-
Simpler, dangit. Simpler!
The more I absorb different writings and ideas about the Great Mother Dao, the more I want to cut through a lot of the excess that seems to exist in it. My current Priestess teacher said something powerful in our last one-on-one, about how at the end, it’s being a Goddess/Spirit worshipper… and the practices are generally the same things people have been doing for thousands of years to attend to that worship. I also recently heard a quote about how rituals turn habits into something beautiful… and beauty is important to me. Rituals can change perception, sometimes for a lifetime. So I certainly see the value in them. Ceremony,…
-
Upcoming New Harvest Moon 2024
The next New Moon will be a ‘Harvest Supermoon’, and what a time to be breaking down old things, and preparing to begin anew! We are in the midst of cleaning out and packing up ahead of our sale of our coastal home… for a move towards mountains in mid-October. At the same time, I continue addressing chronic health issues, and not the least – my goal of assessing and culling practices in my spiritual life.
-
Upcoming Full Harvest Moon – Culling
“Just meditate on this fact. If the past is not there, who are you?“ – Osho. Tao: The Pathless Path (p. 146). Kindle Edition. At the age of 48, the Daoist (and future Master) Sun Bu’er met Wang Chongyang, the Daoist teacher she would eventually follow. She was exasperated and outraged by Master Chongyang in the beginning. However, by the age of 51, she was a Master in her own right, and left every part of her prior identity and life behind, striking out alone to continue furthering her Daoist cultivation. Sun Bu’er felt it necessary to destroy her own beauty and behave as if mad to safely do so.…
-
Inward Bound
I am thinking quite a bit about the Osho quote I noted in my last post. A number of other spiritual concepts have since surfaced (one that was rather starkly predicted in a card reading before the new moon). I am willing myself to be open, and to follow the Dao / Spirit wherever she leads me. At this juncture, I am inclined to turn inward in my spiritual life, and return to a more eremitic/monastic lifestyle.
-
The Lotus Moon 2023
The incoming lunar phase of this period, according to Chinese Daoist tradition, (Deng Ming-Dao, The Lunar Tao), is the Lotus Moon. It is known primarily in the USA in its fullness as the Buck or Thunder Moon, and the latter certainly makes the most sense for my region: this is usually a time of some wild storms here on the Southeastern Coast! For this 2023 Lotus Moon period, I hope to spend time evaluating my lifestyle and practices to see if they are really in alignment with the three Daoist treasures of Simplicity, Compassion and Humility. Am I ‘following nature’ and ’embracing virtue’? I fear that I have been responding…
-
Full Huntress / Blood Moon 2019
I love Autumn so much. And this week, we had some of our first real, fall weather for the year. I also recently celebrated a birthday with friends and family, and in the past month, completed the first section of my Daoist training. The Huntress / Blood Moon is traditionally the time when one hunts game and culls the herds, storing meat for the upcoming Winter. It has found me working at culling some bad habits, and storing their healthier counterparts for the introspective season.
-
On: “A Daoist Practice Journal (1)…”
A book reflection on: “A Daoist Practice Journal: Come Laugh With Me”, by Michael Rinaldini
-
A Lesson of Spilled Tea – Day 1
I was excitedly anticipating my first day of tea and meditation, in the format I am attempting to practice. This is a part of the spiritual training I am undergoing. I set things into motion on the New Thunder Moon / Solar Eclipse, but also had incoming, beloved family members I hadn’t seen in years. I decided to begin some of my study and meditation today.