Month: January 2013

Quote of the Day – January 26 2013

“Wisdom cannot be imparted. Wisdom that a wise man attempts to impart always sounds like foolishness to someone else … Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.”
― Hermann Hesse

 

Wisdom, ever elusive, ever incisive and so hard to find. Consider it a gift when someone finds wisdom in your words. It means they have shifted through all the mud and found the gold amidst the sand. Be careful not to let it go to your head. As wise as your words may have been, your next words may yet be foolish. You are after all still here in flesh. Learn to listen quietly and calmly for the wisdom in your own heart. Sometimes the words you most need to hear come from within. Enjoy those moments. Actually enjoy the foolish ones as well.
Blessings, G

 

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Fractal Spider Web Mandala

 

Fractal Spider Web Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Flame Tales under alien skies

Flame Tales Under an Alien Sky by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – January 25, 2013

“Scared and sacred are spelled with the same letters. Awful proceeds from the same root word as awesome. Terrify and terrific. Every negative experience holds the seed of transformation.”
― Alan Cohen

 

Peak Experience – A Punching Walls Story

 

It was quite possibly the worst week of my seventeen yr old life. For the past five months I had been in a religious cult, trying to shape my life to fit their paradigm.
My best friend had joined with me and how he was gone–taken by his parents because he was underaged. I spoke to him a few times and he told me that there was more to where I was then they were saying. I had started doing some covert research and found out that it was true. Bible verses that their tenants were based on were misquoted or taken way out of context.
When I went to the state head of the group to tell him about my questions, he told me that at seventeen, I should be more interested in baseball than spirituality. Then when I was in the kitchen, I ‘accidentally’ opened his private cupboard and saw a couple of six packs of beer there. This in a group that professed that any intoxicants brought you closer to Satan
Anyway, since I was asking so many questions they sent me to their farm for what amounted to re-indoctorinization. These were the intense beginner’s lectures that lasted all day every day to teach the new people drawn in the tenets. THere were also nature hikes among other things. I was to stay on the farm hearing the lectures for weeks on end till they sunk in..
Anyway, it was the 2nd week back at the farm. I did love the land there some of the best and most beautiful forest and farm land that could be found in Mendocino County, California.
THeir was an older woman with the new group called Edna. She must have been about seventy and walked with a cane. I think her children had joined up and she wanted to check it out.
She was kind and wise and amazing. Our group went on a hike and we were walking amongst some beautiful green hills.

All of a sudden my surroundings fell away and I felt if not pulled out of my body as if it just didn’t matter… I felt part of everything and that no matter what happened I was loved and that everything just fit. It was a feeling of ecstasy like I had never felt before. I knew the universe loved me because I was it’s reflection. Before that point I was almost at the end of my rope. Afterwards well it subsided but I felt renewed.

I left the Moonies that weekend but that’s another story

 

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  Ruby ThursdayRuby Thursday by G A Rosenberg

 

EmissionsEmissions by G A Rosenberg

Tarot Post – Two of Swords

Two of Swords (Peace)

 

 

Two of SwordsTarot – Two of Swords (Revised) by G A Rosenberg

 

Swords crossed not engaged
I sit with this decision
Until all becomes clear

 

The Wisdom of Not Choosing

Resolve not to resolve
I know the choices exist
yet choose not to look
lest I come to favour one
and thus negate the other

Within me, I contain universes
They exist in complicit balance
If I strive to want, to hold, to prefer
they pop like bubbles
leaving only that chosen.
Thus the box opens and one more
corpsified feline laid at my feet

Hamlet died by choices made
and choosing I disdain

— G A Rosenberg

 

The suit of swords represents thought, ideas and plans. Twos represent duality, subject and object. What do we do when two separate ideas are presented to us. We can let them battle themselves into the ground and engage in endless debate or we can sit with them first contemplating one and then the other, thesis and antithesis until we reach a synthesis that integrates the best aspects of both.  The forming of this synthesis can bring a total release and peace. Of course then a new antithesis to the synthesis appears and the process continues.

Astrological Correspondance – Moon in Libra – The Moon in Libra is all about peaceful aesthetics. People with their Moons in Libra tend to be aware of all sides of a situation and are able to find compromise (synthesis) with all. Again tho this synthesis comes from a full understanding of all sides of the equation
 
I Ching Correspondance – 11) T’ai – Peace

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This hexagram shows the trigram K’UN (earth)  above the creative CH’IEN (Heaven). Since the natural place of K’UN is to  below and CH’IEN above they harmonize well (again the idea of synthesis)

 

When the two of swords shows up in a reading things are at an impasse and it might be time to withdraw and consider both paths. There is inherent tension between Thesis and Antithesis so eventually it will need to resolve but time can be taken to look at both and arrive at the optimum solution. (Compare this the the Two of Wands which suggests immediate action)

When the Two of Swords shows up reversed in a reading then the weight of the decision has become too much. Either matters have fallen out of our hands or things have collapsed because of the inherent tension.

Quote of the Day – January 24 2013

“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know and you will see the way to fly.”
― Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull

*nbsp;

What do I already know?
I exist? Well I’m here improbable tho that may be.
Love is always better.
Shared pain is lessened and shared joy increased.
I like asking questions.
I like answering questions.
The sum of what we realize and what we don’t realize is infinity (that’s a new one) .
My body craves the taste of cinnamon.
If I realized everything I’d be infinite therefore the only thing holding me back is my own realization.
Always look for the humour.
There are no limits.
The potential for joy is always there in any situation.
Hmmm, feels like I grow wings already.
Blessings, G

 

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Aries

Aries by G A Rosenberg

 

Indigo GarnetIndigo Garnet Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – January 23 2013

“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.”
― Christopher Hitchens

 

Why do so many of us desire to have answers to questions spoon-fed to us as opposed to actually putting thought into not only what the question is but how we can apply it to ourselves and our life. Case in point  (an example from a friend of mine)

AN EXERCISE ON THE CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF ANY GIVEN TOPIC:

Step 1. BRAINSTORMING (Otherwise known as ‘Listing the Possibilities).

The importance of this step is so that we can have a variety of possible explanations before we can even go onto step 2 – to decide WHICH of the possible explanations are more likely.

First, an analogy for discussion:

“At a Yoga Retreat, at the very end of being taught a Kriya technique, it was question time.. and after a while an Australian girl piped up nonchalantly… “So, what does it all mean, really?”

She asked it as if in passing… as if it didn’t matter so much.

And the teacher replied to her, “What you just asked is the ‘WHO AM I?” question… and you have to increase in INTENSITY for that question… until nothing else matters, before you are even in the STATE OF MIND to HEAR the answer.”

Now upon hearing this story, a woman I know got incensed that the guru would play what she saw as head games and impose his ‘trip’ on her, No matter how I tried to get her to see the story as an exercise in ‘thinking’ about and through the question rather than  avoiding thinking by criticizing the teacher’s method, she refused getting more and more incensed. Now this woman I respect a lot and the amount of energy and vehemence she put into avoiding thinking about why the teacher may give that instruction to the girl tho thinking the question through brought out at least 5 different possibilities each of which I could apply to how I learn things…

NOW – What possible explanations are there for what happened in this analogy?

POSSIBILITY No 1. IMPOSING. “it leans into the dogma of “you don’t understand unless you are on my plane of understanding…to me, this is a form of mental masturbation …. You have to be at my “level of intensity”..how preposterous!!”

POSSIBILITY No 2. SPOON FEEDING. She was a blind girl buying whatever she can get from any so-called teacher.

POSSIBILITY No.3. ENGAGEMENT. He was trying to get her to engage.

POSSIBILITY No.4. AVOIDANCE. “That is not your own understanding, you just gave some story about some guru, I want to hear your understanding.”

POSSIBILITY No.5. POINTLESSNESS. “There is every other option..we could go on to infinity with creating “the end of the story” or “The point to the story” but what does that accomplish?”

What other possibilities are there?

The above has made me wonder at a trend I see a lot. People unwilling to engage and learn from situations and stories that enter their lives. I have benefited so much from actually thinking about what people are saying to me that this puzzles me greatly
Blessings, G
 

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Knight SkyWatch
Night Skywatch by G A Rosenberg

 

Simply Red Mandalasm
Simply Red Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Tarot Post – Two of Cups

Two of Cups (Love)

 

Two of CupsTarot – Two of Cups (Revised) by G A Rosenberg

 

Let’s toast to our love

Our hearts have found their equal

We combine anew.

 

 

Meeting you
after all this time
has started things anew
Together we make a whole
so much greater
than what either has been before
Thank us for existing
for without either, we would not be..
–G A Rosenberg

 

Cups deal with our emotional nature including love, both that as in a relationship between two (and rarely more) people and that of friends and companions.
Twos deal with duality, subject and object. With the two of cups another has appeared, the one has become two and together the two are greater than the sum of their parts.  This card is all about the love, romantic and mutual that draws two people together.  This card is about bringing together two energies that were meant to combine. Of course ultimately how they combine may depend on how well each is attached to his own being…

 

Astrological Correspondence – Venus in Cancer –Venus in Cancer refers to the way many go into a love relationship. Even when it feels so right in so many ways, we get so traumatized by past misconnections that we feel caution. Still, we wish to have this loving nurturing relationship and it is a strong one. Venus in Cancer wants to build a home together.

 

I Ching Correspondence – 1) Ch’ien – The Creative

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This hexagram comprised of two trigrams of Heaven talks about success and bliss through perseverance Anything becomes possible in this combination if one is willing to work at it and perhaps can learn how and when to yield .

 

In a reading the two of cups denotes a strong relationship usually at its beginning. If the relationship has been ongoing, it can mean a new beginning and strengthening of the relationship that wasn’t there before.
When the card shows up reversed in a reading, it can mean that something has gone wrong in the relationship that one is currently in. Distrust and Jealousy may have entered the picture and the  partnership is now in danger.

Quote of the Day – January 22 2013

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”
― Zora Neale Hurston

 

As I get older, it seems that the cycles speed up, first periods of months questioning, then answers, then weeks. Now it feels like I alternate between moments of questioning and moments of answering. Questions of whether or not I am living to my highest potential? Why do I do the things I do? Why do the governments? WHy is there so much pain? Who am I at this moment? What is going on? How can I be in a way that will encourage the most growth, empathy and harmony not only in myself but whoever I may be in contact with? Can we evolve develop enough before we hit the self-destruct button? Answers come as well. Hope, encouragement and love. I also realize how much grace its taken to get us this far. Which brings up the question of where grace comes from?
Blessings, G

 

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Animal Totem on an Alien World
Animal Totem on an Alien World by G A Rosenberg

 

Resonance
Resonance by G A Rosenberg

Tarot Post – Two of Wands

Two of Wands (Dominion)

 

 

Two of WandsTarot-Two of Wands (Revised) by G A Rosenberg

 

Two lives have I
and two meanings
Either will give me joy
The life of the city
excites and pleasures
with worlds to conquer
and pretties to taste
The life of the world
nature’s quietude
offers beauty and peace
like nothing I’ve known

 

How can I decide
Between living and life
How do I choose
Between my two worlds
In indecision I languish
with no action I’m weak
I must choose a course
NOW…well this week…
— G A Rosenberg

 

Having conquered all
I must choose a direction
Where is left to go?

 

 

Wands deal with force, creative, spiritual, and vital.  Twos deal with dualities and choices. When faced with the other do we fight it, love it, choose it or balance it?  In the case of the two of wands, we have used our force and we have accomplished. Now we are faced with a choice. Do we go forward into something new or do we stay with what we have already accomplished. Which road should we take. With the two of wands there is that frustration of needing the action that is denoted by the wands but facing the inaction of choosing.

 

Astrological Correspondence:  Mars in Aries – Mars in Aries is in its native sign and is all afire. It is a lot of quick energy seeking to take action and very impulsive. It will choose to do this, then this , then this, whether fighting , engaging in sex or conquering, it wants to go, go go..All kind of energy to make things happen but not necessarily attentive to details… So it may start one thing, than another than… but which one to continue? AARRGGH, forget it let’s just start something new. What happens then when there is nothing left to start?
 

I Ching Correspondence  26) Tau Ch’u — The Taming Power of the Great

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This hexagram has the trigram of the Creative under or subservient to the trigram for Keeping Still. It refers to the Creative Force held in check. Success can come with any course of action once it is decided on.

 

When the two of wands comes up in a reading it normally refers to things going rather well for the querent tho there may be some serious question as to which path to take next. Making any choice in this situation is better than hesitating. Another way will always come up . It is better to go ahead now that you have momentum and energy on your side. And that you have in abundance

When the two of wands is reversed, it can show that one is hesitating over making a decision out of fear or apathy. It can also mean that a choice has been made but the follow-up just is not happening