Graceful Passages / Dying Wish

The subject of the day is Death. 

I find it very interesting how the Universe communicates with me in multiples of 3. 

First Yaqin, my friend and Sufi teacher, sent me the first of a series of studies on life after death, based on the teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan and Murshid Samuel Lewis.

Second, my friend Barbara sent me a message that she had a recording she wanted to loan to me, which she thought I would appreciate. It turned out to be the lovely and remarkable recording, with accompanying book, called GRACEFUL PASSAGES - A Companion for Living and Dying, produced by Michael Stillwater and Gary Malkin. It contains readings set to simply beautiful meditative music from spiritual teachers such as Ram Dass, Thich Nhat Hanh, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi, and others. The third selection is accompanied by a lovely instrumental version of the song Return to Love, which the basis of one of the Dances of Universal Peace.

Graceful Passages

http://tinyurl.com/45c8ayw

Third, the subject of my Mother's death came up in conversation with my husband, Tim, and I described to him how that came about (unexpectedly, at age 48) and my own experience of it.

So, I am alerted to investigate this more deeply, in meditation and contemplation.... and to share with you something from this book and CD.

This is the second selection.

RETURNING HOME

A Confucian wisdomkeeper invites us to consider our unique place in the cosmos.

Your vital energy is returning to the Source,

Like the flowing stream returning to the ocean.

Heaven is our Father, Earth is our Mother,

All people are our brothers and sisters, 

and all things are our companions. 

In this gentle, peaceful journey, 

You are forming one body with heaven and earth. 

Entrust yourself in the transforming and nourishing care of the Cosmos. 

Listen to the voice of love in silence. 

You have heard the way; 

Return home in Peace. 

~Tu Weiming

 

Dying Wish

http://tinyurl.com/4tmeg2h

Blessings,

Shakura Cathryn

www.moonsinger.com

www.dancingpeace.blogspot.com

http://sites.google.com/site/dupnaz/

www.dancingmoonhealth.blogspot.com 

May all beings be well and happy,

May all being be free from strife,

May all beings return to Love,

Peace be with you, forever more.

~Return to Love - Song from Dances of Universal Peace
 

Welcoming 2011 ~ Happy New Year to You!

 

To all who see this, I wish you a joyful and safe celebration on New Year's Eve and new year in 2011 filled with Light, Love, and Peaceful Hearts.

Blessings,

Shakura Cathryn

www.moonsinger.com 

www.dancingpeace.blogspot.com

http://sites.google.com/site/dupnaz/ 

www.dancingmoonhealth.blogspot.com

"If you do nothing else this year......evolve." ~Lily Tomlin

Written on Christmas Eve 1513

Greetings Friends and Family,

This is one of my favorite pieces of writing…. Each year at Christmas I pull it out to savor again. I hope you find it meaningful too.

 

I salute you.  I am your friend, and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you which you have not.  But there is much, very much, that, while I cannot give it, you can take.  No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today.  Take heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant. Take peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow.  Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. There is radiance and glory in darkness, could we but see. And to see, we have only to look.  I beseech you to look!

Life is so generous a giver.  But we, judging its gifts by their covering, cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard.  Remove the covering, and you will find beneath it a living splendor, woven of love by wisdom, with power. Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angel's hand that brings it to you. Everything we call a trial, a sorrow or a duty, believe me, that angel's hand is there. The gift is there and the wonder of an overshadowing presence.  Your joys, too, be not content with them as joys.  They, too, conceal diviner gifts.

Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty beneath its covering, that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven.  Courage then to claim it; that is all! But courage you have, and the knowledge that we are pilgrims together, wending through unknown country home.

And so, at this time, I greet you, not quite as the world sends greetings, but with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you, now and forever, the day breaks and shadows flee away.

~Fra Giovanni

Written on Christmas Eve, 1513
 

I am appreciating that this was written 497 years ago, but it is still completely appropriate for today.

Wishing you all the blessings of Love and Light during the season of Holi-Days, and into the New Year.

Shakura Cathryn

www.moonsinger.com

www.dancingpeace.blogspot.com

http://sites.google.com/site/dup-naz/ 

www.dancingmoonhealth.blogspot.com

“We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand - and melting like a snowflake.” ~Marie B. Ray