Pilgrimage Studio

Tag: Reflection

  • Fisher King

    Fisher King

    by Thela 🦊 Foxgood

    Working in meditation today, I was reminded that sometimes healing is uncomfortable. When we are in the midst of the process of healing, we may feel disempowered. Rather than feeling powerful, we only feel and see the wounds. However, this is the process – and to step into healing, we must first spend time tending the wounds.

    I don’t normally refer to religious texts. However, two passages (3 actually) came up during this session.

    1. Of the Fisher King it is said, “He is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” -Isaiah 53:3

    The Fisher King is also associated with The Wounded King, The Hanged Man and The King of Cups.

    That the Fisher King (from The Grail Legend) has taken to fishing while he is waiting for help and healing seems symbolic. Fishing is an activity that requires not only patience, but is dependent upon the right fish, at the right time, taking the bait… or in other words, the right element, person, or tool for the healing he seeks.

    I suppose that the Fisher King is associated with the “Fisher of Men” because both of these stories were about seeking what was lost. One King was seeking healing for his body, soul, and kingdom. The other King, “The Fisher of Men,” was seeking those that were lost, to save, and bring into his kingdom.

    Facing a mountain?

    A Dark Night of the Soul?

    Before healing – is the process.

    Before power, is weakness.

    Without denial, we see our wounds. Without hurry, we seek healing.

    Healing can come in unexpected ways.

    I love working with Bibliomancy. I take a book (any book I feel drawn to), pose a question, and then read the first thing I see.

    Today’s meditation session felt like a “Lord of the Rings” moment where the dialog goes, “…but something happened then the Ring did not intend.”

    Now, I am not a religious person (spiritual, yes), so what happened next, I did not expect. The first thing I saw as I opened the book after working with the messages of The Fisher King, was:

    2. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

    -The Beatitudes

    To Meditation

    3. Seek and you will find.

    What are you seeking today?

    Kingfisher Photo by Boris Smokrovic

  • Out of the Ordinary

    Out of the Ordinary

    The route you take depends a good deal upon where you want to go. -Lewis Carroll

    Day after day, the father drove to work along the same dreary highway to the same dreary job. Sometimes his daughter went to his office with him. On one of these occasions she noticed a winding road running parallel to the highway. “Oh, Daddy, let’s take that road today,” she suggested. After some grumbling and mumbling, the father agreed and turned off to take the side road.

    To their delight, the road was lined with full trees and a rainbow of flowers. They came upon a quaint little village in which there was an office with a sign in the window that said, “Clerk Wanted. Inquire Within.” The job seemed perfect and the man accepted it with excitement he hadn’t felt in many years.

    Sometimes we have to risk taking a different path in order to arrive at a different place. How else can we change things in our lives that need to be changed? And how easy to do it, once we’re willing to risk something out of the ordinary.

    What can I do that’s out of the ordinary today?

    From: Today’s Gift – Daily Meditations for Families

  • Love Moon

    Love Moon

    by Thela 🦊 Foxgood

    The New Moon In Libra works with Venus the planet of love. It is a good time for new beginnings and fresh starts, and for setting goals and intentions.

    Love is an energy. It is friendship. It is family. It is romantic love. It has many faces and comes in many ways, shapes and forms.

    A part of bringing more love into our lives and opening up to receive it, is to begin releasing attachments: attachments to “who”, “when” and “how.” Let go of what you think love has to look like and open your heart to simply receive love in all her many forms.

    Inhale the vibration of love

    Exhale, and let go of “who”

    Inhale the vibration of deep connection

    Exhale, and let go of “when”

    Inhale the vibration of passion

    Exhale, and let go of “how”

    Instead of thinking that love has to be a specific person, at a specific time and in a specific way, make a list of what love “feels” like to you. Whether it is friendship, family or romantic love; whether it is an existing love or new, love feels like:

    It feels like security

    It feels like a warm fire on a cold night

    It feels like a cool pool of water in the heat of the day

    It feels delicious

    It feels caring

    It feels devoted

    It feels like sharing

    It feels like laughter

    It feels like sparkle and sunshine

    It feels like being heard

    It feels like abundance

    It feels healthy

    It feels balanced

    It feels mutual

    It feels like Anam Cara

    It feels tender

    It feels everlasting

    It feels like hugs

    It feels like kindness

    It feels like understanding

    It feels like a shoulder to lean on

    It feels like a solid foundation

    It feels like standing on holy ground

    It feels like connection

    It feels like peacefully sharing space

    It feels like communion

    It feels like angels all around

    It feels like kindred spirits

    It feels like magic

    It feels like adoring presence

    It feels like companionship

    It feels equal

    It feels spiritual

    It feels like being enough

    It feels like comfort

    It feels like coming home.

    Love is here now, in each of us. And, for each of us.

    Another part of receiving is giving thanks.

    So after making a list, spend some time in gratitude for your blessings now, and for new ones on their way!!

    Photo by Grant Mclver

  • Who Now?

    Who Now?

    by Beth Haley

    If you were to remove the titles of all of the roles that you play in life (mother, friend, partner, daughter, son, sister, brother, yoga teacher, jogger, swimmer, computer programmer) and instead, focused on what those roles bring out in you, or bring to you (security, love, caring, sharing) or what it is about these roles that you like or that fulfill you, what would a journal entry titled, “Who am I?” look like now?

    What makes you the happiest? How can you create your life around the elements which bring you the greatest joy?

    Photo by Felicia Buitenwerf

  • Post-It Notes 16

    Post-It Notes 16

    Instead of asking “why” when your expectations don’t match your reality – ask, “What am I leaning?”

    Christine Hassler

  • Post-It Notes 15

    Post-It Notes 15

    “Hygge moments are the small everyday moments that make you happy. The best of them are bright and shining like stars. Having a word for it makes you aware that they are right in front of your eyes. Ready for you to collect.”

    Hygge – The Danish Art of Happiness by Marie Tourell Soderberg

  • Earth Teach Me

    Earth Teach Me

    Earth Teach Me

    From the North American Ute Indians

    Earth teach me stillness

    As the grasses are stilled with light.

    Earth teach me suffering

    As old stones suffer with memory.

    Earth teach me caring

    As parents who secure their young.

    Earth teach me courage

    As the tree which stands all alone.

    Earth teach me limitation

    As the aunt which crawls on the ground.

    Earth teach me freedom

    As the eagle which soars in the sky.

    Earth teach me resignation

    As the leaves which die in the fall.

    Earth teach me regeneration

    As the seed which rises in the spring.

    Earth teach me to forget myself

    As melted snow forgets its life.

    Earth teach me to remember

    As dry fields weep with rain.

    –North American Ute Indians

    Mindful Moment 2 – Beaufort, SC

  • Post-It Notes 13

    Post-It Notes 13

    The route you take depends a good deal upon where you want to go. -Lewis Carroll

    Photo@Pixabay

  • Post-It Notes 12

    Post-It Notes 12

    Patience takes a gardener’s mentality. You plant the seed, then wait and trust the process.

    Know that growth is happening, even when you can’t see it right away.

    Photo@Pixabay

  • Worth

    Worth

    by Beth Haley

    How do we determine worth? Why do we relate our worth as a person, many times, to our net-worth? Since our worth as an individual never changes, why do we so often base our personal worth on temporary things?

    Self-Worth

    Self-worth, as defined in the dictionary, is a sense of your value or worth as a person. It is your opinion of yourself. There are many ways to value yourself and define your worth.

    • Can you take credit for your work?
    • What do you value?
    • Would you associate your success with luck, or your talents and hard work?
    • What is your response when someone gives you a compliment?
    • Do you assume that others know more and can do more than you?
    • Do you believe that you deserve good things?

    Net-worth

    Net-worth is associated with assets and what we own compared to what we owe. Assets could include such things as property and money.

    To determine your net-worth, you would list your assets (what you own, savings and income) and subtract your liabilities (what you owe) from your assets.

    • How do you feel about your income, finances, and net-worth?
    • What are your values regarding money?
    • How do your spending habits support your values?
    • What amount of income feels comfortable?
    • Is there such a thing as, “too much” money?
    • How much money is too little?
    • Do you save without allowing for spending?
    • Do you spend without saving?
    • Growing up, what were some family attitudes surrounding money and happiness?
    • What emotions surround your view of money? (Stress, Joy)
    • On a scale of 0-10, where 0=scarcity and 10=abundance, what do you feel is your mindset regarding money?
    • Why do you have this view?
    • How can you link your spending habits with things that bring you joy?

    Is your self-worth dependent upon your net-worth?

    Our mindset surrounding money can create barriers to abundance in the same way as our mindset surrounding our self-worth can create barriers to confidence and success.

    For example, if you have struggled with self-worth or with finances in the past, despite a change in circumstances, sometimes those fears and the mindsets of lack can still hang on. Sometimes our minds don’t make the shift.

    At whatever stage we are at, we can begin to re-train the mind toward an abundance mindset. Both, in how we perceive our self-worth and in how we look at net-worth.

    What if our self-worth was bankable: non-ending funds and resources. Because that’s what our personal value is. It is intrinsically branded within each of us. It is beyond measure and never-ending.

    How much is in your self-worth bank account?

    And, what if our assets, or net-worth, were possessions such as kindness, love, and respect. Respect for all life. Respect for our planet.

    How would this change the world?

    Intrinsic Worth:

    Inborn

    Natural

    Built-in

    Deep-rooted

    Permanent

    Ingrained

    Photo@Unsplash