Red Tailed Hawk

February 27, 2016 by leximagines

I burn
for words to flow from my
wings,
fingers on keys punching out
truth of my heart

There is something called
Mystery
in the way word flows

I cannot rest inside thick walls
where chinks crack light
there is more outside
wider truth
blinding flight

I am not meant to stay
sidestep to validate
defend that which does not
ring sweet and lavish
no more
no more

I open the primordial door of language
to empty myself
hollow out my bones
leave my vessel quarried
open
to be filled
a chamber
holding space for the Sacred

I am an aperture of Grace
Alice through
the glass
into fields of
green and silence
where wind speaks
and one day
words will coil
as Great Serpent
with Jupiter
rising
side by side
in passionate embrace
with the Cold Snow Moon

.
.
.
A red tailed hawk was my breakfast companion this week. As I sat eating I gazed up and out the high window of the room. There she was, a hawk. And she gazed back at me as I grabbed my phone to take a photo. She obliged and stayed for the meal.

I received good news. Finally, after fifteen years of CAT scans, my doctor now considers me cancer free.

I received the gift of two poems from two dear friends. One dedicated a newly penned and lovely one to me. The other friend came across one in a newly acquired book. The poems spoke to them of me. They graciously shared, a heart blessed way to encourage me on my new path.

And, a full moon this week.

On the night in which it was full, we had clouds. It was cold, and she came and went as thick and thin wisps passed through the air burgeoning with almost snow. But she was there. The next evening under clear skies Jupiter and Grandmother Moon danced.

I share these random thoughts as I begin a new way in my life. I feel good in my skin. Something I’ve never felt before. Peace and much joy.

And I discovered the work of the artist below that made me want to jump up and down and scream, “Yes!!!! This is what I want to be when I grow up. A poet like this. An artist like this.”

Peace and joy of new beginnings to you.
Don’t let them scare you away.

Lexanne

Luka Lesson – Antidote

unnamed

Full Moon Blessings!
Watch the Full Snow Moon on February 22nd. The name of this Full Moon came from the native tribes of the north where the month of February usually had the biggest snowfall. Sometimes it was also referred to as the Full Hunger Moon since food was scarce due to difficult hunting in harsh winter conditions.
As usual, I bring you more the Full Moon names from several Native American tribes:
Abenaki – Makes branches fall in pieces Moon
Algonquin – Ice in river is gone
Anishnaabe (Chippewa, Ojibwe) – Sucker Moon
Arapaho – Frost sparkling in the sun
Assiniboine – Long dry Moon
Cherokee – Bony Moon
Choctaw – Wind Moon
Comanche – Sleet Moon
Cree – Old Moon
Haida – Goose Moon
Hopi – Moon of purification and renewal
Kalapuya – Out of food
Lakota – Moon when the trees crack because of the cold
Mohawk – Lateness
Navajo – Squeeky voice
Omaha – Moon when geese come home
Passamaquoddy- When the spruce tips fall
Potawatomi – Moon of the rabbit
Pueblo – Moon of the cedar dust wind
Shawnee – Crow Moon
Shoshone – Coyote Moon
Sioux – Dark red calves or raccoon Moon
Tlingit – Black bear Moon
Winnebago – Fish-running Moon
Wishram – Shoulder to shoulder around the fire Moon
Zuni – No snow in trails
Rivers in the Ocean
— with Jeanette Carrero

Transfiguration

February 20, 2016 by leximagines

It happens,
without much attention given.

Each cycle, snows fall.
As days grow, in design
sun transforms crystals
into droplets that sink deeply
inlying drowsy earth,
a drink of conversion to buttress revolution.

A rhapsodic unruly revelry begins.

There is innovation
in each sprout pressing up
through wintered bed.
A refinement from previous growth,
persistently rooted in experience.

Transfiguration isn’t left solely
on mountaintops.

It is meant for every foot
married to luscious earth.
A volley of blinding light
blossoming exuberance
comes from within,
a furnace burning
a passionate ferocity.

Once begun, flush refuses
to be cooled, burgeons,
mandatorily unfurls,
solitary but surprisingly weak.
Yet given breath and light
and time, some adversity
to affirm remarkable strength,
radical life swells anew.

Author’s note:

I welcome you to follow me through my weekly sharing at JOURNEY/lex
. I would love to have you join me on my journey.

Five Prayers for Peace

February 15, 2016 by leximagines

Marrow
2.11

May peace settle
in the marrow
of your bones to flow
throughout your being.

May peace spread with
every step you take.
and in every touch you give,
in every smile you share.

May peace rest within
and without.

578,424
2.12

May we be broken
open, our doors pulled
down, our minds emptied
out to make space for
peace, a place for compassion,
a place of care for those
who reside within the homes
of 578,424 houseless lives.

May peace be home.

May peace be where the heart is.

Play
2.13

May you know the quiet
melt of ice and snow
of this winter’s day.

May you feel the burn
of winter’s chill, yet know
spring is on it’s way.

My you rest in peace of
all that is created not with
coin or legal tender, just in
ecstatic play.

Pocket
2.14

May the tiny stone,
hewn by its jumbles,
remind us of our
roughened edges
softened by
our life’s journey.

May the wayward bead
now lost from its strand,
remind us that we may
wander but always belong.

May the crumpled
tissue filled with tears
remind us of the comfort
given and peace in
being loved.

Board Game
2.15

May the road circle
round and bring
us home.

May we jump and hop
over obstacles with
lightened heart.

May we see the game
of life as not one to
be won, but one to
live in joy and peace.

.
.
.

Author’s Note:

February is Peace Poetry Postcard Month. Sponsored by World Peace Poets on Face Book, I accepted their challenge to write a poem a day about peace, put it on a postcard, and send it to another poet who is doing the same, thirty-five in all.

The above are inspired by last week’s prompts:
FEB. 11TH Inner peace comes when I…
FEB. 12th More than 578, 424 people are homeless in the U.S.
FEB. 13th Does money buy happiness?
FEB. 14th I carry Nature in my pocket.
FEB. 15th It was a board game: PEACE

My wish for you…

February 12, 2016 by leximagines

My wish for you
to be lost in museum
where beauty is
suspended animation
never to change
so you can know my
heart this moment.

My wish for you
to hear your heartbeat
deep within your being,
the undertone,
almost forgotten,
the voice of the Divine
in love with you.

My wish for you
to walk in rain,
not to wash away any
precious part of you,
but to make you glisten
so you really understand
your light in the world.

My wish for you
to open your palm,
strong and gentle,
vulnerable but
willing to offer
your whole self,
your full stunning self
without fear,
just love.

My wish for you
to know my gratitude
of friendship,
deep reverence of
your soul, joy in
your smile, and
peace in your
simple presence.

My dear, dear
friend, in perpetuum,
my wish for you.

Happy Valentine’s Day,

Lexanne

I was honored to be in the audience in 2014 to see this live. I loved her energy, movement, painting. And the fact it was also a collaboration added to the awe. Spirit abounds around every corner.

If you would like to receive my weekly reflections, please visit JOURNEY/lex.

New-Eyed Lent

February 10, 2016 by leximagines

I began my Lenten journey much earlier than I realized.

Christmas night we saw a full moon, a rare occurrence. A new beginning. A new life born to us once again. I am finding comfort and wisdom in our Holy One’s creation, the moon. Her cycles are a connection to nature at its most ancient. She is constant in the way of gentle guidance, not a nagging pedagogue.

Through January I experienced many losses, those stepping through the veil into a new cosmic Life.

As Luna cycled large to small and back once more, I am able to take comfort in her faithfulness, a presence holding me firm. She is a reminder of our cycles.

And so I am at Lent, seeing it with new eyes.

A dark moon greeted us two days before Ash Wednesday. The dark moon cannot be seen, our shadow covering her. Hiding Sun’s light. Giving me the peace and still of darkness. Allowing time to not see clearly. Being blind so I can listen.

I made some drastic changes to my life, releasing a love and a passion for now, knowing a different path is needed. Listening, I realize that I must rest and hear yet more deeply.

So I returned to a place of silence to begin once again.

In the dark of night beneath a cross hung high above an altar, I entered my daily meditation. A light shown brightly on Him, the rest of the sanctuary and myself in blackness. When I opened my eyes, I again asked the haunting question, “Why?” This image? What is it that I am being asked to understand?

I know it is not about Him “dying for my sins.” That was a past life. It just doesn’t make sense any longer on so many different levels.

Last year I explored Magdalene. I wrote a monologue based mostly on the Gospel of John. I walked her path and listened to her voice. I came to understand the “Why?” but only partially.

I came to understand that we are deeply loved, but we just don’t get it.

Each and every one of us, each and every creature, each and every thing made, is a vessel containing our Holy One’s grace and love and being to be given away freely. There is no bottom to this gift. We won’t run out. We truly are the hands and feet and eyes and minds of God on earth in the cosmos. But we just don’t get it.

So Jesus God, came to show us that we are so loved, so powerful in what we do, that He became a person, just like you and me. He was a man who walked on this earth, loved, cried, and also needed help understanding. The Syrophonecian Woman was a teacher, as many others He would encounter who would inform his life.

We are Wisdom.

It is within each of us. So much so, Jesus also learned from us.

Jesus came to us to help us see what we can do as people, how to look into each other’s eyes and see Spirit in ourselves. Care for all the things on earth, because everything is made of stardust, our Cosmic Source. There is no disappearing or loss, just transformation.

Then why did Jesus have to die?

“Only the suffering God can help.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

In Bonhoeffer’s words, I came to understand that God understands our struggles. And Our Infinite Love cannot leave us because we are Oned. Yes, we will suffer but Spirit is here within us. Only we don’t always realize it, or help others find it through their pain and suffering and hate and fear.

Earth dies every year to remind us life is a struggle. Luna cycles from darkness to full light to remind us Light is always here, even if we can’t see it. Everyone and every creature dies and moves through the veil into cosmic Oneness. We are constantly transformed.

Lent is no longer a time for me to put on sackcloth, suffer, moan, and ask forgiveness.

Lent is a new beginning slushing through the melting ice that creates such a great muddiness, that sloppy rich earth from which new life will sprout.

I walk this Lent in darkness and stillness
to hear my Loved One’s voice.

I remember the times I didn’t look long enough
to see Spirit in each being, person and animal,
I meet. Or care for the living earth
or cobbled stuff that fills this physical plane.

I move to accept myself absolutely
for my past ignorance and rejoice
in the beauty and love I share from Within.

I remember the root command,
love one another.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Lexanne

A grateful heart to Eileen Terry and her gift of
*Thomas More, Original Self, Living with Paradox and Originality
to inform my prayer.

The Gift – David Nevue

Diana Butler Bass
Grounded
Finding God In the World
A Spiritual Revolution

A Podcast with Rob Bell

A Moment’s Kiss

February 5, 2016 by leximagines

I watch flakes so precious
cavort with breeze so light,
if not for dark hewn bark as backdrop
instead of grey-white clouded sky,
or thin limbs peppered with vestige
leaves who tremble in air unseen,
I would hardly notice the fall
of this snow at all.

It began that way.
Yesterday, I was amused,
predictions of a blizzard coming,
a day of snow to cover all.
It seemed an impossibility.
As night wore on these simple flakes
began to leave their mark.
Most melted on earth-warmed ground,
but tiny crystals persisted.
In night they came to party large
while sleep kept my attention.

Here I sit with mounds of white
still growing large in dance.
No flake big enough to lay
for more than a moment’s kiss
on blood-warmed palms.
Yet, this little nothing
heaped upon one another,
once taken hold,
is a powerful force
to discern.

Little hurts and words
and wounds and deeds
sneak into cracks of one’s own heart,
barely noticeable at first,
until mounded steep and wide.

May the Fire of your soul
burn hot and bright.
May Light melt away your hurt.
May you know you are beloved,
always, and in return,
be love and flame to all.

Author’s Note:

Our snowstorm this week, at least in my part of the woods, never appeared to be more than small, almost imperceptible, flakes. A burst of wind here and there. I had to look hard to see the storm. If I looked into the backlit sky, there was nothing. However, against the trees or fence, or noticing the tree limbs’ small movements, I realized the cause of our snow day. When I went to sleep there was snow on the grass. When I woke up, my husband was shoveling eight inches deep as this featherlight snow continued.

Tenacious.

I realize that can happen in one’s life. When I don’t honor myself or others, all beloveds of our Holy One, I allow small wounds and hurts to become a part of me. Before I realize it, I am frozen under a mound of little things.

I am learning to listen to the Divine voice inside of me. It isn’t ego pushing me forward, demanding I listen. No. That voice is being silenced. The voice I am learning to hear is coming through stillness, clearing space within, and un-attaching myself from ego.

It is not easy.

In meditation, spiritual reading, and, most especially, a circle of friends, I am learning to hear the voice of the Beloved. I’m learning to let the Light melt away all that isn’t me and not allow it to build up again.

My heartfelt prayer for you today:

May the Fire of your soul
burn hot and bright.
May Light melt away your hurt.
May you know we are beloved,
always, and in return,
be love and flame to all.

Munay. Namaste. Mitakuye Oyasin.

Lexanne

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