New Poetry from Enlightening Times Contributors.

Rampant imaginations

Day dreams and sweet temptations.

Crazy ideas and rampant imaginations. 

Lost in a world of madness beyond ken.

While trying to master the art of living Zen.

Winter chills linger, yet the embers been stoked.

The scent of spring brings with it fresh hope.

Tending the tinder’s and keeping warm.

The tempest’s awake, prepare for a storm.

Lay bare, awaiting the new cycle.

Behaving perfectly archetypal.

On fire now, the flame invoked.

Enchanted roots like an Ancient Oak.

No brimstone needed for budding to begin.

As the miracle of creation comes from within.

Follow Your Compass 

How do you know, if it’s time to let go?

How can you tell, when you’re under a spell?

When the die’s been cast, and the cards are on the table.

Can you separate the fact’s from the fable?

Lost in a dream or going out of your mind.

Wondering if sometimes, it’s cruel to be kind.

When the bands playing so loudly, they lift the roof.

Will you be able to hear your own truth?

What if you can’t, how will you know?

When you’re at a crossroads,

With different ways to go.

Tentative and testing, taking your time.

Checking to see if heart and mind are aligned.

Dreams and dilemmas are part of this ride.

Where destiny’s never far from our side.

Make a decision, follow your heart.

You always know, right from the start.

You could resist, you could pretend.

But it’s only pain it causes in the end.

So why wait, use your inner compass.

It might just lead you somewhere tremendous.

©2014~All Rights Reserved Rashelle Reid

ADEO SALUS 

Adeo : to approach, visit, come to, undertake.

Salus : health, safety, well-being, salvation / salutation.

Gifted to the people, with a Golden Key.

From those who walked before us who gave so generously.

Sitting barren and deserted, with locks upon the doors.

No longer helping anyone with all their pain and sores.

Memories of the service aren't filled with joy and glee,

Dentistry more like torture and sex advice for free.

It doesn't seem to resonate, with the clues in full sight.

An Egyptian styled angel sits to the right,

Adeo Salus greets your eyes as  you look above the door.

Begging you to question the tales from old folklore.

Philanthropy was part of this magnificent town of ours,

Poets, Patterns, and Pride in some of our finest hours.

The snail case must have contributed to the culture of blame,

And when we think of the witches, many hold their head in shame.

With curiosity I wonder what else was lost,

When the libraries were looted and the bombs were dropped.

It seems some knew the secrets of the Saints and Sages,

The magic of the Alchemists passed throughout the ages.

It’s time for our town to rise now, like a phoenix from the flames.

Clear the debris from the bleak Heart, and let if flow again,

Community and compassion will shine again one more,

As we lead the way and show the shops the door.

Supporting local business, and working hand in hand.

Inspiring ripples sent across this sacred land.

Many have said and I know it to be true,

Our Salvation lies in nature and our well-being too.

Let us celebrate the river and stand upon the shore,

As we meet the divine by opening up the door.

Educate the citizens, let’s begin to make some noise,

Listen very closely, you will hear the children rejoice.

The truth is your communion and what you choose to do,

With all these blessed moments that are laid out in front of you.

Consumer chaos captured the hearts and minds,

Leaving classrooms and colleges far behind.

It seemed a trance had captured the whole nation.

Lost in the quest for instant gratification,

Failing to notice this moment of now,

We miss Mother Nature taking her bow.

We’ve cut off the source, directly at it’s Heart,

Built shops upon the river, known as the Cart.

The arteries are clogged and the wells run no more,

And maybe it’s time now to open up the shore.

The river is the life bringer, the waterways must flow,

As within so without that is how it goes.

Let the energy come back to life,

Welcome good times, say goodbye to strife.

I know there is investment, but who does it serve?

As once again the Council do a body swerve.

The green-belt will soon be as thin as string,

That’s if they decide to leave anything!

With purpose let’s sit together and see what we need,

And let our Council serve it’s people not get lost in the greed.

If each one of us, took some time to care.

There’d be thriving communities for us all to share.

Could the flame of the heart be reignited?

By discussions and ideas from those well cited.

Maybe a hub, with an alternative view,

Maintaining the focus, It’s all about you.

Healing, learning, debates all in one central space,

Co-creating together in divine grace.

From surviving to thriving, it’s easy you see.

When you change your thoughts from me to we.

©2013 copyright ~All Rights Reserved Rashelle Reid

Robbers: a poem (inspired by a recent dream)

Presenting themselves in clean skins,
The robbers travel from afar to take, treasure and lives,
Good and honest men and women – from a looking glass view –
Blinded by lenses forged in the cold darkness of polar thought.
The robbers preach an ancient thousands-years-old tapestry,
Now rewoven in intricate patterns of modern trickstering, laws,
Deciphered only by those who can see the newest incarnation preachers,
For who they really are: Conjurers of empty chalice and poisonous drink.

Clothed in deceit, the court jester, the robber leader, performs his best for the royal patrons,
Apparently unaware he in fact stands in the nude.
Ever convinced and confident of his sly dance – a delusions of grandeur high step –
Driven on by the whips of those who own him, a conductor in residence, the court jester parlays.
Bought and paid for from the windy city streets of his own inconsequence,
He sends out the good men and women, robbers, who’ve signed on,
To unwittingly rob those on the other side of the world (and at home, too),
Those who now live and die below a foreign, dirty bald eagle, its shadow threateningly undulating across a burnt earth.

Some of the robed men from their scorched homes promise to avenge the deaths – of their wives and of their mothers, of their fathers and of their sons and of their daughters – someone will pay, the dept.
But probably not the robbers themselves – no, probably the robbers will not, personally, pay.
(Nor will the court jester, their leader, pay.)
For they cannot be reached, safely fenced, in fact and in dogma.
Instead the robbers mount their remote thrones,
And watch the gamed world below unfold in tacit images of nothing that matters, to them.
For payment the robbers will be wined and dined in colorful ribbons of glory, pinned on chests, puffed,
Hearts and minds intoxicated by lies and indifference.
They are sad-false heroes who kill for what the puppet masters want, from the earth and from the people,
And to defend the mirage in which they themselves live: the illusion of freedom and democracy.
Thus the robbers crosshair those who get in the way and fight back;
They aim to extinct those who are likewise lost in the righteous wood,
¬– but who nonetheless have the right to fight, back, for the right of their voice, for the life of their choice –
While also killing those who just seem, a little suspicious,
Or those not even that, at all, “by accident.”

In the end the robber leaders will die, eventually,
Perhaps morally ill-equipped to face their torrid roles,
For that would require them accepting their lives were full of...
Nothing.
They will die old and comfortable in their white houses, on the hill, paid for by the riches of the billions,
Their messes left for their and your and my children,
To clean up.

Andrew R. Steele

http://www.mindfulemergence.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/introduction_613.html

 
Concepts

Icy concepts thaw

in the warm glow of awareness.

Beads of water stream

down my bedroom window

revealing concrete and cars,

restoring my view of paradise.

John Ptacek 2012

 Love Each Other

Have you ever wondered how different life could be?

When you make the choice to live and be your full potentiality!

Letting go of hurts, anger, sadness, pain,

You will soon discover all the Gifts that do remain

Let me walk now with you, I will gently hold your hand.

And together we will help you truly understand.

Love is always the answer to the pain that you may feel.

Everything else is learned and simply isn’t real.

Forgiveness dissolves the past and brings Peace into your being

Compassion lights the way for any darkness you are seeing.

Living in the moment, the worries fall away

Tomorrows isn’t here yet and let’s forget yesterday

The past is over and done, let it go with ease,

Just like the leaves that fall and then are taken by the breeze.

You really are amazing, a creation made in Love,

You are worthy and you are beautiful and you are more than good enough.

No matter where you are right now the solution is the same

To love as much as possible and remember from where you came.

You are a Spiritual being, here to play and grow

And I'm sure you've heard the saying- We reap what we sow,

Give your love out freely in whatever form

it takes, make some room for Kindness and forgive any mistakes.

And soon you will come to know, as many have discovered

The reason we are here is to LOVE EACH OTHER.

Jan Ferguson, 2013

Alignment 2012
New Painting in the Webstore

  Looking Beyond...

Sometimes we look beyond,

And dream of what should be,

Forgetting that where we focus,

Is only what we see.

As we pine for nature in the concrete mess,
Our hearts get weary, our bodies stressed,

A simple shift is all it takes

To soften all heart-aches,

I am here before your eyes,

As the rain falls slowly from the skies,
And the tears run down your face,
I pray your heart feels my grace,

Your pain, it is clear to see,
Is that you've seperated you from me,
As the drops trickle down the pane,
Do you see the miracle of rain?

The cars, the buildings and all that is,
Is a symbol of eternal bliss.
Though man-made they're still divine,
As you and me are eternally entwined.

No matter how it looks, sweet friend,

I am here, there will be no end.

Together we arise, as once we fell,

Now its time for creating heaven not hell,

I mean for the many not for the few,

Cos just like me, they are part of you.

Forgiveness is the key you'll find,

To all the treasures deep inside.

With weeping hearts we all have seen,

What happens when men turn mean,

Now, it is time to celebrate,

As we journey to our divine fate.

Heaven on Earth for all to see,

Let's do it together, you and me.

Namaste'

Rashellle Reid, 2012
www.rashellereid.com

2012 Judgement, Key 20 and The Hanged Man Key 12 by Cheryl Lynne Bradley.

© Cheryl Lynne Bradley 2012

How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look? Ooh
Some say it's just a part of it
We've got to fullfil the book
Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever have
Redemption songs
Redemption songs

“Redemption Song” by Bob Marley 

 

I have lived in apocalyptic times, in an apocalyptic century….My work to a large extent belongs to that stream of catastrophic literature that attempts to overcome despair. Czeslaw Milosz 

Judgement from the Soulscapes Tarot.

Judgment, Key XX is a card of cosmic fatality; individual discord brought into order by fate. It symbolizes The Last Judgment, discernment and both moral and intellectual freedom as well as the separation of good and evil. It represents changes in our existence and reminds us that we will all be judged for our actions. The Hanged Man, Key XII, represents the Cardinal Virtue of Prudence; it represents foresight, discretion, forethought, reason, wisdom, circumspection, skill, good judgment, perfection of the intellect and providence. The Hanged Man also represents accomplishing the Great Work within oneself; this is the “Magnum Opus” of Hermeticism, Alchemists, Rosicrucians and Freemasons. Eco-theologian Thomas Berry in his book, “The Great Work: Our Way Into the Future” interprets 

The Great Work to be people working together and creating overarching movements, “that give shape and meaning to life by relating the human venture to the larger destinies of the universe." He sees a world in which we can transform our relationship with nature from being destructive and exploitive to being beneficial to both; a radical redemption that would save the mystery and celebrate the wonder of the natural world. 

There is a lot of talk about a Zombie Apocalypse. With the number of people walking around, with their heads down and both thumbs hard at work, completely absorbed in some handheld electronic device, an argument could be made that we are already there. A Zombie is a snake deity with roots in Western Africa and Haiti. In more modern and probably more familiar terms, a Zombie is also a soulless corpse revived, resurrected or reanimated by use of necromancy, witchcraft or other mystical means and which is neither dead or alive. A Necromancer is someone who communicates with the dead by either summoning their spirit or raising their body. Another definition of Zombie is a human in a death like condition with no cognitive abilities, no free will, no soul and no pneuma (spirit). They are called The Undead. We have all seen classic Zombie movies, “The Night of the Living Dead” when first released was considered gruesome and had people vomiting in the movie theaters but “Night of the Living Dead Part 2” is definitely in the realm of high comedy. Philosophy students have a long term love affair with Zombies and Zombie Walks are all the rage in cities and communities around the world. Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” has its own cult following of Zombie Flash Mobs. People are making a lot of money selling survival gear for after the Apocalypse. It does make one take a pause and wonder what one’s post-apocalyptic skill set is going to be.

Eschatology is a belief or doctrine concerning the ultimate or final end of things. The year 2012 is a fascinating one full of speculation about the possibility of this being the time of the Apocalypse. End of Days, End Times, The Zombie Apocalypse, The Paschal Mystery, The Final Judgment, The Resurrection of the Dead, Last Day on the Mayan Calendar, the Hopi Prophecy and The Book of Revelation are topics for discussion and debate everywhere. The Biblical Eschatology or End Times comes with two very strong viewpoints; The Doctrines of Preterism and Futurism. The Doctrine of Preterism is based on the belief that the rise of the Anti-Christ and other signs of the end of our System of Things have already occurred; Futurism says it is all still yet to come.

Apocalypse is a Greek word which means “uncovering” or “revealing”. Armageddon translates as “At Megiddo”; Israel’s largest air force base is located near Megiddo. The Paschal mystery is the passion, crucifixion, death, burial, descent into hell, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ; another aspect of The Hanged Man. The Jews believed that the souls of the dead were “sheol”. Sheol was Hades, an unseen underworld which encompassed the state of death and home of the dead. It was believed that there was no true retribution until the resurrection of the body. Resurrection meant that the dead would be revived in their bodies and live again on earth; The Final Judgment comes after all the dead have come back to life. 

The Biblical depiction of the Apocalypse is dark and disturbing. They are described in the Old Testament in the Book of Daniel, Chapter 12, in the New Testament in the Book of Mark, Chapter 13 and in the Book of The Revelation of St. John the Divine. It does make you wonder if there is not some easier way to redeem human kind from our moral turpitude other than sacrificing Jesus and setting loose the Four Riders of the Apocalypse. Are we even a society that cares about or believe that humanity can redeem itself? The rise of fundamental apocalyptic extremism around our world is a sign that (some) people do believe in redemption through the wholesale slaughter of innocents by other innocents. We have generations of people who have been sold a bad story that the past and the present have no meaning and the only hope for humankind is in some hazy convoluted and vague future that will be perfect after all the infidels or non-believers have been killed. 

Thomas Merton and William Blake have written much dark poetry on apocalyptic and redemptive themes; Merton was arguably Blake’s number one fan. In 1947, Merton published an 8 part poem called “Figures for an Apocalypse”. He warns writers and intellectuals to be vigilant and to escape while they are still able. He calls the women who have dissipated and wasted their lives until they have become “grey, artificial Shebas, spurious queens”. 

“The skylights of our intellect
Have gone grey as frost,
While the dawn makes ready, with coated tongue,
To mutter the last alarm.”

Part 6 of this poem is called “In the Ruins of New York” and it is ominously prescient when you consider it was written in 1947 and compare it to the events of 9/11 and its references to fallen towers and smouldering ash: “has died in the terrors of sudden contemplation.” 

"Christed One" from the Soulscapes Tarot

Blake felt that humanity’s Fall from Grace fragmented us individually; he felt we each consisted of four components called the Four Zoas. They were Urizen (Reason), Urthona (Wisdom), Luvah (Emotions) and Tharmas (Instinct). He believed in a supernatural and revealed religion full of vision and imagination not confined within the boundaried of rational construction. Merton and Blake both shared a common idea that redemption required the union of contraries and the negation of Negation. Urizen (Reason or the Abstract objecting power that Negatives everything) held Heaven and Hell apart and infected them with indifference, nothingness and sickness. 

What does redemption even mean? We have all redeemed a coupon, a gift certificate or rolled up all our change and cashed it in for paper money. Stocks, bonds and insurance policies are also redeemed; exchanged for cash value. We can redeem something by buying it back, paying a ransom, making good by performance, making amends or release from liability or obligation. Mortgages are redeemed when they are paid off. Redemption refers to the act of redeeming or the state of being redeemed but is also represents deliverance and rescue. From a religious perspective, redemption is salvation or the deliverance from sin, forgiveness, the removal of guilt, and the conferral of grace by which we achieve unity with God; it is also atonement for guilt. 

In Biblical redemption we are enriched by the poverty embraced by Jesus; his submission to God’s will atones for our disobedient ways. His teachings were purported to purify our hearing; his healing and casting out of spirits was to heal us and his death on the Cross was his redemptive mission for the whole world. His death allegorically gives us the forgiveness that we can’t give to ourselves. 

In traditional Hebrew the concept of redemption, or redeeming, means doing something for someone else, or on their behalf, because they can’t do it for themselves; it is viewed as a familial obligation. If no family member is willing or able to help, the king or God is expected to look after the person. Redeemers provide for the redeemed as if they were family. Usually these situations arise over debt and inability to meet financial obligations. 

The Apocalypse is the fate of the world, a Mystery of Redemption. Lions, eagles, oxen, angels, a woman, a prostitute, a new-born baby all play parts in the texts. Many symbols, personalities, numbers, gemstones, animals and colours are associated with the Apocalypse; Archangel Michael and The Dragon. In the End Times, it is Michael’s cosmic task to slay The Dragon? In the final battle between good and evil, the powers of evil will be vanquished. What next? The Consummation, and a new world in which the end will be at the beginning. This is the restoral of paradise and the place where all wrongs are made right. In this new world there will be eternal peace and eternal justice. We should remember as well that many examples of Apocalyptic literature were written to lift the spirits of politically or militarily oppressed people who needed the hope of Divine Intervention, for God to take his role as The Redeemer and Father Protector, in order to survive their situation. 

Are you still wondering what the Mystery of Redemption means? I believe what redeems us is Dunamis. Dunamis is the quality of developing greatness, moral power and excellence of soul. Dunamis is an ancient Greek word for the philosophical concept of potentiality and actuality; a powerful and mysterious word for a powerful and mysterious time. It is inherent power or ability which is part of the virtue our nature and that we can exert; it can also be the power and influence of wealth, the resources of numbers and the power of armies. Dunamis means miraculous powers and strength; it is used in Acts 10 by Peter to describe Jesus performing miracles after being baptized in the Holy Spirit by John the Baptist. 

In closing, we just have to be prepared to go through a resurrection, a coming judgment and the life to come. Develop your dunamis, pick a good post-apocalyptic skill and partner and everything should work out alright. I’m taking up archery! 

Happy New Year! See you in 2013! 

© Cheryl Lynne Bradley 2012

For more writings by Cheryl Please visit her website. :)

Italics are amendments Original Article by the Editor.

2012 and the Rollercoaster so far, by Rashelle

Hey everyone,  
 

Delighted to be here, writing an article for the Enlightening Times. Thanks, Jade for the boot up the bot! 
 

Oh what a ride it’s been this year, eh? A wild and bumpy one for many of us from what I observed. We started the year on the crest of Awakening and the tide was high. We all hit the ground, eager and ready to go…and we could see the structures of the world were being shaken to their core, as we had tore down the structures within ourselves. We knew we were living at a significant moment in time, that’s right, now! Ahh..

People were preparing for everything from Ascending from the Earth to Doomsday, to those in the “real” world going about their business as usual. You know the ones in the “real world” don’t you? Yes..the one’s that think we’re all nuts, you got it!! And then spring sprung beautifully…and everything slowed down for a little while before the roller-coaster of the summer months.  

 

More and more news was being brought to light, politicians, pharma, the food industries, the suppression of rights and many of us could see it more clearly than ever. We had been reminded of our power, and opened up to love and the ways of the past were gone, though some strands still remained. We held tight, we resisted and still patterns kept their grip, just like in the financial world, the political world…the religious world…the natural world…all of it...on the brink of collapse, breaking down and putting up a fight, like we've all seenmany times, only to be re-born better, brighter, stronger than ever. Some would probably even call it evolution.  

 

Having embraced our multi-dimensionality and our helpers from other realms we have already evolved beyond the limits of many of our predecessors and now our structures and institutions must follow suit. We all know the process of transformation isn’t always easy but it’s always so worth it. And, imagine..go on…do it with me now, for one minute…imagine how good it’s going to be when the world is at Peace and people are Thriving rather than Surviving, and I mean the many not only the few. 

Have you noticed how many people get consumed with the rage and overwhelm when they discover all the many interesting ways devised to keep the people powerless? I’ve seen many who have found it challenging to move beyond their fear or their anger towards those they see as responsible for this and continue to assign blame which only succeeds in given their power away. So I was thinking, just in case, any of our readers are getting a bit “stuck” in the e-motion of it all I’d share how I do it, and what has worked for me.  

 

We all know the magic of Responsibility by now, don’t we? Yes, I knew the readers here would all be living in the magical world of Responsibility. And as we know like everything else Responsibility is a multi-level phenomenon. 

Anyway, when I first learned about Responsibility I learned we were all the CAUSE of our EFFECT and in so many ways this is truth and when we see it in action from any level, it is magnificent to behold. But let’s face it, that’s only a fraction of the story because we’re also co-creating with 7 billion other souls who are all connected to us and navigating their way through life at the same time and every one of them is a powerful creator just like you and me. For me, responsibility's greatest power lies in how we choose to respond. And let's face facts, we all created this mess together while unconsciously under the illusion of separation. Separation from each other and separation from the Universe.   

 

So I take responsibility for my role in co-creating this mess while I went about my business mostly unconscious!! And for allowing it to continue because I didn’t think there was a choice! I bought into the idea, that I was powerless to do anything and That’s just the way it is and the other non-questioning tosh! I was apathetic and did feck all. I was selfish and self-involved revelling in the consumerism and rarely looking beyond the limit of my own life…and then I woke up!! 

And I gave myself the gift of self-love and when I did I realised I had an abundant source of it to create magic in the physical world, and none of us are powerless to spread a little love and kindness in the world. We can all take action to DEMAND more Equality for All, because that is who we are, just forget about who they are. Let it go…and let the fire in your belly that the anger has left since it's departure become the PASSION that stirs you to ACTION!   

 

Tune into your HEART and bring all you have learned in the spiritual realms here and do your thang!! Don’t just do it!! Do it…real good!! I don’t like to talk about God because of what man has done to the label, I believe, like LOVE, or consciousness, God is a term for the indefinable, for the energy that animates everything, for the one shared mind, the Universe and each and everything in it. So normally I’d talk in other terms but one of my greatest teachers Dr Wayne Dyer has something really profound to say about the EGO and how it’s an acronym for Edging God Out! 

How simple, yet so profound! And, it’s so true although if you have anything negative anchored to the word God I would suggest using the word love instead. Only thing is, it may not seem quite so profound if you think ELO..Edging Love Out, you’d probably be expecting a tune rather than a deep truth lol!   
 

Boy, have we seen the battle with EGO played out both internally and externally this year. Phew! And there’s a way to go..but hey now we actually know the little ME is part of the big ME and this ME is here to be the best ME or MAGNIFICENT EXPRESSION of the big ME possible. Got it? LOL! Ahh…a little confusion…always good to open the mind. What I mean is this..as I came to celebrate my oneness with the Universe and everything and everyone in it, and realised I was a Magnificent Expression of All that is. Wow!! Mind blowing when you stop and think about it really. 
 

The term EGO has also been used my many to represent the PERSONALITY and like all labels there are many overlap in the definitions, representations and understandings of both these terms and somehow for many it became a battle to the death. It’s all a bit brutal for a being of love..is it not? For a fuller explanation of why it may be time to stop battling the EGO and make friends instead click here.

What if instead we simply ask the question Is this Edging God/Love Out?

Or

Egging God/Love On?

 

Embrace your shadow, you’re not here to be nothing but love, you are nothing but love already. You are here to be you and to be you with bells on! We are at a choice Point for humanity and the Earth now. You have been graced with the gift of AWARENESS, use it wisely. Please check out the Free choice Point movie featuring Gregg Braden, Dr David Hamilton, James Caan and many more and if you feel inspired join the movement. Or join another one that resonates with you, just take action in the way that fills you with Joy and soon you’ll forget all about the anger and be so busy co-creating with passion that one day you’ll turn around and realise that world you want to see, is here now.

Until we meet again friends I leave you with the words of Voltaire, later hi-jacked by Star Wars…”With great power, comes great responsibility.”

Rashelle x  

Images ©2012 Jade Ashcroft All Rights Reserved. 

http://www.esoteric-art.co.uk/