Fourth Sunday of Advent and Third Quarter Moon

The fourth and final part of advent begins today. When I have observed advent well, I find that I am now mostly prepared for Christmas - my house is fairly clean, shopping is finished, and the cupboards are filled with yummy food. I need to complete only a few finishing touches. This is when I often start an intentional period of introspection: A Winter Retreat Brainstorm for the Next Year.

Today is also the Third Quarter Moon: This waning 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.

This is a good day to take a deep breath and go back to the source, back to the Spirit that brings me to this place of light and grace; back to living in Spirit, being Spirit. I remember then that happiness comes in calm simplicity, and awareness in the moment. I experience Spirit through my breath, and with each sensation, sight, sound, smell, and taste. I only need to be fully awake to the ordinary miracle of Being, and keep my focus on the Spirit of Love that guides me.

Agenda:

1. Read a novena

2. Plan ways to give attention to God

3. Spirit Guide trance

4. Evaluation House

5. Advent wreath ceremony

6. 

Surrender, rest, recuperate

1. Read a novena:

I've been reading this Creation Novena from the Indian Catholic Matters site:

Day 7: A Prayer for the Climate

Creator God, we give thanks for the climate. Thank You for the interplay of land, water, and heat that gives rise to the weather patterns. Thank You for the complexity and beauty of all Your systems on Earth.

Thank You for the exquisite balance that has cradled humanity. Thank You for the steady predictability of rain and heat that has for centuries allowed us to grow crops, husband livestock, and thrive.

As we wreak havoc on Your climate, especially through our insistent burning of fossil fuels, give us wisdom. Help us find our rightful place in the great fabric of Your creation.

We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

2. Plan ways to give attention to God:

This week of advent my focus is the Guiding Light of God. My image of God is the Creator Spirit of earth and sky, and the Love and Light that lives in all people. I try to live always awake and listening for the message of Love, and always feel a connection to Creation, but I get distracted. I want to have a more effectual connection to God, and so this week I'll practice and improve my mindfulness habits.

Things to do this week to give attention to the Spirit of God:

• Each morning as I wake, pause to take a slow breath, and center on the Light within. Stay in this gentle meditation as I get dressed and move through my morning.
• Sit every morning for a few minutes of worship, simply feeling a presence of Love; speak my prayers out loud: prayers of gratitude, dreams and desires and people I want to hold in the Light.
• Write about my personal spiritual path, how I weave together the threads of my belief, and my spiritual practices.
• Say my brief outdoor Dawn Prayer every morning, with feet on the ground.
• Go on an Awareness Walk, and send prayers to my loved ones, all the people of the world, and to the earth.
• Start an Inner Guide trance practice, to access new insights.
• Light all the candles at night to remind me that the Spirit of God is our guiding Light.

Seneca said: “You are a fragment of God; ... Will you not bear in mind, whenever you eat, who you are that eat, and whom you are nourishing? ... Whenever you mix in society, whenever you take physical exercise, whenever you converse, do you not know that you are nourishing God, exercising God?”

3. Spirit Guide trance:

I feel the darkness of winter in my body and my heart; some mornings my bones ache and I can't shake the gloom. The expectation of joy and good cheer in this season are not always helpful.

A couple of year's ago I found this article by Jade Grigori, a Shaman teacher, about Winter Solstice in the indigenous north:

Winter Solstice: A Time of the Shaman’s Gift Bringing

"The underlying aspects of the various cultural Winter Solstice celebrations lies rooted deep in Shamanic origins. Amongst the Saami (Laplanders) and Siberians, Buryats and Altaic tribes, all of the far northern climes, there was and is a very common motif in the Shamanic practices surrounding the Winter Solstice ceremonies."

The shaman was called on by the people to go into a deep trance, helped along with mushrooms and/or shamanic drumming. The purpose was to access and deal with burdens of Inner Darkness that is in line with Nature's darkness :

"This natural rhythm of the dance of Earth and Sun is a trigger within our psyche. 

 

As all the things that have remained hidden in the darkness begin to be revealed in the greater light of day, so do all the things that we tend to hide in our own Inner Darkness begin to be brought forth into activity as the days lengthen, just as seeds left in the darkness beneath the soil begin to sprout and grow in response to the emerging light. Generations upon generations of experiencing this cycle of our own Soul’s dynamic led the people of ancient cultures to utilize the very same patterns of nature to deal effectively with their burdens of pain and suffering, of anguish and trauma that had laid hidden within the Inner Darkness of their own Soul."

 

Jade suggests that we can use Winter Solstice ceremonies to release our burdens and the grudges we hold, forgive the debts owed us, and start fresh - be reborn, accepting how things are.

The Shaman also receives a symbolic gift for each person, which he or she sings into the Soul Essence of each person, as a blessing and a gift of the Spirit.

"The ceremonies performed at the Winter Solstice are powerful in their transformative effect. They are empowering of each participant in the awakening of each to their own inherent spiritual gifts. They are ceremonies of compassion and liberation, ceremonies of blessing, well-being and abundance in the year to come."

 

I plan to perform my own interpretation of a Spirit-Guide ceremony this morning, with an intention to receive a message or a gift or an insight of some kind, from my Inner Guide. As a Quaker, I've got lots of experience in listening to the small, still voice, but this is a different thing: I am going to be directive, and specific. 

1. Set the Mood: Light a candle and dim the lights. Turn on some primal drum music very softly. Settle into the peace of the darkness. 

2. Craft a Clear Intention: Today I will call on the Spirit of Love to guide me in the New Year, and ask :
"How can I find hope for myself, and support hope in my community, as the world comes to an end?" 

3. Relax, breathe, walk or float: With each breath, allow my awareness to deepen and become softer. No stress. No rush. Walk or float in a void. 

4. Go through the Door: When I feel ready, see myself moving through a doorway or opening into another space. Take time to settle here, in the safe, dark, warm, womb. 

5. Invite my Inner Guide: Call on the Spirit of Love, and ask my questions. Ask for what I need: A blessing, a message, a leading, and/or healing. 

6. Open myself to messages and gifts: I may get a vision, or thoughts, or just a feeling. 

7. Give thanks and return: Saying thanks out loud is a how I acknowledge the reality of the gift. Then, turn around and exit the way I came in. 

8. Journal: Take a few moments to remember my experience, and write it down in my prayer journal.

4. Evaluation House:

Today I get to reflect back on the first 3/4 of the Kindly Moon lunar cycle that I'm passing through. My theme has been Grace.

I reviewed the intentions I set at the new moon and drew a house with 2 rooms: 

• A room for celebration of all I have accomplished already this month.
• A room for discerning what to do with the unfinished parts (Some of these I will finish in the next couple days, some I will save for next month, and some I will release because they have become irrelevant or didn't go as planned.)

5. Advent wreath ceremony:

Tonight we will light four advent candles, and recite four prayers: 

"We light the first candle for the earth, which sustains us. May we cherish and care for it."

"We light the second candle for all the people of the world. May we find unity and peace."

"We light the third candle for our family and the joy and love we bring each other."

"We light the fourth candle for the Spirit of God in each of us, which is our guiding light."

6. Surrender, rest, recuperate:

This next few days is a time to be empty; the time for striving is past. As the moon’s light fades into darkness I get to relax and surrender to the universe. 

Some things will always be out of my control. As the moon's appearance dwindles, I let go of useless beliefs, unreasonable expectations, grudges, defensiveness, projects that don't fit into my life, and anything else that isn't working for me. I turn these all over to the Divine and give thanks, my way of opening to receive new intentions in the new month.

Then I give myself permission to rest!