Soul Source
Autumn Newsletter 2013
  
  

Separating the wheat from the chaff
 
Dear friends,
We welcome you to enjoy our fall newsletter! You may notice that it is much shorter than previous newsletters. As we reflected on this season's theme--separating the wheat from the chaff--we were inspired to simplify the newsletter itself and to keep it simple in future newsletters. We hope that this new and streamlined version connects deeply with you and that you take the time to delve into it and receive that which speaks to you. Please, let us know what you think!
In This Issue
Autumn Equinox
Start Close In
Cleaning House with Saturn in Scorpio
Truth
Seeing Structures Dissolve












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RECOMMENDED

 

 

 

 

Videos:

 

 
 
 

 
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Book: 

Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich by Duane Elgin
 
 
 
 
Weblinks:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak."
--Hans Hofmann, painter (1880-1966)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

  

 

"Yes: I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world."  
- Oscar Wilde  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"We are all meant to be mothers of God. . . for God is always needing to be born."
Meister Eckhart
 

 
Autumn Equinox 

 

 

At Soul Source, we join with the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth in celebrating the Autumn Equinox at 4:44 pm, September 22, 2013. This is a time of turning, of transition, of harvest and bringing equilibrium to our outer and inner worlds. As the sun moves into Libra, equilibrium, the balance of the seeming opposites, becomes the focus.

 

The element of air which rules our mental worlds prevails and it is through a stilling of the mind that we can begin to access the higher mind or Spiritual Mind and create that bridge between our brain and the intuitive, inspired mind of Divine Wisdom. The Autumn Equinox is a time of rest and reflection and it is in this "equipoise" that we can be aware of the opposites of Spirit and matter and turn our attention to the depths of the inner empty worlds that beckon us, to the darkness and void of winter soon to come. The Light is darkening, hibernation is upon us.  We move inward to replenish, to taste of the stillness, to be in the dark womb and to remember our Origins.  It is a time to reflect and take inventory, to measure our harvest, the fruits of all seeds planted and to be in deep gratitude for the bounty of Life. It is in the harvest that the seeds of the new are contained. We watch the leaves fall, we embrace change, we open to death, to the release of the past. Life is a circle, a cycle of death and rebirth unending. 

 

At this time, we can consider turning our attention inward to be resonant with the rhythms of Life.  We slow down, we clean out the attic, we purify our thoughts, we attune to judgment, releasing the judgment of the mind and replacing it with a deep knowing that all returns to balance if we can sustain our equilibrium .  We consider the obstacles that confront us and we meet them willingly.  We weigh, we measure, we consider our values and we seek to bridge the gap between our spiritual lives and our outer physical day to day lives. We greet the tests of the Soul with a smile, knowing that every test is an opportunity to integrate and BE more fully what we essentially are. 

 

We attune to the beauty of the season, reveling in the crimsons and oranges.  We make mulled hot cider and pumpkin pie and consider the miracles of nature and we feel a part of it all.  The crispness of the cooler air is refreshing after the heat of summer. The new rhythms of back to school, to earlier darkness, to closed doors and windows and the fire blazing on the hearth.  We embrace these old familiar patterns and yet we know the newness of the moment, that which is always birthing, always fresh, eternally awakening in the Now. 

 

Autumn Equinox Blessings

From SOUL SOURCE, Center for Conscious Living

 

Start Close In

by David Whyte

 

Start close in, don't take the second step

 

Or the third,

 

Start with the first thing close in, the step you don't want to take.

 

Start with the ground you know,

the pale ground beneath your feet,

your own way of starting the conversation.

 

Start with your own question,

give up on other people's questions,

don't let them smother something simple.

 

To find another's voice,

follow your own voice,

wait until that voice

becomes a private ear, listening to another.

 

Start right now

 

Take a small step

 

You can call your own

 

Don't follow someone else's heroics, be humbled and focused, 

start close in, don't mistake that other for your own.

 

Start close in, don't take the second step,

 

Or the third,

 

Start with the first thing close in,

the step you don't want to take.

 

Cleaning House with Saturn in Scorpio 
by Jan Detrich 

 

Over the past year with Saturn in Scorpio, everyone has been digging deep and doing a little excavating of that which needs to be exorcised in their lives and in the world.  Scorpio is the sign most closely involved with unearthing and facing our shadow issues-those ugly little bits of ourselves that we hide, the ones that are lurking in the background that we cannot bear for others to see.

 

"Shadow" has many faces: greed, selfishness, anger, fear, resentment, envy, judgment, jealousy, disorder-to name just a few. It is a storage place for all the things that we find unacceptable in ourselves; things that we are embarrassed by and try to keep under wraps so the world won't see. Shadow lies concealed, below the surface of things, masked by a more "proper" or public image of ourselves.

 

The beauty of autumn is the notion of "separating the wheat from the chaff in our lives"-themes of both Virgo and Scorpio. These signs ultimately offer healing by shedding light on the dark places, exposing that which needs to be purged and healed, and having the courage and strength to do the difficult work of staying with and paying attention to what is working and what is sabotaging our lives.

 

Saturn will continue to be in Scorpio throughout the coming year and beyond so this window in time is the perfect moment for deliberately addressing and removing the elements of our lives that threaten our well-being and, left unredeemed, are potential sources of dis-ease.

 

Be alert to where you make excuses or hide behind a behavior, where you make half-hearted jokes about yourself to divert real issues. And then take the time to shed light on those areas through thoughtful inquiry. Sometimes this involves seeking professional help-a counselor, a healer, or objective listener, someone who can help you stay with some very unpleasant feelings and thoughts.

 

Right here and now is where the real work of creating a better world begins. We can't sit idly by, condemning the world situation, when we have not done our own housecleaning. World healing is in direct proportion to our own ability to heal ourselves. So, "Be the change that you wish to see in the world."  --Mahatma Gandhi  

Truth 

by Suchitra Davenport 

 

Now I know why Truth is called the razor's edge.


It slices so precisely to the bare bone of
what has been soft, fleshy illusion, hazy
corners of comfort and pretend.

In one sharp instant, the blinders fall 
away and the crack from what falls off
is deafening, shattering and yes, 
freeing.

Freeing, after the pain of realization,


After the pain of seeing what falseness
has been lived,


And what has been spent to keep the
untruth alive.  


And isn't the alive untruth the same as 
death?

After that, there is the breath.


Breathing into the hard stuff, 
slivers, strands, grasping,

losing it, how elusive it is...

 

then grabbing hold again

 

and pulling it four-square into the
Heart.


Into the Heart, a holy womb, where it
can gestate and be and then... 

And then, the breath that feels new. 

Fresh air, softer, more spacious.

Coming alive to Truth is like being born.

It's learning to breathe in a whole new
way. 

Whole, new, yes. 


And the afterbirth?

What comes after
now that this dark part has been dug up
into the light

And seen, and felt?

What repercussions, what loss and for
whom?

In the blinding Light of Truth,

In this new way of breathing, 

anything that may have cared

dissolves, 

and there is nothing but space
breathing. 
freedom being. 

A silent hallelujah.  

 

Seeing Structures Dissolve

by Betheny Webster

 

It seems the opening that has pervaded my heart has now moved down into my gut, deconstructing all the structures that formed my resistance to Life. Not Pleasant.

 

I feel like I'm in the middle of a foreign land where nothing is familiar. Exhaustion is forcing me to allow something to occur that is beyond my control, an organic process in which there is nothing left of a "me" to defend against the greater reality of the Holy.

 

Seeing that the mess of life IS the holy reality. Deeply humbling.

 

Nothing to hold onto. All the things that used to give me a solid sense of self are being revealed as illusory-ideas about myself, core patterns that were based in striving for maternal love, conditioning based on lack, etc.

 

I'm seeing how the belief in things that used to prop me up and give me a sense of past and future are not valid. What once appeared to be opaque and solid is now revealed as empty as the wind.

 

It seems that all the shifts I've experienced are integrating and dissolving  my most cherished beliefs and patterns, ones that I did not even know I had. Seeing the beliefs that underpin my preferences and the payoffs for self-rejection. Seeing the ways I've actually avoided love and preferred to be separate.

 

There is nothing left to do but let go. Everything else is being revealed as a dead end.

 

This is deeply sobering. I don't even know what it means to "let go." Only that falling  into this not-knowing is the only honest and sincere response possible.

 

A sense of total exhaustion, a defeat. Something in me is loosening, something that has been tight for so very long.

 

Accepting that the Real cannot be possessed or objectified, it can only be embodied. The price of embodiment is to be stripped of all that I have ever clung to.

 

The dissolving feels violent only in my resistance to it. In the moments of surrender there is a gentle sense of being carried in a restful silence.

 

The old, familiar patterns are so painful and obsolete now, the ones that used to be comforting....such as finding refuge in the future, striving for a better (fill in the blank), notions of progress, etc.

 

Seeing that the momentum of thoughts is ultimately innocent and impersonal. This exhaustion is preventing the usual striving to control the mind. All I can do is see.

 

Seeing how loyal I've been to concepts and images to guide me and how these concepts have no inherent truth to them. Yet they used to provide me with a sense of traction and a grip on Life. This grip seemed to be an attempt at ownership over life, over "my life."

 

Everywhere I turn I seemed to be faced with the reality that the concept of  "my" is a fiction. Seeing that Life does not need a "me" or the "mind" to maintain it. Life does not need an overlay of concepts, thoughts, images or goals to validate or steer it. Seeing how I used to see Life as the overlay, rather than as it really is.

 

Life in its purity is actually the absence of this overlay and in this absence there is a current that can be trusted, for it is divine intelligence itself-the same intelligence that beats my heart and breathes my lungs.

 

Admitting this feels like such relief, as though I can truly rest for the first time. Realizing I've been trying to hold up something that is not real and that's why I feel so exhausted. The letting go is happening outside of what I could even call "my control." It's just letting go.

 

The price of this un-burdening is being stripped and exposed to my own complicity in self-fragmentation.

 

And there is something fresh emerging as the structures dissolve, a vast, nameless benevolence, a holy intimacy that knows everything as Itself.

 

As the structures dissolve, I see that there is nothing "to do" because belief in a separate doing is a defense against the reality of One. I can only BE. The "doingness" that wants to occur can only "be done."

This ancient clench is relaxing into an openness that is beyond the concept of openness....because in this openness there is no such thing as "closed-ness" to compare it to. This radical openness is revealed to be the true state of "what is" in every moment, no matter what form the moment takes.

 

For more about Betheny Webster visit: http://embraceofbeing.com/about/