Ah, early June...a walk on the prairie at sunset with a myriad of blue, orange, and white flowers scenting the air and music ringing from the larks and the sparrows. The mountains to the west already shadow the trail and extend far eastward. As I lift the binoculars up to the salmon clouds hanging over Long's Peak, a nighthawk sweeps across the view. Soon I am watching two of them and then three in dizzying lifts and drops. One seems to be the intruder and is eventually driven away. The white circles on their outer wingtips are striking in the near dark. As I walk toward the car, a final swoop up and over fares me well.
Ah, early June...getting the articles together for the next issue of Seeker. It harks back to last December when I walked a canvas labyrinth at the Jefferson Unitarian Church, which had been borrowed from Denver's Unity Church by JUC member Pamela Ramadai. I picked up a flyer that Pamela had written and saved it. Early in May I dug it out and e-mailed her to ask if she would write about labyrinths. She was delighted to share her article.
I've been fortunate is getting another short story from John Gardiner and am enjoying corresponding with him. And Harry Buschman of the Westlake Village series sent a short piece, which I found delightful. The poignancy of waiting seems to be the operative word with these two.
I asked our poet of last month, Michael David Coffey, if he would share some of his images from his trip to Moscow in April. I got the opportunity to see quite a few and trust that you will enjoy the ones that I picked.
Our Animal Guide for the month is the Cat, truly an excellent choice, in my humble opinion. I love cats and have lived with them for quite a few years and miss them very much, since I didn't move them to Colorado. Of course, Denise is putting it in from her end, and I may find that she's written about the big cats.
The themes of growing and life paths echo through Transmutations, Blind Crow, Jack's Beanstalk, Skyearth Letters, and even Tales. But, after all, isn't that what Seeking is all about?
I've been slowly reading Deepak Chopra's book, The Way of the Wizard with a group of six to eight people. We meet once a week and read the next lesson and relate our experiences to what Merlin is teaching. I've been wanting to write about it for Seeker but something has held me back. (Not having finished the book is one reason.) People share much in these weekly conversations, and many intriguing thoughts and practices come up, along with humor of all sorts. It seems like we're sharing our individual spiritual autobiographies.
How often do you read a book of this nature by yourself and think, ah-ha! what great insights and how well it helps me think through my own questions? Then, several weeks later, like as not, what you remember is that...it was great book and I learned something...I'm just not sure what it was. Reading this with a group of people who have slowly become good friends (none of us knew anyone in the group when we joined) gives it far more impact. And pursuing the lessons slowly, reading the up-coming chapter one or two times during the week, and then hearing other's reactions/opinions/choices of favorite lines all help deepen one's experience of the lessons.
Anyway, that's a long introduction to my closing quote from page 116 of the book:
Seekers are never lost, because spirit is always beckoning to them. Seekers are offered clues all the time from the world of spirit. Ordinary people call these clues coincidences. To a wizard there are no coincidences. Every event exists to expose another layer of the soul. Spirit wants to meet you. To accept its invitation you must be undefended. When you seek, begin in your heart. The cave of the heart is the home of truth."
I would like to think that is where we are...in the cave of the heart.
Cherie Staples,
Skyearth1@aol.com