This meditation is dedicated to Mother Earth,
The mother of us all.
And this is a meditation on a seasonal moment about halfway between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox.
It's usually celebrated around the beginning of February as Imbulk or Bried,
Candlemas or Oimalk or Groundhog Day.
It's even been called the Winter Thermistus.
Of course,
In the southern hemisphere,
This seasonal moment falls at the beginning of August.
And in case you're curious,
The sound you're hearing in the background is an ice storm in the deep woods of North Carolina.
It was recorded in late January 2014 by Christopher Porter.
You can hear the small particles of ice and sleep falling between the pine trees as they land on a bed of pine straw on the ground below.
So take a moment just to get comfortable to sit comfortably and bring your attention gently to lie upon your breath,
Upon your breathing,
Just to observe how it is.
Notice the particular qualities of your breath.
And not just particular qualities,
But also the universal qualities.
You might notice your breath is like a cycle,
Like a circle that keeps repeating.
And in fact,
You've been repeating this cycle for your entire life.
And not only that,
But all of your ancestors for a time out of mind have repeated this same cycle of breath for generations untold.
So you might notice the in-breath,
The out-breath.
See if you can catch that little turning where the out-breath turns around and becomes the in-breath.
That little pivot or exhalation becomes inhalation.
And perhaps we can zoom in even more.
And you can notice that desire to breathe in,
The birth of each new breath.
If it's helpful,
You can actually,
You can reach into the cycle and intervene a little bit.
Just kind of dragging out that pause after the exhalation,
Maybe just for a heartbeat.
So that you can really feel the desire to draw in breath.
See how each new inhalation is born.
See how the desire to breathe springs out of the abyss.
This is what we might call the in-buk moment,
The mandamus moment.
The desire to breathe,
The desire to come into being.
And if it's helpful,
You can visualize this as a tiny flickering candle flame,
A tiny flame that just springs into being.
We can nurture this flame.
We can feed it with our attention.
We can protect it from the wind.
And if we pay attention,
We can find the essence of this flame in ourselves.
In our beloved others who surround us,
Family and community.
Those we encounter in the world.
We might even behold this flame springing into being in everything,
In every object.
We can imagine that all things have a desire to be.
Is it true?
Is there a cosmic association between them?
Can we find this flame,
This desire to be in everything?
This can be a subject for our investigation as we nurture the flame within ourselves.
We can dedicate ourselves to identify and nurture this flame of desire that springs from the abyss.
We can dedicate ourselves to nurturing all the good,
Moral,
Ethical desires that we hold as individuals and in community.
And of course,
We do this always with a profound gratitude for all our ancestors,
Material and spiritual ancestors.
I want to give my own thanks always to Glenis Livingston,
A woman I've never met,
But whose writings have inspired me deeply.
She writes that this seasonal moment of Imelk is quintessentially the celebration of the new.
The celebration of movement into form,
Into individuation,
Into differentiation,
And with integrity,
With wholeness,
Especially invoking she who is unto herself.
This is a moment when we reflect and celebrate the differentiation,
The diversity,
The multi-form beauty of Kaya,
Mother Earth,
Recognizing that we shine forth as individual multi-forms of her.
So thank you to Glenis Livingston for inspiration.
Thank you for your attention in this meditation.
And I wish you a happy,
Blessed,
Imelk,
Candlestick,
Groundhog Day,
Whatever you wish to call it.
Thank you.
