A Simple Week

This week will be a little simpler than the last, and maybe a little cooler. A simple life means

• everything in moderation - having just enough interests, activities, and stuff in your life to live comfortably and enjoyably; 
• allowing time and space for the things that really matter-- listening to God, caring for each other, and enjoying simple pleasures;
• being a good caretaker of the earth and using only your share of the earth’s resources.

Agenda:

1. Read Testament of Devotion

2. Simplicity in the kitchen

3. Simplify my diet

4. Internal simplification

Hungry Ghost Retreat

Today is my new moon retreat day, a chance to spend time alone with my inner guide. 

A retreat (even a short one) needs some definition or it is just a vacation: I want to broaden my inner experience and gain clarity. I need open-mindedness and a little discipline in order to maximize my effort. The most important components to arrange are solitude, silence, and simplicity. I will do less talking, less business, and more personal thought and action. 

My theme today is Depth: What is my Truth, my intentions, and my purpose?

Agenda:

1. Retreat plan

2. Read "The Earth Path"

3. Truth Walk

4. Garden observation

5. Permaculture tips for August

6. Set a sacred intention

7. Healing art practice

New Hungry Ghost Moon (Ghost Gate)

The Chinese call the seventh new moon the Hungry Ghost Moon, or Ghost Gate. This whole month is called Ghost Month, and special ceremonies take place today, and on the full moon, and again on the last day of the month.

This day is called Ghost Gate because today the Hungry Ghosts are let out of hell to roam the earth, looking for entertainment and seeking out their enemies. The Hungry Ghosts are depicted with huge, round bellies, large mouths, and very thin necks. 

Hungry Ghosts have two manifestations: They appear as the spirits of unhappy, homeless souls, and we also have our inner hungry ghosts. This month I acknowledge my unhealthy cravings and insatiable greeds, that are always hungry and never satisfied, and that haunt me - though I'm so used to feeding them, I don't really notice them anymore.

The new moon is the start of the lunar cycle, a time of high energy and clear thinking. Historically, the new moon is when women took time to be alone; it's a time to retreat, set intentions, and initiate something new.

Agenda for Today:
1. Journal queries

2. Choose a month theme

4. Set intentions

5. New moon altar

6. Ghost Gate ceremony

2. Retreat Day

July Sabbath for Awareness

Today is my sabbath - for a couple of days at the end of my week I step out of the fray, and regroup. Today I'm giving myself over to awareness.

My perfect sabbath is a celebration, a holiday. I keep it holy with my attitude: I don't rush, complain, or worry. Everything I do has a flavor of peace. I schedule some work, but it's work I find fulfilling, or uplifting. Simple is a great word to describe my ideal activities for the sabbath: Simple tasks, simple foods, and an undemanding schedule.

Agenda today:
1. Synopsis of my next month

2. My Earth-Quaker awareness practices
3. Read "Testament of Devotion"
4. Surrender, rest, recuperate

July Third Quarter Moon

The July Third-Quarter Moon energy is yin - quiet, internal, heart-driven, intentional Being-ness. At this phase we can ease off a bit on actively pursuing goals, slow down, go within, and attend to inner work and self-care.

I'm just back from a 5-day trip, so I need this!

Agenda today:
1. Renewal plan for next month

2. Evaluation House

3. Read "Testament of Devotion"

4. Monthly journal brainstorm

5. Surrender, rest, recuperate

Full Thunder Moon and Gateways to Obedience

The full moon of July is called ameku, the mid-summer moon, by the Kalapuya of our area, and the thunder moon by others. July days have the humming energy of a summer storm. The sun is at the peak of its power, lighting all corners with its radiance, and burning away all non-essentials. It's a month of passion and activity: I'm challenged to find integrity in my actions and expand into my Truth.

We are now at the peak of the strong-energy yang phase of the waxing moon, and will soon begin the quiet-energy yin time of the waning moon.

Agenda:

1. Read Testimony of Devotion

2. Celebrate integrity

Holy Obedience

The word obedience has a stigma, since women's liberation happened; we don't love, honor, and obey anymore.

Phycology defines obedience as "social influence that involves performing an action under the orders of an authority figure". It differs from compliance (which involves changing your behavior at the request of another person) and conformity (which involves altering your behavior in order to go along with the rest of the group). Obedience requires surrendering your ego to someone you have agreed to let do your thinking for you.

Holy obedience then is to follow the orders of your inner guidance, your leadings, the orders you get from God. 

I'm not at all good at obedience!  

Agenda:

1. Take a vision walk

2. Read Testimony of Devotion

3. Obedience plans

The Light Within

I've been reading Thomas R. Kelly's book "Testament of Devotion" (1941). I've had to translate the antique language: The relentless torrent of God defined as "He, Him, Father, Lord, and King" is daunting and difficult, but when I labor to get underneath that, it's a sweet little book.

The first chapter is The Light Within: "Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return." 

Kelly urges an internal practice and secret habits of the mind that allow you to be perpetually bowed in worship while going about your days, always reacting to the world joyously from this inward center.

Tanabata

Tanabata is a Japanese summer festival, observed on the evening of July 7th. Tanabata means literally "Evening of the seventh", but it is also known as the Star Festival, because it celebrates the story of two heavenly lovers.

The story goes that Shokujo the Weaver (Vega), and Kengyu the Cowherd (Altair) were two young star people who worked for the gods, making cloth and milking the heavenly cows. They fell so much in love that they forgot to do their chores. The gods became angry when they found they had run out of cloth and milk, and put the two lovers on separate sides of the Milky Way.

The lovers were so sad to be separated that the gods eventually took pity on them and agreed that they could meet once a year on the night of Tanabata, if the sky was clear. It is said that the birds fly up to make a bridge so that the lovers may cross.

Agenda Today:
1. Shinto prayer
2. Hang Paper Streamers
3. Make a tanzaku wish
4. Kigan-sai (Wishes Ceremony)
5. Make Hiyashi Somen (Cold Noodles)

First Quarter Moon of July (On Discipline)

We are one-quarter of the way through the moon cycle. The moon is waxing - growing in light and energy, creating a time for decisive action. I use this July quarter moon's energy to help me to discern my Truth and then act on it; this requires some discipline.

The ancient Stoic philosophers used discipline as a tool in their journey towards a life lived well. Epictetus listed three disciplines: Amor Fati, or the loving acceptance of one’s fate, which was for living in harmony with the nature of the universe as a whole; Hormê, or the impulse to ethical action, for living in harmony with humans; and Sunkatathesis, which is mindfulness, for living in harmony with our own essential nature, with reason and truthfulness in both thoughts and speech.

I long for better discipline - to give me stability and structure, and help me to be responsible; to allow me to keep promises to myself and to others, and maintain the integrity and self-control that I want; to empower me to grow and reach my dreams. But  hope this growth should lead to a transcendent state where I no longer rely on discipline because I love and understand myself enough to follow the right path naturally!

Agenda:
1. Journal queries

2. Read "Repacking Your Bags"

3. Make a full effort plan

4. Write a mission haiku

July Sabbath for Care

The month of July is a golden time of passion and activity. Nature celebrates the peak of its power, the sun reaches her highest point, and I do the same; every day I get to share my light with the world. I put my best and brightest energy into my projects, my garden, and my art. I seek out chances to be courageous, and extend myself beyond what’s comfortable.

The question for July is How do I shine through the clouds?

“Hold the sadness and pain of samsara in your heart and at the same time the power and vision of the Great Eastern Sun. Then the warrior can make a proper cup of tea.”

~ Chogyam Trungpa

Agenda:

1. Keeping the Sabbath

2. Care practice

3. How to finish things I start

4. Read "Repacking Your Bags"