Silence ~ Stillness ~ Spaciousness ~ Serenity

“Castleton Tower” by Terry Tempest Williams

All I want this time of year is more SILENCE. It is not happening as the need to complete work due by Christmas and continue to help my elderly father leave and sell his home of 83 years takes precedence.  All I crave is STILLNESS, but this morning my car was literally buried under last night’s snow drifting storm and the ensuing exertion of digging myself out reminds me it is, after all, approaching the darkest night of Winter Solstice.What I long for is SPACIOUSNESS, open days, unplanned meandering following my creative urges/writing, no deadlines….not happening (forgive the delay in this post). And SERENITY, defined as a state of being calm, peaceful, untroubled, oh how I wish.

These qualities were at least briefly restored last week as I had the good fortune to work with a gifted practitioner, longtime friend, of a form of bodywork called biodynamic cranial sacral work. Her name is Karen Skaggs, and she embodies a deep sense of the very work she studies.  In this system, restoring the qualities of SILENCE, STILLNESS and SPACIOUSNESS to a frazzled nervous system brought on by too many commitments, too much technology, just too much of even a good thing is the goal. My nervous system shifts from the modes of fight/flight/freeze (apparently we all have some version of these locked up places in our body) to a more even, less anxious, centered presence. I feel I am resetting my nervous system, like you would switch a breaker. Off…On…. Fried….Restored. Like magic! This work is meditation for the muscles.

The intent of biodynamic cranial sacral work is simply to ask, when dealing with a trauma, pain or stress….what’s underneath this? Not, what’s wrong, but what is underneath this pain? When we witness without judgement, watch with only love, everything opens, everything naturally shifts.  No need to work harder, push deeper, nothing even to fix, just honoring the very organic way that everything works better when viewed with the eyes and heart of compassion.This intention mirrors my own internal desire to live with such calm and grace…witness without judging, observe with the eyes of love, engage in relationships of acceptance and harmony.

I wonder if others are craving what I am craving, longing for what I sense is wanting to be born in our humanity, more silence, more stillness, more spaciousness, more love, more acceptance, more letting each other BE.

You don’t have to be a nun or hermit to value such qualities. You don’t have to be less raucous or wild, if that is your nature, as is my nature, to want these things for our species. When you go to a party, consider listening more and talking less. As you are skiing amidst the masses, pause in the trees and absorb the hush of wind. As you cruise the freeways, punch in a CD of ocean waves or Tibetan monks chanting. You can call in silence~stillness~spaciousness~serenity wherever you are, no matter the circumstance.

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We are in the midst of two major planetary moments at the end of 2010, both potentially function like a resetting of our collective nervous system. Mercury retrograde from Dec 10-Dec 29 and the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse of Dec 21 2010. Both astrological events are usually about the need for rest and reflection rather than charging ahead into the future. But these are paradoxical times and these are paradoxical transits.

Mercury retrograde cycles happen three times a year and offer an excuse, sometimes brought on by breakdowns of computers, cars, bodies, to take a break from the relentless barrage of our forward moving culture. But this particular Mercury retrograde is linked to what might be considered the action figure planets: Mars (action, courage, defensive, inner truth, war) and Pluto (love of power or the power of love) in the sign of Sagittarius of fired up future visions. It will be virtually impossible to stay still or silent, quell your voice, not vocalize your ancient gripes. Prepare yourself for numerous passionate encounters about almost everything.  A time of opinion is at hand.

In addition, this potent Full Moon Lunar Eclipse (Dec 21 2010 1:14 am MST) and concurrently occurring Winter Solstice, the darkest night that beckons us toward meditation, hibernation, examination of what was accomplished in 2010, aligns with that same dynamic alignment on the North Node catalyzing your future path.  And, to make this even more exciting, these planetary events in our personal solar system are in a rare exact astronomical alignment with our greater parent, the Milky Way galaxy.  Some have said this moment is of greater significance than the coming events of Dec 2012.  I am in agreement. A portal of wisdom and remembrance is opening.

The Sun (our aspirations) Moon (our intuitions/history/shadow) Earth (how we live our truth in daily life) North Node in the Gate of God (divine evolutionary wisdom) and South Node in the Gate of Man
(embodiment and practice of that wisdom in the human dimension) all unite in a cosmic earthquake whose reverberations will be felt for months to come.  I have written in past posts that I sense the potency of these shifts may now be occurring on the inner planes of experience more than in outer catastrophic events. I believe this is true because we have evolved to the understanding that our physical reality is constantly being created, grown, fed by our dreams, desires, hopes and imagination.  We are that powerful, and in all that has been swept clean of your former life, be it by choice or unwanted difficulty, may this Eclipse of divine alignment awaken that forgotten memory in you.

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How quickly it comes, the sacred Winter Solstice, each year.  I admit, living close to the 45th parallel, I can dread this coming dark night, always a tad of melancholy about the swiftness of summers’ fading, the all too quick coloring of trees, leaves departing, the hibernating of the beloved bears, and yet suddenly, it is here.  And it turns out I am happy to be lighting candles as early as 5 pm and turning in by 8, fully engaged and grateful for this pause, journaling the year, pulling the oracle cards, smelling the winter’s night sky, never to be bottled, this fragrance of stars, my most favorite of scents. I am content to be embraced by this darkness, grateful I made it through this year’s particular challenges, stronger, more aware of my own ability to source and resource myself, my inner wisdom. No greater gift.

I sometimes feel the Great Mother that the Milky Way is to our churning solar system is the ONE who is really hushing us, calming us, comforting us, through silence~stillness~spaciousness~serenity, moving us into a deeper understanding of what it really means to be human, a fully evolving human, in these times of great awakening. How fortunate we are to be here now.

Full of chaos and paradox, amidst all your earthly chores and duties and joys may you also feel yourself as the wide Divine Being that you are.

Peace,
Lyn Dalebout