 1st Quarter Moon in Leo

May 17 ~ 1st Quarter Moon at 27 degrees, 24 minutes of Leo

There is one word that sums up the reflection of this 1st quarter moon:  PRESSURE.  We may sense this pressure coming from "inside," in the form of anxiety and fears that are being stirred up by intense emotional, mental and spiritual energies bursting at the seams of our bodies.  These energies seem to be demanding an outlet for their expression.  We may be experiencing this pressure coming from "outside," in the form of external challenges and obstacles.  It could be both.  There is a CRISIS IN ACTION and a great sense of mounting pressure to manifest more of our ideals into physical reality.  Put another way: we may be feeling a very strong inner urge to express our individuality and make our "mark" on the world through tangible contributions.  The moon is in Leo, and she represents that part of us that wants to boldly go forth and express herself in the world.  She wants to shine with vision and creativity and be noticed and appreciated for it.  This part of us wants to feel that it has given all of itself to life and that it has touched others in an inspiring way.  But right now, this part may be in conflict with the aspects of ourselves that are more practical, reserved, slow, steady and focused on patient and persistent pursuing of material goals.  This is reflected by the Sun and Mars in Taurus squaring the Leo moon.  These Taurus parts are not reaching for fame and immortality.  They demand that we focus on the essentials of life and that we create a lasting material comfort and security.  How do we resolve this tug-o-war?  We have to give each part its due.  We honor the Taurean wisdom that shows us how to take grounded, patient and persistent action towards manifesting our goals, AND we honor that part of us that must play, take risks, be spontaneous, and put itself and its creativity out there in a big way.  It is not enough to only pay attention to practical matters and steadily checking off our goals as we accomplish them.  We must also pay attention to when life is asking us to be courageous, bold, spontaneous, adventurous, to take risks and express our unique selves for all to see.  We need the healthy expression of BOTH sign influences to manifest our deepest dreams.  And there is more to this 1st quarter moon story.  The outer planets Pluto (mission and purpose), Neptune (universal love and compassion) and Uranus (liberation), are putting evolutionary pressure on both the sun (life and vitality) and moon (heart and soul).  As if this were not already enough pressure to "get our acts together," the revolutionary and evolutionary square between Pluto and Uranus reaches its 2nd exact aspect on Monday the 20th.  All of this symbolism is about natural evolutionary pressure that forces us to make a choice.  We either give-up and hide from life or WE GROW AND BECOME MORE THAN WE WERE BEFORE.  Life is now asking us to be more and manifest more of our authenticity and creativity.  As always, we have support.  Venus (beauty and harmony) and Jupiter (wisdom and expansion) are working together in the sign of Gemini to help us overcome the past.  The emphasis here is on BEING OPEN TO LEARNING SOMETHING NEW FROM THE INFORMATION AND FEEDBACK WE GET FROM OTHERS.  In order for us to move forward, we must connect with each other, talk and listen, share, teach and learn.  We must be willing to have our ideas and beliefs challenged and replaced with more appropriate ones.  We must be willing to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances and a rapidly changing paradigm.  And let's not forget to cultivate our lightness and SENSE OF HUMOR!!!  Yes, we may feel that life is asking allot of us right now, but Life is also giving a great deal to us, as well.  More than ever, we have the opportunity to align with our souls and experience our wholeness.  In the near future, we will be masters of our capacity to use evolutionary pressure to transform lead into gold.  Hell, we may even be able to say, "Pressure? Ha!  I eat pressure for breakfast!"

~ Old Sage

~ Love: The Highest Truth

Love: The Highest Truth

 

"Regardless of language or terminology or teaching, we would say that this state by any name would be one of RESONANCE, EQUIVALENCE, AFFECTION, etc. We do not have a preferrence, though we do see the word "Love" as being more capable of embracing all of the variations, as opposed to a more specific word. In Alchemy and Kabbala, "Love" is often represented in phrases described by "Laws," whereas in Taoism and Gurdjieff, "Love" is represented by parables and pondering."

~

"Embracing and acknowledging your Love simply means to bring a conscious awareness to the fact that YOU ARE ULTIMATELY SAFE, and then to take responsibility for appropriately enlisting protection as necessary, instead of at every turn. There is no more immediate way for you to call on the power of Love than to still yourself with the reminder that YOU ARE ULTIMATELY SAFE."

 

~ 

"We have said that Truth is the Greatest Good (energy), and that Love is the Highest Truth. We say this for several reasons. One of those reasons is to reflect the fact that calling upon the power of Love automatically pulls in the higher values of Truth and Energy. This pattern will always be the same: Energy is shaped from Truth is shaped from Love :: Love aligns all of these."

 

~

 

"Making this statement of safety helps one to validate exactly what threats there may very well be, and then to respond to those more effectively, and it helps one to see where the lies are being told to oneself about the threats in life that are merely echos of pain, confusion, longings, etc. and then to tend to those more effectively. When one makes the statement I AM ULTIMATELY SAFE, if there is a consciousness brought to that statement, one should feel the body immediately relax, the mind to slow, the forehead, face, jaw, back, torso, shoulders, feet, hands, tongue, etc. all fall into a simple presence."

 

~

"The Physical Plane is a plane filled with threats to the body and experiences can and do harm ones psyche and other subtle bodies, but the greatest threat to [the] older soul that causes the greatest debilitation and scathing is the constant sense of lacking safety. When we speak of Safety here, we speak to the fact that in most instances, there are no immediate threats to warrant your fear, and certainly not to warrant your rejection of Love. We also speak to the fact that every worst-case scenario is death, and even then, you are ultimately safe."

 

~

"The reason we refer to Resonance, Equivalence, and Affection is because they hint at the ultimate state of Love, which is not only inclusive and embracing, but capable of adapting to, or altering, the frequency of that which is Loved. Acceptance is a word we've chosen to represent the highest capabilities of the Personality for manifesting Love. Striving for Agape (affection), the positive pole, moves one toward manifestation of Essence, which is the only aspect of "you" that can truly Love."

 

~

 

"The Personality is incapable of truly Loving (complete non-attachment), and it is painful and cruel to pretend that it is possible; however, when Essence is present, which can happen in a single moment of safety, then Love is capable of being present."

 

~ Michael Entity, channeled by Troy Tolley of TruthLoveEnergy.com

 

~ Self-Love

Self-Love

 

Get to know your s/Self.  Get to know your selves.  Seek to understand all the parts of you that make up the whole.  Learn to love your Self and its many parts.  Self-love is the foundation for every good thing you want to experience in your lifetime.  Your life is waiting on your unconditional love and support.  Add this most important ingredient to your self-improvement work, and the whole of you and your life will blossom into its highest expression of light and love.

~Old Sage

~ Inspiration

Inspiration

 

On a clear night go outside, find a nice spot to lie down on the grass and look up at the stars.  If you can, let yourself remember when you were a child and you did this very same thing.  Be quiet.  Feel the vastness of BEING.  Feel the vastness of BECOMING.  Feel and know that you are your own universe that mirrors the vastness of the stars and space above you.  Feel your connection to everything.  Feel the paradox of BEING and BECOMING.  This is your meditation.  This will renew your inspiration and reactivate your dreams.  It will calm and soothe your soul and awaken new hope for the future.  Your contribution to the world-of-stars comes from the very core spark of what you are.  And there is not another single star exactly like you in all the universe.

~ Old Sage

~ The Physical Plane

The Physical Plane

 

You can only master the physical plane through trial and error.  There is no shame in making mistakes.  There is only experiencing, learning and growing.  If you need help, ask someone who has more experience than you, and don't forget that he or she is still learning and growing, too.

~ Old Sage

Lunar Phase Reflections ~ New Moon Solar Eclipse in Taurus

May 9 ~ New Moon Solar Eclipse at 19 degrees, 31 minutes of Taurus

Last month, archetypal Aries gave us a burst of energy and inspiration from Spirit.  That evolutionary process was about IDEA.  This month, under the new moon eclipse in Taurus, we find ways to ground and stabilize that energy.  This evolutionary process is about TRANSFORMING IDEA INTO FORM.  Taurus is the sign most closely associated with Mother Earth.  She is a sign of receptivity, patience, natural harmony, beauty, sensuality and fertility.  She is the feminine counterpart to the masculine Aries.  Where Aries explodes forth into reality and strikes like lightening, forging new paths across creation, Taurus roots its identity in the Earth and uses her wisdom to patiently give Arien energy form and beauty.  Taurus is magnetic, calm and sensuously creative.  She is not in a hurry.  She trusts the natural rhythms of Nature.  She knows that by receiving and appreciating all of the wonderful physical stimuli around her, she will naturally produce what is most valuable to her: beauty and harmony.  This beauty can show up in the warm sensations experienced in the body.  It can show up as a good home-cooked meal shared with friends and family.  It can show up as a simple moment of quiet and peace as you sit on a park-bench feeding the pigeons.  The point behind the Taurean impulse is that you want to BE FULLY PRESENT IN YOUR BODY SO THAT YOU CAN ENJOY YOUR PHYSICAL EXISTENCE.  Only then can you move on to fulfillment of more intellectual, emotional and spiritual realms.  So what does all this mean in regard to this new moon eclipse?  It means that now we must switch gears.  Last month's Aries energy gave us the new ideas and intentions.  Now, it is time to GROUND those ideas and use the gifts of Taurus to patiently create the forms that will give fulfillment to the ideas.  On one level, this means "getting to work" in a practical sense, being persistent and determined, being patient and following through with the necessary DOING that must happen if we would see our dreams come true.  Of course, this is the way of Mother Earth.  She is slow, persistent, and cyclic in her processes that gives birth to beauty in the physical.  On another level, this simply means enjoying the fruits of our past labors and enjoying being alive in a body on this splendid spaceship of plenty called Earth.  Follow the natural rhythm that the moon's cycle is reflecting at this time and relax into the sturdy arms of Mother Nature.  Let yourself indulge in the five senses: eat wonderful meals and savor each bite, listen to music that uplifts and touches your soul, smell all of the flowers that are newly in bloom, gaze upon a magical sunset and make love.  See just how much around you can be seen in an artistic light that can renew your soul and imagination.  New doors are opening that will lead to a truer sense of security and peace.  There are new opportunities on the horizon for experiencing greater harmony and beauty.  There is the warmth of affection and love nearby.  Venus, the ruler of Taurus, has just moved into Gemini, the sign of eternal youth and curiosity.  This shows me that even with four planets in Taurus (moon, sun, mercury and mars), which could normally reflect the tendency for us to be stubborn workaholics and homebodies, we will have the impulse to move about in the world around us to SHARE the pleasures of physical life.  Venus and Gemini are very social.  So you can bet that there will be a great deal of new energy and activity around these Taurean themes.  There will be opportunities to connect with others and learn something new, as well as share yourself with others and teach something new.  There will be support from others for helping our dreams to become a reality.  The solar eclipse is amplifying these opportunities and opening doors to continue moving us along on our paths of fulfillment.  Also, we are experiencing a very brief respite from the full intensity of the Pluto/Uranus square, as the four planets in Taurus have recently completed more flowing and harmonious aspects to these two heavyweights.  The only catch in all of this new Taurean potential that is being seeded into our collective consciousness, is that the south node of the moon (karmic past) is also in Taurus and quite close to the new moon degree.  This means we may need to let go and complete something from the past before we can begin to experience the warmth and beauty that Taurus promises.  And this something probably has to do with our fear of loss and our attachment to material things (including relationships and work/projects) that have brought us a sense of comfort and security in the past.  It is as if this new moon eclipse is teaching us that we do not have to hold on too tightly to form because what is behind the form is continuously creating new forms!  If we hold on too tightly to the forms we had before, we cannot allow more appropriate forms to take their place.  Evolution is constantly asking us to realize the relationship between spirit and matter; physicality is the means for the evolution of spirit.  If we can let go of our attachment to the forms and glimpse the awesome spirit behind the forms, then we can can enter into new realms of appreciation for all that we have come to know and appreciate in our physical world.

~ Old Sage