Solstice Meditation/Celebration

thoughts

I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along.
who stand in line and haul in their places,
who are not parlour generals and field
deserters,
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put
out.
The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well
has the shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

— Marge Piercy

Solstice Meditation/Celebration

Inviting you to join us in the Meditation House this Monday, December 21st 7:00am PST in celebrating the Solstice (Winter Solstice if you live in the northern hemisphere and Summer Solstice if you live the the southern hemisphere). We will meet in the Meditation House for a simple 20 minutes meditation together.

If you haven't used the Meditation House before, have a visit and look around: Meditation House. We will get together at 7:00 am PST. Invite a friend or come alone.

I encourage you to come early and Light a Candle. Use the Meditation Timer in the Listening Station on the right-hand side bar. There are many different lengths... I am suggesting 20 minutes (but since no one else but you knows how long you sit or how you do it, it is up to you). If sitting meditation isn't your style then, dance, do tai chi, yoga, anything that celebrates. If you can't make the 7:00 am PST then come when you can during the day (time is an illusion, right?).

Here is your YouTube invitation:

steven harper – December 13, 2009 – 9:58am

steven harper's blog – login or register to post comments – 504 reads – 6 loves

Thank you, Steven

What a lovely video invitation. I love your narration.

Count me in -- I'll be here! (there)

Plays well with others

zen puppy – December 13, 2009 – 11:04am

Something to look forward to...

...these dim days.

John Callahan – December 13, 2009 – 5:21pm

celestial observance

we will also have a waxing crescent moon(full moon new years eve) and other planetary galactic events!

henry glenn – December 13, 2009 – 5:39pm

Blizzard!!

huge Big snow in the appalachians! good practice preparation for the solstice meditation. the situation is hopeless but not serious

henry glenn – December 19, 2009 – 9:08am

Brrrrr!

Henry, I hope you are home warm and safe!

Totally Committed

I give thanks for unknown blessings already on the way

Scarlet Rose – December 20, 2009 – 8:21am

Thanks

Found this poem that seems like an appropriate Solstice kind of poem:

For Light

Light cannot see inside things.
That is what the dark is for:
Minding the interior,
Nurturing the draw of growth
Through places where death
In its own way turns into life.

In the glare of neon times,
Let our eyes not be worn
By surfaces that shine
With hunger made attractive.

That our thoughts may be true light,
Finding their way into words
Which have the weight of shadow
To hold the layers of truth.

That we never place our trust
In minds claimed by empty light,
Where one-sided certainties
Are driven by false desire.

When we look into the heart,
May our eyes have the kindness
And reverence of candlelight.

That the searching of our minds
Be equal to the oblique
Crevices and corners where
The mystery continues to dwell,
glimmering in fugitive light.

When we become false and lost
That the severe noon-light
Would cast our shadow clear.

When we love, that dawn-light
Would lighten our feet
Upon the waters.

As we grow old, that twilight
Would illuminate treasure
In the fields of memory.

And when we come to search for God,
Let us first be robed in night,
Put on the mind of morning
To feel the rush of light
Spread slowly inside
The color and stillness
Of a found world.

~ John O'Donohue

steven harper – December 21, 2009 – 11:20am