Mountains

I’m adjusting to change.

Meditative states carry over after getting off the cushion and moving on to other activities of daily living. The state remains if not interrupted and carries over and one is open and receptive. The mind becomes like one large flat plate, an empty plate. And it remains so, if not interrupted, for days, weeks, months.

And there are no longer barriers of protection from the ego since one has tamed that aspect of mind enough to create a calm, flat and receptive plate. Well, that’s how I relate to mind and life anyway and it is how I am able to be “psychic” and employed by clients in that capacity.

In the process of creating that plate so-to-speak and maintaining that state, I bump into my own thought processes, allowing whatever arises to do so yet also allowing it to dissolve. All story lines of ego structure melt away too as becoming one with that open plate feeling of openness and receptivity grows.

I could say that this open plate state which sort of feels like one huge horizon of infinity (it’s hard to find the words) enables a state of impersonality; non-personality.

I really like to be in that state and of course achieving this state is part of my job, my career, my service work here. I’m there when I do readings. And if nothing distracts me (if I don’t distract myself), I can stay there for days as long as I’m “Home Alone” if you pardon the movie reference.

I just had to laugh at a reference comparison (analogy) that came to mind here. To meditate and put one in that state of the empty plate and non-personality can be understood by associating it with hitting the “refresh” button on a web page. If the mind begins to wander and gets too complicated by getting too many other pages (thoughts) open, one can hit refresh and come back to the present moment, now; back to the state of the open plate—one huge horizon of infinity.

No, I’m not talking about any type of escapism here. It’s more like being fully present.

When someone is habitually open and receptive as I’ve been describing and then enters a room of 50 personalities with helter-skelter minds or even pulls out into busy traffic or heads into a busy shopping area—wow. I’ve been able to realize the benefit of ego-structure as a type of boundary and am working with a level of integration which enables me to function here in a busy community and in close proximity to family. It is almost laughable when all these entwined and complicated egos with complex entanglements come together in one room! Multiply that by 1,000 busy grocery shopping days! Where is my open receptive plate? What happened to my infinity horizon? Where did it all go?

I’m working with it; trying to function as myself (whatever self means because there really IS NO self in the true sense of it all) in these crowded settings.

I’ve found a particular type of meditation helpful lately. One thing is that I keep my eyes open which helps me to be present but not (at the same time) tuned into the present surroundings–well, just very lightly. I am mostly non-attached yet present and aware that I am fully in my body and fully in my space and fully in my room! This is a very good practice for me as it helps me to carry this over when swimming in (being around) very distracting energy (family dynamics, crazy traffic, even crazier grocery store).

Living in the mountains was… well, I made a Facebook Post this morning that I will reproduce here. I am so familiar with the vibration that comes from being physically in the places such as where this picture was. I resided (really lived!) the past 15+ years in the mountains. And this photo prompted me to post the image and text.

[image and text below]

October 7 2012 Parkway-2 — Pictures are wonderful! I could linger at this recent photo a good deal longer….
ET is phoning HOME!

Meditating on something simple and beautifully ordinary (like gazing out over a view like this!) enables a person to avoid self-identification and minimizes relationship awareness with others; nothing much here can be connected with ego-conflict. That is the healing gift of the mountains and mountain views. A person can become overwhelmed with a sense of non-duality, relating as”one” with the vastness.

Pictures are wonderful! I could linger at this recent photo a good deal longer….

ET is phoning HOME!

Anyway, lately while on my meditation cushion with eyes open but not really looking at anything and while putting my hands open and facing palms down over my knees (I sit crossed legged in a half-lotus position), what I do focus on at first is a straight back, head, shoulders and pretend that I am the ruler of my own kingdom (am I not?); and as I muster up that feeling, I also allow myself the sense of the feeling of royalty (being royal) as acutely as possible–such as in ruling my own universe, my own world.

That feels right to me and then I claim my space on the cushion and affirm that I belong right there, right here, right now in this moment and I am grounded right in that—it’s mine. Then, of course, who is me and mine? Yet, for the moment I allow these thoughts and feelings as the entry into (entry point of) my meditation period. After that, it is only to focus on breath and letting what comes up in mind to dissolve like the sun that contacts the fog; the thoughts disappear as quickly as they come up.

That helps me with living this new life down off the mountain.

On another note… completely off topic… but do you remember those Hydrangeas that I purchased from QVC at the end of spring? I potted them and brought them with me and all summer long I’ve been watering and waiting and in metaphysical ways nurturing and just this week, finally! One of them is giving to the world a pink flower! It is quite exciting and brings happiness to the heart.

One of the plants (at least one of the 4 of them) has successfully begun to make the adjustment to its life here… slowly and gradually, like me.

Mound tripple 1600 x 900 — The evergreen growing in the center picture is coming up right at the top-center of the mound--right at the top of the elevation of the mound although it doesn't appear that way in the center photo, it really is at the point of the top of the mound. You can see it if you look carefully in the other two photo's too. I did not notice it for some reason the last few times I was up there. It is what I will call my very special holiday yule tree.

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a Green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all Ridicule and Deformity… and some scarce see Nature at all. But to the eyes of the Man of Imagination, Nature is Imagination itself.

–William Blake

[See notes at the end of this post regarding the Yule Tree.]

The images above are a composite of the American Indian Burial Mound. The energy up there is fantastic and soothing/healing. The trees and foliage is bare and skeletal right now of course, because it is winter–it will be beautiful up there in the spring with all the wild rhododendron’s up there that will be blooming.

I am very careful not to disturb anything up there, letting nature be completely herself. As I get to the end of the woods on my way back down, I do pick up pieces of small dead wood for kindling for the fireplace and I thank the trees. To me, it’s as sacred as any muggle church. And I am so aware of all the natives who walked that very same ground thousands of years ago as well as imagine the life of the husband and wife buried up there.

Here are a few words from Chief Seattle (the name that the white people gave to him) that I really resonate with.

Every part of this country is sacred to my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove has been hallowed by some fond memory or sad experience of my tribe. Even the rocks that seem to lie dumb thrill with memories of past events connected with the fate of my people, and the very dust under your feet responds more lovingly to our footsteps than to yours because it is the ashes of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch, for the soil is rich with the life of our kindred.

I read that passage a few weeks before Thanksgiving this year. And this being around the time I first visited the burial mound that the landlord said was there on the mountain top. By the way, I asked how she knew for sure that it was a burial mound and she said that it is on the papers from the county–on the deed. I also loved this next segment for Chief Seattle’s words…

And when your children’s children shall think of themselves alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway, or in the silence of the woods, they will not be alone. And at night when you think of your streets as deserted, they will throng with the returning hosts that once filled and still love this beautiful land. The white man will never be alone. Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not altogether powerless.

I am in a pinch for time and it’s getting late but I wanted to share with my readers a very, very special and sacred place. If I thought for a moment that anyone could ever find this place, I’d never be so public about some place that is so sacred to me. To be up here, although it is a heck of a climb straight up–like ‘if you don’t hang on you will fall backward’ kind-of-steep–and it gets the heart pumping to get up there, it is worth the hike… every single step is worth it and I enjoy the journey up as much as I do spending time at the top.

I am not alone up there–there is a strange feeling of being watched. I always bow to the nature spirits and the ancient ones buried in the mound as I approach and always bring a gift–sometimes cornmeal, sometimes apples for the deer and the rest I will keep secret. I speak to the Cherokee Little People whenever I get to the top as well as pause at the graves of the christian couple buried next to each other; they crossed over in the — well, she in 1883 and he in 1904 according to their gravestones. One grave has a footstone with the man’s initials on it. I really feel that their spirits are part of a nearby tree that is growing fairly close to their graves. In fact, this is nearby a huge flat top rock that I sit upon to meditate. I call this the KISSING TREE. Perhaps to see the images below, you could understand why, considering the words of Sealth AKA Chief Seattle why I believe this tree contains the energy of the couple (who died in the late 1800’s mentioned above) — the trees are kissing. So my grandkids and I call it the kissing tree but in my heart, it contains the energy of the buried husband and wife. Images below.

The views up there are very nice… well, winter views are different from the summer season but you have lots of privacy even in the winter and really once I’m up there, I do not want to come back down! Last time I was there four hours and did not come down until the sun was going down and I had to! I meditate, write, read and hike and explore and talk to the spirits; if ever I was at home somewhere, it is there. No people, no muggles–just me and the trees. Oh, it is very late at night now–way past my bedtime. I will share some random thoughts that I jotted down last time I was up there and then I will end this post. Oh, now that i am looking at the longhand here, I see part of this is channeled. Well, I will type it all out–I’m too tired to edit. LOL

“We the spirits of this mountain top recognize your presence, your offerings, your prayers and the blessed ones smile upon you and father sun knows of your thoughts as well as the hawks who now call out their greeting to you. Hear them sister for they too acknowledge your presence as you have acknowledged ours. And the deer are happy for the apples and would like for you to bring more.”

Then i asked if there were ceremonies held up there. And what I heard was, “Plenty” and with that the explanation that it was like what is called the ghost dance which is a dance or ceremony to ask for the help and blessings of the ancestor spirits.

I sit on a bed of dry leaves at the end of fall; the start of winter–trees are bare and exposed. They show their unique shapes–arms, breasts, some with double trunks, some with arms twisted by the winds who have shaped them. Their arms reach out toward one another, some embracing while others seem to bow in homage to their fellow trees. Some trees seem to be about 60 feet tall. Each one unique, special with its own personality–some with faces–some with lips kissing. They are alive! Alive as much as any human–less animated of course but their branches are lively and dancing in the wind–it is very becoming for them.

They are ALIVE! Conscious! As much as any human! (maybe moreso in some cases)

Thick vines wrap around some trees creating arches and loops. Knobs on tree trunks are different unique faces much like human brothers/sisters. Peaceful presence. Sturdy–looking at you, at one another–observing and communicating with their energy, with each other. I sit upon the earth where their trunks sink into the soil looking up at their haunting skeletal silhouettes and know they are my friends–we acknowledge each other. Their energy bands (rays) wrap around me helping me to ground into earth’s soil just as they do; yet, I look up to the sun to the direction of the top branch–the very tip-top–and then scanning down… I could stay in this place in this way forever. I have somehow before, I have and wonder if I am remembering once being a tree–could that be? or did I live alone in the wood and the trees were my only contacts? It feel it within me–it was a good life then. I wonder about that and try to remember…

I breathe in harmony and send it out to the world, and then love, and then happiness, and then peace and then…

The sun is descending toward the tree line at next mountain over and has reached the tree line and suddenly, it is noticeably darker. I must hike down the steep descent before I cannot see the way down. The trees along with trail down are spaced in such a way that they provide convenient hand holds to compensate for gravity pulling me forward severely. I’m aware of the cars going by on the highway and am entering back into the world of humans again. I always stop, turn, look up and wave several times on my way down. I feel like I am saying goodbye to close friends and really hate to leave, know that I have to, and promise to come back again. “Goodbye my friends; I love you guys; I’ll be back as soon as I can be.”

I wanted to end this with an observation and perhaps a moral or lesson is part of it. What i mean is that if you’ve been following this blog, you know that I had a trauma when the man across the street massacred trees. I’m sure to some readers this would sound silly and I can understand that. The greater point is that I’m realizing that what happened was that something was removed from my life (the trees across the road) but it was replaced by something much better–the mountain top of trees and a totally private place to be and surrounded by trees from every direction! It is a reminder (yet another one) that when one door closes, another opens OR in this case, when some trees are taken away, other trees surround me! Well, you get the idea, right?

For the benefit of the christian readers, here is a little bit about YULE TREES. The Celtic Druids venerated evergreen trees as manifestations of deity and as symbols of the universe. To the Celts, these trees were sacred because they did not die from year to year like deciduous trees. Therefore they represented the eternal aspect of the Goddess who also never dies. Their greenery was symbolic of the hope for the sun’s return.

The Druids decorated the evergreen trees at Yule with all the images of the things they wished the waxing year to bring. Fruits for a successful harvest, love charms for happiness, nuts for fertility, and coins for wealth adorned the trees. These were forerunners to many of the images on today’s Christmas trees. Candles were the forerunners of today’s electric tree lights.

The church confiscated this druid tradition as well as many others and converted it into christian church tradition. Most people know that–its called history but HERstory is more truthful. 🙂