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Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 275- 9/17/2023

beallster@gmail.com

“All paths are the same, leading nowhere.”

~ Don Juan ~

today marks the twelfth anniversary of the occupy movement which inspired me three months later to occupy the abundance of infinite love and gratitude which opened such a beautiful camino where we saunter (walk on holy ground) deeper and deeper into the sacred grove to be one with our wise elders, the tree seers who vibrate at such a profound frequency of interconnection and innerconnection transporting us more and more profoundly into a communion of care resonating now here consciousness, sacred space for activating the inner marriage, the container, the tenemos for holding space for the opposites in the field out beyond where unconditional love guides the way…

yes, Don Juan, in this moment of eternity, i’ll be a broken record: all paths are the same for the journey is the destination, it is the process and not the outcome, the coming home to the heart is what it’s all about, this magical mystery tour, the buen camino, the good red road, this project of awakening, this being in the present moment, the now here…

may we all choose a path with heart, any path resonating as one with heart, follow it wholeheartedly and then rejoice and laugh knowing life will be over altogether too soon and if we choose not to listen and then sing our soul song there is a hole in the web of life…

and, may we all cultivate the feeling with every breath as we all travel this peaceful pathless path with heart of being open to the strength and support and peace of our ever more abundant cosmos generously gifting us whatever is needed…

om shanti, shanti, shantihi…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 268- 9/10/2023

beallster@gmail.com

today we celebrate the astonishing light of ourselves as a masterpeace of beloved community of all our pilgrim relations where we re-member we belong to each other as we walk the camino in unity…

pilgrimage of peace

a daily breathing practice

in rhythm with flow

~

and a:

pathless path of peace

creating a world of justice

guided by love

~

where we are:

flowing in beauty

being the soul of the space

wherever we are

~

and devoting ourselves to:

meeting each moment fully

meeting it as a friend

~

while always re-membering:

“in the end only three things matter: how much you loved,

how gently you lived and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you“

~ Buddha ~

thank you dear friends for sharing this journey, this wandering into wonder… i’m going to close today’s spiral dance as i opened it over 3500 days ago with immortal Rumi’s words…

“If you are seeking, seek us with joy
For we live in the kingdom of joy.
Do not give your heart to anything else
But to the love of those who are clear joy,
Do not stray into the neighborhood of despair.
For there are hopes: they are real, they exist –
Do not go in the direction of darkness –
I tell you: suns exist.“

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 9 – Day 259 – 9/1/2022

beallster@gmail.com

a heartmind like the sky

emptiness as vast as space

witnesses wonder

the sanskrit word for emptiness is shunyata while the chinese character is sky… both representations plus the image of hang gliding convey some of the experience of our true nature of emptiness…  the joyful freedom and liberation when we are empty of separation, weightiness, burdens and limitation… a state empty of suffering while grounded in boundless compassion for all relatives, a state sans borders and boundaries, as vast and expansive as the deep peace of the running wave flowing through the all that is… a state of flying into the great unknown, syncing/sinking/surrendering into emptiness which can feel disorienting especially when done wholeheartedly and it is that same whole-heartedness that saves, that orients, that aligns us with source…

welcome to spirited september where we align with the master sculpting force that chisels away the stone of illusion and expectation releasing the spirit held within to take flight and dive ever deeper into the peace passing all understanding, the peace found in the center of the medicine wheel…

re-member open sky

return to her, breathe and fly

our one heart inspirited

listen with me now to Thay inviting us to heaven on earth and deepening into the spirit of boundless love we are in each moment of eternity:

“Dear Mother Earth,

There are those of us who walk the Earth searching for a promised land, not realizing that you are the wondrous place we’ve been looking for our whole lives. You already are a wonderful and beautiful Kingdom of Heaven—the most beautiful planet in the solar system; the most beautiful place in the heavens. You are the Pure Land where countless buddhas and bodhisattvas of the past manifested, realized enlightenment, and taught the Dharma. I do not need to imagine a Pure Land of the Buddha to the west or a Kingdom of God above where I will go when I die. Heaven is here on Earth. The Kingdom of God is here and now. I don’t need to die to be in the Kingdom of God. In fact, I need to be very much alive. I can touch the Kingdom of God with every step. When I touch the present moment deeply in the historical dimension, I touch the kingdom; I touch the Pure Land; I touch the ultimate; and I touch eternity. In deep contact with the Earth and wonders of life, I touch my true nature. The exquisite orchid flower, the ray of sunshine, and even my own miraculous body—if they do not belong to the Kingdom of God, what does? Contemplating the Earth deeply, whether a floating cloud or a falling leaf, I can see the no-birth, no-death nature of reality. With you, dear Mother, we are carried into eternity. We have never been born and we will never die. Once we have realized this, we can then appreciate and enjoy life fully, no longer afraid of aging or death, nor caught in complexes about ourselves, nor yearning for things to be different than they are. We already are, and we already have, what we are looking for.

The Kingdom of Heaven exists, not outside of us, but within our very own hearts. Whether we’re able to touch the Kingdom of God or not at every step, depends on our way of looking, our way of listening, our way of walking. If my mind is calm and peaceful, then the very ground I’m walking on becomes a paradise.

There are those who say that in their heaven there is no suffering. But if there is no suffering, how can there be happiness? We need compost to grow flowers, and mud to grow lotuses. We need difficulties in order to arrive at realizations about them; enlightenment is always enlightenment about something.

Dear Mother, I promise to cultivate this way of looking. I promise to enjoy the practice of dwelling peacefully with mindfulness in the here and the now, so I can touch the Pure Land, the Kingdom of God, day and night. I promise that with every step I will touch eternity. With every step I will touch heaven here on Earth.”

 ~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 9 – Day 146 – 5/11/2022

Jo Beall

i’ve been holding onto this picture i love so of mothering peace, their innergy is so dear and so inspiring of us all, all our relations, coming together peacefully in a moment of eternity when we must all be peace and stop the othering re-membering we are one body… and, now, i’d like to perfume this sacred space with a poem of Shiloh Sophia’s that is in dynamic flux every year…

A Blessing for All Kinds of Mamas

“Your mother wove the fabric of the universe in which you came forth. This day we honor our mamas for giving life to us. This is a blessing for all different kinds of mothering! For mamas to be, cradling expectant bellies we look forward to life with you. For those giving birth, we send the strength of the circle of women that you and your child are held in love. For those tilling fertile soil with hope may fruit be born of your womb. For the mamas being embraced by your children today, we celebrate with you. This is a blessing for women who tried and yet did not carry or birth, Your body carries the codes of life. Every time you create, your mother-life energy is shared. For mamas who miscarried, carrying precious life in your womb. You are still a mother of life, even if that life did not cross the veil f rom your womb. May you experience grace. A blessing for mamas whose child was lost, by the hand of life or her own we send compassion from our hearts. This is for mamas who died giving life and for the lives who suffered the loss of her. May you be remembered. This is a blessing for mamas who grieve the impossible loss of a child. May your hearts be comforted in knowing you are not alone. Let all of us embrace you today. For women who did not carry by choice who have become the mothers of others. Many of you are mothering the future with the life-force other mothers gave to their children. May life be bountiful for you. May you be renewed in your offerings. This is a blessing for the mamas who had to give up their babies to others. May you find peace in knowing your child has another mother to love them. Your choice to give life will always be with your child. For the women who chose to mother those children whose mothers could not mother them, you are co-mothering with another mother providing the love she was not able to give. May your chosen child be able to receive all the love you have to give and return it to you. May you be lifted up in your chosen family! This is for those mamas who were mothered well! Praises Be to Your Mother! This is for those whose mamas just didn’t know how to raise you well enough. May healing come to you! For those who had crazy mamas who eventually taught you one way or another that you had to tend to your own life on your own terms. Can we find forgiveness in the unknown? Set her free, set yourself free and set your own children free too from too many of your stories. Any mama that did not love you well, was not well enough In so many of her family stories, she didn’t know how and wasn’t mothered herself well enough to mother you well. This is for the mamas who struggle to care for their babies. And for the mamas whose children, have abandoned them. May support and healing come to you! This is for the women whose mamas have gone on ahead, dancing through the milky way. We see you Ancestral Mothers , and Grandmothers, You who are never gone from us! For women who are in the change of menopause and the pausing of the red moon, we welcome your moving toward Elderhood and the remothering you need when your physical mother is no longer. This is a blessing for women who gave their mama love to lovers, projects, dreams. May you rest into choosing yourself to bless and nourish your own life. For those who are midwifing humanity and tending to the needs of Mama Earth, Mama Earth, we bless you as you bless us every day with life! Forgive us and teach us and show us how to be your family! For young and single mamas who want a true mate, who are working too hard, for too little. For married mamas who feel so blessed to be loved by another to make life with them! For double mamas, how blessed your children are to have two of you to love them! For those who are coupled with partners who do not see them in their fullness, we feel this and send our seeing to you. For the mamas who, after giving birth feel they lost their identity for a time we pray you return to yourself. For those women who never got to have a mama to hold them, may you find remothering in the circle of women. For fairy godmamas, godmothers and goddess-mothers and aunties! Our children need your stories thank you for your presence in our lives! A Blessing for All Kinds of Mamas For happy mamas whose children honor them. For sad mamas whose children just don’t know. For those who still don’t feel like a good enough mama. For the mamas whose children struggle with despair, depression and danger. Our prayers are mighty for you all today. For those who are mamas of a lineage, legacy and body of work who share your gifts. You share with those who are not blood yet you are bonded together by love and a red thread of connection. All women, we honor! We unite in our love to send a blessing to ALL Mamas! May our quest for wholeness connection, belonging and healing bear the fruit of joy! All life today, we celebrate! Blessed Mother Life, hear the prayers of your children this day. Open our hearts to hear and our eyes to see what you are speaking to us and through us. Give us your sound wisdom! For all beings who are in need of re-mothering may you find home within yourself and the circle of women loving you. This is for the circle of mamas that surround us as teachers passing on essential wisdom. For all kinds of mothering not spoken here, for you… for you… for you… too For our Cosmic Mother, Our Divine Mother, Our Water Mother, Our Earth Mother, May we remember from whose milky way we are fed on the milk of love and compassion. Mama wake us from our sleeping. Mama call us to awareness. Mama give our hearts your wisdom. Mother Life, We Love You!

~For my Birth Mama and my Heart Mama and my Spirit Mama and all those who have mothered me. For those women who have allowed the good mothering I have received to allow me to mother you in return. For Mama Mary for showing me the need for a mother in the story. May this Blessing for All Kinds of Mamas ring out as a song a praise for the Divine Feminine! All Mamas we celebrate you today!“

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 9 – Day 90– 3/16/2022

beallster@gmail.com

welcome, well come to day 46 of a season of peace and to the day marking the 778th anniversary of the siege at Montségur, France in the  the lands where Mary Magdalene carried out her ministry and the Holy Family / Essenes created the “New Bethlehem” after Yeshua’s resurrection… Montségur, the final stronghold of the Cathars during the Inquisition, was the sacred site where Roman soldiers searched for the Holy Grail and sought to destroy the last of the Cathars who were the spiritual initiates of Mary Magdalene and embodied teachings of lovingkindness and living in harmony with the land and another all of our relatives…

legend has it that on Wednesday, March 16, 1244, around 200 souls of Montségur who walked the way of love and refused to surrender their Cathar faith were burned en masse… some locals believe  that when the soldiers entered the space where the Cathars were captured, they had all dissappeared, perhaps ascending en masse…

let’s honor all brave souls who act in truth to power over by resounding the Cathar Creed as we imagine and be the New Jerusalem of peace conceived in love and lived in harmony, the sacred space always alive in the deepest core of the ground of being…

“It has no membership, save those who know they belong.

It has no rivals because it is non competitive.

It has no ambition – it seeks only to serve.

It knows no boundaries, for nationalisms are unloving.

It is not of itself because it seeks to enrich all groups and religions.

It acknowledges all great teachers of all the ages who have shown the truth of love.

Those who participate, practice the truth of love in all their being.

There is no walk of life or nationality that is a barrier.

Those who are, know.

It seeks not to teach, but to be, and by being, enriched.

It recognizes that the way we are may be the way of those around us because we are that way.

It recognizes the whole planet as a being of which we are a part.

It recognizes that the time has come for the supreme transmutation, the ultimate alchemical act of conscious change of the ego in to a voluntary return to the whole.

It does not proclaim itself with a loud voice, but in the subtle realms of loving.

It salutes all those in the past who have blazoned the path, but have paid the price.

It admits no hierarchy or structure, for no one is greater than another.

Its members shall know each other by their deeds and being, and by their eyes and by no other outward sign, save the fraternal embrace.

Each one will dedicate their life to the silent loving of their neighbour and environment, and the planet, will carry out their task, however exalted or humble.

It recognizes the supremacy of the great idea, which may only be accomplished if the human race practices the supremacy of love.

It has no reward to offer, either here or in the hereafter, save that of the ineffable joy of being and loving.

Each shall seek to advance the cause of understanding, doing good by stealth and teaching only by example.

They shall heal their neighbour, their community, our planet and living beings in whatever form they take.

They shall know no fear and feel no shame and their witness shall prevail over all odds.

It has no secret, no arcanum, no initiation, save that of true understanding of the power of love and that, if we want it to be so, the world will change, but only if we change.

All who belong, belong; they belong to the Church of Love.“

may we all journey along the path with heart deepening our connection to and alignment with source and our being one with beloved in this sacred moment of eternity, in every sacred moment of eternity…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 9 – Day 77 – 3/3/2022

beallster@gmail.com

welcome, welcome to a most auspicious day… 3-3, day 33 of a season of peace and it’s the day of celebrating Losar, the Tibetan New Year beginning a 15 day celebration of miracles in the moonth of Women’s Herstory… in this pivotal moment of eternity, sitting in the blissness blue moon lodge peace hut, i search for words of peace and so resonate with another’swords which mirror my own, one of the original 13 Indigenous Grandmothers who offers these pearls:

SEARCHING FOR WORDS OF PEACE -Grandmother Maria Alice  

“At this moment I seek in my heart words of peace, words of union, after several days of perplexity in the face of events and the attitudes of the world’s political leaders.

To talk about peace, it is necessary to find peace in oneself , silence, agreement with life. This is a thorough exercise, very fine. 

We see war everywhere in the world today, the determination to invade, to destroy, to dominate. War-makers speak in the name of peace, of progress, of the defense of self-determination. Everyone develops a lot of speech, but what they all really want is to continue selling weapons, and extorting riches from the earth to use for more destruction and discord.

So, for us, simple people, citizens of the world, workers, women, men, children, who don’t have weapons to sell and don’t want to buy weapons, who aim for the good, who revere life, we need a lot of attention and a lot of conviction in our purpose.

War-makers have many facets and forms of manifestation. They are not only the ones who drop bombs and command tanks, but they are also the great liars who seek to instill in our minds and hearts hatred and malevolence through slander and false news. They are also the silent killers, who poison the land, the waters and the air we breathe, who poison the food we eat, who set the forests on fire out of greed and evil. They are everywhere, in government posts, spreading racism, separation, dispute between people, making our diversity the fraud of separation.

Therefore, to defend peace, we need conviction. Conviction in true love, in the cultivation of life. If we take sides in the war, we have already deviated from the goal. We need to misidentify ourselves from the war dispute, all sides are war-makers.

We live in a time when people despair, looking to lean on some point of strength, to move forward. Let us not be deceived. Our point of strength is not the rulers, it is not the lying deceitful politicians. Our point of strength is the light that emanates from our hearts and radiates, creating solidarity, friendship, union between people and all of life. Our point of strength is manifested in our intuition that shows us collaborative paths that are independent from domination. We are light, we are the manifestation of the Great Spirit of Creation, we are part of the great universal organism.

Attention to the thought of peace, to the cultivation of peace in our hearts. Let’s hold our hands, let’s assemble the union in our hearts, let’s connect with the infinite eternal Breath of Life.

In Peace”

~

“Colorful demonstrations and weekend marches are vital but alone are not powerful enough to stop wars. Wars will be stopped only when soldiers refuse to fight, when workers refuse to load weapons onto ships and aircraft, when people boycott the economic outposts of Empire that are strung across the globe. ” 
~ Arundhati Roy ~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 186 – 6/20/2021

Jo Beall

“Empty yourself of everything.  Let the mind rest at peace.  The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return.  They grow and flourish and then return to the Source.  Returning to the Source is stillness, which is the way of Nature.  The way of Nature is unchanging.”  ~Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching

~

how i love this day of soulstice and standing still with the sun

re-membering life is a pilgrimage to the inner sun, sol, soul,

the city of gold in the heart within the heart, sacred space of radiance…

holding the treasured wisdom of our true value and how the world always goes on…

~

as the wise pilgrim moon waxes into fullness on this soulstice with so much to celebrate and commemorate, in the southern hemisphere we breathe in the shortest day while in the northern hemisphere we breathe out the longest day… are you feeling gaia breathing in rhythm with light waves? are you feeling the earth of your being breathing in the waves of light? as we stand still with the sun, i invite your paising with me and reflecting on some quest ions… who am i? what do i want? what am i here to give? what am i greatfull for?

today, the veil between the worlds is so thin, a magical day to see through the mists… to return for the divine union between heaven and earth to occur… a sacred moment of the divine masculine spirit pouring the luminous light all over the cosmos as we celebrate sacred father energy freeing us to enter the vast unknown, to stand still with the sun…

let’s gather together now under old oak trees, nurtured by the ground, the living green grass under our feet, to honor the longest/shortest day of the year… witnessing the pain of our earthmother, today we celebrate Her saying prayers of healing, for the world and for all Her children being mindful that today is World Refugee Day and that 258,000,000 people of the human variety are displaced. that’s one in 30 human beings…

“We join with the earth and with each other.
To celebrate the seas.
To rejoice the sunlight.
To sing the song of the stars.

We join with the earth and with each other.
To recall our destiny.
To renew our spirits.
To reinvigorate our bodies.

We join together as many and diverse expressions of one loving mystery: for the healing of the earth and the renewal of all life.We join with the earth and with each other.
To bring new life to the land.
To restore the waters.
To refresh the air.

We join with the earth and with each other.
To renew the forests.
To care for the plants.
To protect the creatures.

We join with the earth and with each other.
To create the human community.
To promote justice and peace.
To remember our children.”

~ From the United Nations Environmental Sabbath ~

~

may we re-member as we stand still with the sun that in each of us, there’s a little of all of us, there is only one of us here and in the most overarching sense, we are all refugees, all desiring beloved community, a refuge in the storm… as we take a sacred pause and stand still, may we reflect on the transformation we are being called to leap into shifting from a culture of war to one of peace, the beloved community of ubuntu, of compassion and care…

in this moment of eternity, this moment of the astonishing light of our being, may we all awaken to our sol, our inner radiance of divine love…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 7 – Day 234 – 8/6/2020

Jo Beall

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction. The splitting of the atom has changed everything except the way we think. Thus we drift toward unparalleled catastrophe. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive.” ~ Albert Einstein ~

“One can’t believe impossible things.” said Alice
“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen.
“When I was your age, I always did it for a half an hour a day.
Why, sometime, I believed as many as six
impossible things before breakfast.” ~ Lewis Carroll ~

Seventy-five years ago today, the beautiful child, Sadako, was two years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on her city of Hiroshima during the second world war… Nine years later, she developed the atomic bomb disease, leukemia… Hearing the ancient Japanese story that says when you fold 1000 paper cranes your wish will be granted, Sadako was able to fold 644 cranes with her wish for healing before she died at twelve years old from atomic radiation…

Inspired by her courage and strength, her friends and classmates dreamed of creating a monument to memorialize their friend and all children killed by the bomb. Young people all over the land of the rising sun realized their dream a couple of years later when in 1958 a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane was unveiled in the Hiroshima Peace Park. The children also made a wish. It is inscribed at the bottom of the statue and reads:

“This is our cry, This is our prayer, Peace in the world”.

Today, people all over the world continue to commemorate Sadako Peace Day by folding paper cranes and sending them to Sadako’s monument in Hiroshima.

May we all take up their cry and prayer of peace in the world… May there be peace on earth and may it begin with me and thee…

Om, shanti shanti shantihi and as we chant peace invite the bell to ring sevent-five times vibrating peace across the cosmos…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 7 – Day 232 – 8/4/2020

Jo Beall

ah, today is the last day of this turn around the sun when, according to the I Ching,  brother sun shines on the hexagram of re-treat and what a moment as we begin the re-memberings of the 75th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki… this picture of Sadako and her thousand cranes is one of my favorites, i resonate so with this child’s wish for peace on earth… after a morning in the healing temple, i’m making the most of today as a day of pause, a day of gap, of dwelling in the unknown, a day of mystery reflecting, a day of packing away belongings, inventorying life, emptying self, detaching from the noisy world, letting go, letting go, letting go, bowing to the deep, joining the council of elders round the fire of purification in sweet surrender melting into oneness…

fires of purification brings me to dreams of fire – is it fires of purification or annihilation or are they one and the same – have been dancing across the consciousness field, dreaming me for days, long before the blistering heat wave and raging wildfires that permeate our days here in the pacific northwest… through burning eyes and sweltering, sedating body heat, i feel the annihilation of all that’s inessential, the burning away of the chaff, the releasing of the rust, the polishing and burnishing the mirror until it reflects pure love, the only thing that’s real, that’s eternal, that’s ever expanding in widening waves of light moving us in deepening spirals into the center of being simply ourselves…

thank you for joining with me in being a pulse that lights up the world with prayers for harmony, conscious evolution and for peace to prevail on Earth…

The Nuclear Prayer

The Beginning and the End are in your hands, O Creator of the Universe. And in our hands you have placed the fate of this planet. We, who are tested by having both creative and destructive power in our free will, turn to you in sober fear and in intoxicating hope. We ask for your guidance and to share in your imagination in our deliberations about the use of nuclear force. Help us to lift the fog of atomic darkness that hovers so pervasively over our Earth, Your Earth, so that soon all eyes may see life magnified by your pure light.

Bless all of us who wait today for your Presence and who dedicate ourselves to achieve your intended peace and rightful equilibrium on Earth. In the Name of all that is holy and all that is hoped. Amen.

~

 may peace prevail on earth, may every thread of the web of life be peace now and may all relatives dance in devocean to love…

Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage – Year 7 – Day 10 – 12/26/2019

beallster@gmail.com

ah, pilgrimaging with the caravan of re-joy-sing began last night… i’d love to hear of your dream gift, here’s  mine of  this journey into light, this awakening ever more deeply and expansively of our one illuminated heart…

on the first night of Christmas, my true love (Beloved Aries) gave to me the gift of…

~

a flock of geese flying home to sun

singing of joy and peace for everyone

open hearts now re-joy-sing spontaneously

awakening our light song at celestial frequency

 we soar on love’s sunbeams  in wild ecstasy

~

How could the soul not take flight
When from the glorious Presence
A soft call flows sweet as honey,
And whispers, “Rise up now, come away.”
How could the fish not jump
Immediately from dry land into water,
When the sound of water from the ocean
Of fresh waves springs to his ear?
How could the hawk not fly away,
Back, back, to the wrist of the kind
As soon as he hears the drum
The king’s baton hits again and again,
Drumming out the signal of return?
How could the Sufi not start to dance,
Turning on himself, like the atom in the sun of eternity,
So he can leap free of this dying world?
Fly away, fly away, bird, to your native home.
You have leaped free of the cage,
Your wings are flung back in the wind of God.
Leave behind the stagnant and marshy waters,
Hurry, hurry, hurry, O bird, to the source of life!

~ Rumi ~

~

thankyou, Beloved, for gifting such ant exquisite day of being, simply being fullheartedly/foolheartedly present in every moment, in every beautiful rainbow trail moment…