FEBRUARY 2021: Love Is A Verb

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” ― Rumi 

The overwhelming urge to take stock of ourselves at the beginning of a new calendar year can often find us casting a harsh eye upon our lives. Often we are moved to make resolutions and enact new life plans and goals that will get us the results we are looking for because we are fed up or disgusted by the way things have been. And while it is true that discontent and discomfort are great teachers, it is also important to think about how we can open up to more love, more prosperity, more peace, more respect and more personal power from a creative, empowered, energized and loving space.

“In your light I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.”  ― Rumi

First of all, it is important to understand that anything outside of us cannot truly give us those things that we are seeking in a way that is whole. It is an inside job. If respect is won because we invoke fear in others, that negates the other things that we need and want such as love and peace. If peace is won as a result of denial, the cost might be our own self-respect and a decrease in personal power. Force and the use of personal willpower carries with it a great price. Love and allowing opens the energy for all of our human needs and heart's desires to cohabitate and harmonize. This is an opportunity for our inner team to learn how to play together, to balance and synthesize sometimes what appears to be conflicting needs, through our higher power.

“Everything in the universe is within you. Ask all from yourself.” ― Rumi

We must first bring into our field the energy of what it is that we want. If we want more love, we must be more loving... right now... not when we get a new partner... but now. The things that we do, the goals or intentions that we make, if done because we want to create love or peace or prosperity, become more of an allowing. Once the intention is made, and it is surrendered to the powers that be, in love, we step aside and get out of our own way. This is truly using the powers of creation as they are intended.This is Doing Without Doing, and engaging in the Art of Allowing.

“What you seek is seeking you.” ― Rumi

This allowing surely is not accompanied by motionlessness, but rather an acknowledgement that we are working with subtle and profound energies called love and light, and that these forces don't need our constant nagging or pleading to come into effect. After all, these are omnipotent powers that respond according to universal law. If anything appears to be arbitrary it is because there is another belief system that is over-riding it... or something that needs to be released in order to allow the new in. The laws of the universe tell us that if we ask, then we will be given. Yet my question is, Do we receive what is given? Do we notice how the universal powers are trying to deliver our desires to us?

“Knock, And He'll open the door. Vanish, And He'll make you shine like the sun. Fall, And He'll raise you to the heavens. Become nothing, And He'll turn you into everything.”  ― Rumi

As we start to think and feel more into what we would like to create from love, we find the need to focus less and less on what we do not want. This is a turning point when this begins to happen regularly. In unconditional love, there is supreme wisdom. For it is not bound by the desire for a specific result, which holds the objectivity that can help us to break out of old patterns and see new solutions, ideas and opportunities. As we allow our creations and relationships this sacred space, there is so much love, that the beloved, whatever or whoever that might be, is afforded the room to grow even potentially beyond our wildest dreams, and blossom into something we wouldn't even have known to ask for.

“A thousand half-loves must be forsaken to take one whole heart home.” ― Rumi

In love, we become fluid, like water.... and once we are set in motion... love is an eternal abiding action, like the waves of the ocean lapping the shore, even if we are apparently waiting or holding still. The river of love within continues to flow out, much like the energy that patiently coalesces within the seed, as it sprouts later for all to see that there is a period of silence, which will produce something tangible. Love was at work during the entire process, we find out after all.

“Reason is powerless in the expression of Love.” ― Rumi

Learning to love the process, the journey is what love is all about. It is not love if we are sending negativity to some aspect of ourselves, or if we have an "if/then" mentality. The universal laws do not support these hard lines. Sure, we can make things happen and it might appear that we have outrun these laws, but we end up with the unending job of controlling our lives, and instead of commanding our ship, we end up holding the bag on everything. This gives us little energy, inspiration and time for true creativity.

“Be empty of worrying.Think of who created thought! Why do you stay in prison When the door is so wide open?” ― Rumi

As we open up to greater love and oneness, we understand that there are parts of ourselves that we have barely given a voice in our life, namely our own soul. As we begin to make conscious contact with our soul, a world of wonder awakens within us. And we are moved. For love that comes through the soul moves us to take action, even if that action is to be still and know that God is within us. Even if that action is listening, praying, and meditating. Being still and doing nothing are not the same thing. And so it is through these small silent acts that we can hear the voice within that holds the greatest wisdom and insight of all... our higher self.

“The minute I heard my first love story,I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along.”  ― Rumi

It is from this space that we can begin to hear and actuate the whispers of our own soul and bring ourselves truly alive. For love and light are our animating forces, what scientists call electo-magnetic energy. The truth be told, no matter what we call these forces within, so long as we recognize that all that we experience is a dance, a flow of energy, a juxtaposition of these two, we will have the understanding that will open us to the next levels of love. If Love is a verb... what do you love? And How does love move you?

“This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet.” - Rumi

Sunday Talks with Rev. Renee Bledsoe
February 07 - Love is a Verb
February 14 - Sacred Altar Church in Circle - Let Love Live
February 21 - Love, Compassion, Understanding & Forgiveness
February 28 - LoveKeepers: Let Go, Let Love

LOVE AFFIRMATIONS
I allow myself to feel my feelings.
As I acknowledge my feeling I break with denial and shatter illusion.
My feelings and thoughts are messengers.
I let go of what I think about how I feel.
I honor the sensations in my body and listen to their message.
I continue to purify my mind so that I can properly interpret and honor my feelings.
My body is a sensitive instrument designed to express love and to create.
The unloveable need love most of all.
I love and accept the unloveable parts of myself.
As I accept all of myself, I am healed in the light.
My job is to gather the realization that I am perfect and whole.
I have taken the burdens of my family and humanity's karma to turn to love.
I am strengthened by my love.
What I love is strengthened by my love.
Love is a beautiful gathering of energy.
As I build the energy around something, I create love.
I protect my love in sacred space.
I allow love to move me, touch me and fill me.
True love results in devotion.
Devotion is commitment through free will and love.
Love is Free Will.
Let the Light reveal Love in my life.
May my languages of love expand and grow.
May I receive love from all directions.
Love lifts me up, energizes and inspires me.
Unconditional love has no agenda other than to be love.
I unconditionally love myself.
I apply love and compassion first to myself, before I can truly give it to others.
Love and compassion are a part of who I am.
As I allow love to live through me, what I offer to the world is filled with light.
Love and light dance within me, each revealing the other.
Love is the container for my brilliance.
Love is the great equalizer.
Let my love be as great as my light.
I am in service to the light of my soul.
There is a great love that has given us life.
Life is Love.
As I remember more of myself, I remember the love.
I extend love and kindness to all.
Love moves me to create good in my life and for the world.
Love is a verb.
I am love in action.

JANUARY 2021: New Possibilities

 “All the possibilities of your human destiny are asleep in your soul. You are here to realize and honor these possibilities. When love comes in to your life, unrecognized dimensions of your destiny awaken and blossom and grow. Possibility is the secret heart of time.” ― John O'Donohue

At the beginning of a new year almost everyone can feel the powerful energy that comes ushering us through the portals of time. The actual calendar new year certainly draws the attention and the call is felt by even the most physically oriented among us. For even as we find ourselves not quite through the interior journey of the winter, this void only seems to make us more hungry for action! This is a good thing, to allow ourselves to feel this tension. It can be even more powerful if we use this time to perceive our deepest desires by going deep within and opening up the beginner's mind.

“You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.” ― Thomas Merton

In our community we began to seed our manifestations for the actual physical new year at the Autumnal Equinox. In Kabbalistic astrology, this is when the zodiac begins the spiritual new year. With the second harvest of the fall, we have hopefully received and acknowledged the bounty and the blessings of what was created in the previous cycles, and much as the moon waxes and wanes, so too, do we in the process of our creations. This comes, first and foremost, through our awareness.

“Stop thinking in terms of limitations and start thinking in terms of possibilities” - Terry Josephson

As winter approaches, the time to experience ever heightening spiritual senses in order to continue to seed and source our heart's desires has hopefully created a beautiful wave of positive energy and excitement for new opportunities, new beginnings and the field of pure possibility which are making ready to come forth. In order to bring this process to its highest potential, we will be asked to let go of what is asking for transformation. If we are to truly reach our highest potential we will also need to let go of the box of what we deem possible or even probable, in favor of an open heart, an open mind, and an open hand.

“In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few”. -Shunryu Suzuk

Much as the trees, flowers and plants drop their leaves, crumble and fall away, go dormant, so, too do we enter the void of our own being, and allow to fall away what is no longer necessary, what is spent, done, complete, or otherwise ready to take another form, so that there is room in our lives and our experiences for what is to come next in our lives, and in our spiritual human evolution.

“Sometimes it's the same moments that take your breath away that breathe purpose and love back into your life.” ― Steve Maraboli

The infamous new year's resolution, when prepared in this way, has a much greater chance for success and realization. The main reason for this, is that space has already been made. Nature abhors a vacuum, and the universe is always listening for your directive. So as we make those intentions and purify our desires in the fall, and then create that void within our psyche, we have actually captured more spiritual energy and power to manifest our heart's desire.

“Man is so made that when anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish” - Jean de La Fontaine

This takes our resolutions out of the realm of force and control, and gives them over to higher powers and the greater laws of cause and effect that are truly the driving force behind the law of attraction and the laws of manifestion. As we learn more about the laws of manifestation, and learn more about our own hearts desires... as we purify our desires... as we become more in service to our soul, God and humanity, we find ourselves opening up to ever richer levels of creativity and creation.

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

January is the month at the beginning of the year, named for Janus, the ancient Roman god of beginnings and transitions, also of gates, doors, passages, endings and time. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past. So this indicates that the time to take stock is truly upon us this month. Personal reflection, contemplation and meditation are key at this time. At no time is the power of the medicine wheel so revealed when it comes time to reflect upon our journey, because of the context and rich relational information that it offers.

“Those who have failed to work toward the truth have missed the purpose of living.” ― Gautama Buddha

What do you believe about yourself and others regarding each aspect? What has each season brought you? Any new opportunities? Soul connections.... artistry... soul searching? More emotions.... in touch with feelings or desires... or opportunities for such? Now is a time to ask for a vision to guide you in your life... it may come through a dream... or in a meditation... or through your writing... or it just may be an inspired idea that seems to come from no where.... just one click away.

“Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning.” ― Gloria Steinem

Now is the time to prepare for the unimaginable, to open to more magic and miracles... to look outside the box and open to seeing doors and windows where there were only walls.... to let go of limited and outdated belief systems. This is a time of Pure Possibility. It's time to dream ourselves awake into ever new and beautiful realities. All is possible, if you believe!

“Be who you were born to be. Follow the call of your dreams. See what you were born to see. Your magic is more than it seems." - Unknown

Sunday Talks with Rev. Renee Bledsoe
January 03 - New Possibilities
January 10 - Perceive, Believe, Conceive, Receive
January 17 - Opening & Trusting
January 24 - Dreamers & Doers - Rev. Maribel Figueroa
January 31 - A Love Story

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JANUARY AFFIRMATIONS

I am a uniquely beautiful being of light.
I am an original, and accept myself as I am.
I open to the most original expression of my inner being possible.
My soul has something special to share.
Though I am unique, I am open to seeing where I belong.
Originality gives me the chance to work closely with my soul group.
I believe in the field of all possibility.
I see that all things are possible.
My life is revealed to me in its highest form through my love and passion.
I create my life by acknowledging and living my heart's desires.
I allow my purpose to unfold through the miracle of my life.
I let go of belief systems that are no longer serving my highest good.
I release attachments and addictions to the past.
I open my mind, my heart, my soul and my hand to good.
I am a force for good in this world.
I open to greater awareness of my soul.
I perceive through the eyes of love.
I dream beyond limitation of former belief.
I allow the medicine wheel to guide my opening.
I connect to my community and serve my tribe with love.
I am open-hearted and trusting, because I trust my self and God.
I allow room for the magic of miracles.
As I make room, miracles abound in my life.
I help others to manifest miracles.
I am a miracle maker.
I see doors and windows, where before there were only walls.
I release assumptions.
I hold space for the best to come forth.
I am open to create with this new energy.
I transition into new opportunity and new beginnings.
I am positive and free to live in love.
I open to beginner's mind.
I think in terms of what is possible.
I see the pure possibility of life.
I allow my life to become a new, beautiful love story.

DECEMBER 2020: Divine Light

“Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, when one only remembers to turn on the light.” - Albus Dumbledore 

In theology, divine light (also called divine radiance or divine refulgence) is an aspect of divine presence, specifically an unknown and mysterious ability of God, angels, or human beings to express themselves communicatively through spiritual means, rather than through physical capacities. Spiritual light or divine light is often used as a metaphor for the Truth, as in seeing the light. However, spiritual light is a very real phenomenon that has a profound effect upon the earth and her inhabitants on many levels of being.

“Whoever lives the truth comes into the light.” (John 3:21)

Bringing in more divine light is accomplished slowly and over time, as we remove layers of denial and awaken to ever deepening understanding of the true nature of our being. Truth is revealed, this allows enlightenment to occur.. meaning darkness and confusion are brought to order. This order, at first can feel a little austere, and a kind of emptiness can occur, especially if the segueway into our purpose is not quite in step with the dance of our new beginnings. Yet, this stage of enlightenment is not to be feared. There is a definitive point in time where we are claiming the truth of our free will and going to places of greater responsibility with our free will.

At first when the full weight of that is felt, acknowledged and understood, it can press upon us and feel quite overwhelming. This is why the process of enlightenment, while in it's initial stages often entails a great deal of clearing and letting go of belief systems that do not serve free will, is ultimately leading us to the realization of our freedom to create our life, to live out our destiny in the highest, most ingenious ways we can imagine. Navigating in the emptiness of our own divine identity as it is coming to light is a time when our true selves are literally coming alive or coming online. It truly is an awakening and an unfolding of the great mystery within.

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” ― Plato

As we begin the process of unfolding, much like a flower that opens its petals to the sun, we continue to bring in more and more light. It becomes important for us to consciously work with light. We do this by continuing practices which help us to raise and maintain higher levels of awareness and mindfulness. some of that freedom we have earned includes the propensity to tell the truth.... regularly and even at cost to what was before. When this is faithfully done, we start to see the perfection of this existence in greater detail. This brings us into a deep appreciation for our life and for all life. This appreciation and gratitude becomes a way of being, and not just a list that we rustle up when we need a reminder to pull us out of the doldrums.

Often we will hear teachers remind us of the power of our shadow and going into our own darkness. While these teachings are helpful for sure, ultimately if you look at darkness or chaos as a part of creation, or the void of creation to be more specific, then you will understand that journeying through a measure of darkness is a valid part of the process of creating our lives, and our divine identity. But just as the physical birth process and our time in the womb and passage through the birth canal is not the whole of our life experience, but in reality only the beginning, for our divinity is born through the passage through the valley of the shadow of darkness into the light in much the same way. Notice that it says the shadow of darkness. This could be interpreted as saying that when we are in the void or the unknown aspects of creation that if we are suffering, in pain or afraid that we may be in the shadow of darkness. As we ascribe our fears to this part of the creative process, it could quite possibly be reminding us that we are to bring light into the darkness in order to release the lie of the shadow.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”  ― Martin Luther King Jr

Divine Light has the power to heal and empower our lives in ways that we may barely be able to comprehend. Lightworkers the world over are essentially truth workers, who by facing their own darkness, bravely shine the light and are willing to die the little ego deaths of negativity and distorted belief systems in order to be reborn into the light. This has a visceral effect on all life. For bringing in divine light is much more than a metaphor for the truth, though it is always brought forth through the vehicle of Truth. Spiritual Light is here for us to resource ourselves and remember ourselves in due course. It is a real and vital substance that we must learn how to summon and direct for the greater good of all. We must do this regularly and routinely in order to strengthen and awaken to the light of truth. Truth brings healing and redemption. Our task is to learn to trust in the process of creation.

“The Light is more than some abstract, unknowable energy force. Light is Truth. If Light is truth, then darkness must be lies. Each and every lie we tell to ourselves and others casts the shadow of separation upon us. Every time even the most minor deception is revealed and the truth is made known we are re-united with the Light. So, Let there be Light. Those are the words by which you can create your own magnificent world.” - Renee Bledsoe

Sunday Talks with Rev. Renee Bledsoe

December 06 - Divine Light

December 13 - Rebirth of Divinity

December 20 - White Magic: Creating with Celestial Light

December 24 - Christmas Eve Candlelight Ceremony

December 27- Purity of Heart

Divine Light Affirmations

I am a being of pure light..

Where I once created my life in darkness, I now create through the awareness of the light of my soul.

I refine my ability to create from love.

I create my life because of love.

I look for ever deepening enlightened expressions of  love.

I create and express the light of my soul.

I allow the light of my soul to be my guiding light.

I enter the darkness, knowing that all that lies outside of what is known to me is there.

Magic and miracles live in the unknown.

I courageously enter the mystery void of creation.

I reveal the light in all my dealings.

The truth will set me free.

The light resources me and gives me strength.

I turn the karma of my ancestral path into the light.

I heal and empower myself with the light of truth.

I am devoted to the Light.

Spiritual Light activates my soul.

My spirit is reborn in the flesh.

The divine mother within carefully tends my soul.

My mind is in service to my soul.

There is a saviour being born within me.

Moments of truth clarify my connection to my divinity.

I allow my divinity to be revealed.

The light of my soul reveals the purity of my heart.

I accept the light for my highest good.

I receive and activate the great spiritual light of the holy days.

I am conscious of greater depths of love.

My spiritual strength comes from the light of the creator.

Where there is truth, there is light. Where there is light, there is God.

Thanksgiving Feast & GiveAway Ceremony

Thursday, November 26, 2020
Thanksgiving Day - 3pm Dinner is served
Giveaway Ceremony begins at 5pm

All are welcome....

Church of Spiritual Light presents the 2020 Thirteenth Annual Thanksgiving Feast and Giveaway Ceremony. 

Please bring your favorite holiday dish to share, as well as a small gift which will be given away to honor a very special sacred ancient ritual to show gratitude for our blessings. The gift can be anything that has meaning to you, including feathers, stones, figurines or sacred objects. In order to honor the energy it should be something that you love and not a cast off item.

The potlatch is a festival or ceremony practiced among Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest most prominently. At these gatherings a family or leader hosts guests in their family's house and hold a feast for their guests. The main purpose of the potlatch is the re-distribution and reciprocity of wealth. The word potlatch comes from the Chinook jargon, meaning "to give away" or "a gift".

Help us coordinate our feast and call Rev. Renee at 239-560-6314 or facebook message. All are welcome!

Hosted by Church of Spiritual Light

1939 Park Meadows Dr. #1, Fort Myers, FL 33907

NOVEMBER 2020: Making Sacred

"Something opens our wings. Something +

 boredom and hurt disappear. Someone fills the cup in front of us: We taste only sacredness." - Rumi

The time of the soul's renewal and restoration is upon us. It is time for the reclaiming of the sacred. The world is moving in such a way as to perfectly align with the timing of this re-birthing of our higher, deeper selves. We now have and actually have had, the support of the cosmos for the soul and consequently the spiritual emergence of our true being. We are rapidly becoming. And like all overnight successes, these changes within us have been hard won and a long time coming!

"You think the shadow is the substance. Every moment I shape my destiny with a chisel. I am the carpenter of my soul."- Rumi

But what does the new earth look like? How will we be different? What will change? The asking of questions is perhaps one of the most prominent hallmarks of the new age. The asking of a question is both masculine and feminine - perfectly balance if asked correctly and with true openness and humility. Once you start asking questions, you have truly begun to engage in the creation of your life through the power of your freed will. Honest inquiry is the first step to wholeness, with it's infusion of innocence and wonder, putting a crack of light into our linear thought patterns, know it all boxed in approach or just plain arrogance and ignorance. Questions are the key to the release of the ego's stranglehold.

"Why am I seeking? I am the same as he. His essence speaks through me. I have been looking for myself. What you seek is seeking you." - Rumi

So now that you have truly begun an open inquiry, the call is to start listening, smelling and seeing... not just with the five senses, but with your spiritual senses, your intuition, your third eye and your deep insight. It is time to engage with the world through your multi-sensory self and activate the parts of you that can apprehend the hidden, magical inner workings of your own soul and the universe. Let the physical world begin a new kind of conversation with you. It is far more alive and responsive than you may truly realize, bridging both the spiritual/metaphysical and the physical worlds.  And when it begins to speak back to you, as you ask your questions, in ways that maybe only you can understand, you will be in awe of this living cosmos, as we realize that all things contain a spiritual essence.

"We are each others' search for what's between our mirrors. He is like a man using a candle to lood for the sun." - Rumi

Soon after this type of communication is engaged, you may find yourself struggling with your thoughts and mental powers and wondering where "what you think" fits into this new mode and way of being. While there is no doubt that spiritual message can come through your mind and your thoughts, the practice of listening through all the spiritual senses relieves your mind of its former burden of being your sole informant (no pun intended). Your mind can now become in service to your soul, instead of the other way around. Prove it to yourself how beautiful it is to live as your soul. Let your soul come home. Give your soul, your spiritual senses, other intelligences and divine will a chance to inform your life.

"God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites so that you will have two wings to fly, not one." - Rumi

Once you live in the magic, you won't want to go back to linear life. Once the joy, the beauty and the bounty of this universe is more fully revealed to you, you won't be able to unsee what you have seen. The time is here to let time work for us. We will no longer be working for time. As we come to deeper and more profound revelations about who and what we truly are the soul comes alive. And as the soul comes alive, the Spirit is made flesh... and as the Spirit is made flesh... Heaven is upon the earth....

And when Heaven is upon the earth...there is true Love...

Sunday Talks with Rev. Renee Bledsoe

November 01 - Making Sacred

November 08 - Calling Back Your Soul

November 15 - Coming Home - Rev. Maribel Figueroa

November 22 - Sacred Circle Altar - November 26 - Thanksgiving Feast & GiveAway Ceremony

November 29 - New Earth Values

MAKING SACRED AFFIRMATIONS

I open to the language of my soul.

I am filled with the Light of the creator.

I resource myself with breath and light.

I take care of my body as an extension of my soul.

I use the mirror of my relationships to discover and heal my soul.

I clear and heal myself so that I can stand before others and mirror wholeness.

My wholeness is my perfection.

When I totally accept myself in the moment, I am whole.

Wholeness leads to wellness.

I heal myself and this world through my perfect love.

Love is patient.

I am devoted to the Light.

I am devoted to my soul.

I express my soul's desires.

What I seek is seeking me.

I am a mirror for the Light.

I become transparent to negativity and suffering.

I see the world through the eyes of compassion.

I am a witness to my own wholeness.

All is perfect in this moment.

I am guided moment by moment along the path of liberation.

I am free to choose love.

I raise my vibration with music and positive affirmations.

I live in the magic.

I allow my life to teach me how to love.

I restore my soul with love and truth.

My soul is sacred.

Living from my soul makes life sacred.

OCTOBER 2020: Rhythm of Life

"Each individual is at once the cause for the whole and is caused by the whole, and what is called existence is a vast body made up of an infinity of individuals all sustaining each other and defining each other. The cosmos is, in short, a self-creating, self-maintaining, and self-defining organism." - Francis Dojun Cook

The Universe is alive, filled with life force, Qi, Spirit or energy. The rhythm of life has a breath, just as we and all living creatures do. As we are opening and creating space which ‘attracts’ and fills our life with new creations, in other ways we find we are then closing or restricting the space, which releases or transforms things in our life that are coming to a close. The Universe and we are continually flowing, flexible and moving.

The Tao Te Ching says: "Even the greatest storm eventually abates and peace and tranquility are returning." Notice that this doesn't say, "returns" which has an implication of finality to it. It says it is "returning", which recognizes and reconciles with the cyclical, circular nature of the Tao. Duality is transformed into the third thing, which is a direct result of the synergy of the two and in this way wholeness becomes realized as a living, dynamic creation.

The Tao begot one.

One begot two.

Two begot three.

And three begot the ten thousand things. 

Tao Te Ching - Number 42

With this concept of being part of the whole, while always transforming you will see everything and everyone in you…. and vice versa, you will see yourself in everything and everyone! Nothing, or no one is not a part of a greater story, any other thought or action is misaligned and goes directly against the understanding of the flow of Qi and Tao. The Cosmos does not discriminate or make things worse or better for one over another. It simply flows in balance and harmony. It is non-judgmental, bares no grudges and does not hold on to anything. It arrives and departs in its own time, just when and where it is needed.

"At the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit. And that center is really everywhere. It is within each of us." - Nicholas Black Elk

Knowing others is wisdom; Knowing the self is enlightment. 

Mastering others requires force; 

Mastering the self needs strength.

He who knows he has enough is rich. Perseverance is a sign of will power.

He who stays where he is endures. 

To die but not to perish is to be eternally present.   

Tao Te Ching Number 33

This concept of allowing can be extremely challenging to understand, trust and accept for the western mind. We have been conditioned to be pro-active, set goals and use ‘force’ and personal willpower to make things happen in the way we desire. We have manifested many things by force and many could argue that it had to be this way. But we may never know what we lost out on by forcing our will, or what price we have paid as our lives become out of balance. We may not even know what it is that we truly would like to create, because we do not know ourselves. We may not realize how we have misaligned with Qi, and gotten in our own way causing the very things we are trying to avoid such as loss, delays and failure. Yet, the Tao returns an equal opportunity at every turn to the art of allowing even in apparent 'error".

Teaching without words 

and work without doing

Are understood by very few.    

Tao Te Ching  Number 43

The Tao is based in trust and allowing that the Cosmos/Universe will provide what is needed when it is needed. As we engage in this experience of manifestation, we find it to be a much more centered, joyful, richer, rewarding and collaborative creative process. As we enter this new age that holds such a tremendous potential for more peace, abundance and love than possibly at anytime in our human history, we realize on whole new levels the implications of the "journey being the destination". For as we open to the fullest experiences of this creation we find that we gravitate toward the fulfillment of our divinity through our oneness. The wisdom of the Way of the Tao will become the standard for living a whole, healthy, happy life.

In the universe the difficult things are done as if they are easy.

In the universe great acts are made up of small deeds.

The sage does not attempt anything very big,

And thus achieves greatness.  

Tao Te Ching - Number 63

"While I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; For I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being. And I saw that it was holy." - Nicholas Black Elk

Sunday Talks with Rev. Renee Bledsoe

October 04 - The Rhythm of Life

October 11 - Indra's Net: The Holographic Universe

October 18 - Cultivating Energy for Healing and Creation - Rev. Maribel Figueroa

October 25 - Sacred Circle Altar: Ancestral Healing & Honoring

TAO AFFIRMATIONS

I am one with all.

All is One.

I am peaceful.

I am flowing.

I allow the third thing that is wanting expression to come alive.

I see the perfection in all that is.

I practice the art of allowing.

I am enough.

I have enough.

I have all that I need in this moment.

Each moment brings something new.

I pay attention to the new that is constantly being born.

I breathe life, as life breathes through me.

Everything and everyone is a part of me.

I am a part of everything and everyone.

Peace and tranquility are always returning to me.

I am at one with the present moment.

I sit in stillness and experience the golden silence.

I open my mind to the way of the Tao.

I tap into the divine mind of the Tao to better understand myself and this creation.

I embrace the death, rebirth and renewal of my life's journey.

I experience new modes and ways of being through the beginner's mind.

I am willing to learn, un-learn and re-learn.

All is as it should be in this moment.

The way of the Tao is within me.

The universe expresses through me.

I am one with the rhythm of ife.

SEPTEMBER 2020: Illuminated Life

"Don't shine to be seen. Shine so that others can find their own way."

Do you know the deeper, higher truth of who you are? Have you dared to acknowledge that there may be parts of yourself that you barely know or understand? Are you willing to allow yourself the leeway to grow, change and evolve? Do you have the courage to shine the light on your own inner being, as well as cosmic forces that are available to you? Do you ask and answer questions like these often? If you said, yes - Great! Self inquiry is an absolute necessity to begin to shine that light of yours from within.

"Who is more foolish, the child afraid of the dark, or the man afraid of the light?" - Maurice Freehill

If you see the Light, in its most practical nature, as the Truth, then you understand that enlightenment is the means by which we reveal the truth to ourselves and to the world. Yet, enlightenment is about far more than simply being honest. True enlightenment strips away all the illusions about life itself, including people, places and things, parts of our own personality and belief systems and anything else at all that is keeping us from the truth of love. It inspires us to open to our soul and it allows us to see the light in everyone and everything.

"When you possess light within, you see it externally." -Anais Nin

Many people try to shine a spotlight onto themselves from without, competing for attention and living in a perpetual state of lack, forgetting all about power versus force and the power of their true light.  When you absolutely know who you are, what you have to offer to the world and the importance of anchoring your God self onto this planet, then you know it's not really that much about you shining at all. It's about you becoming in alignment with your radiant God Self, so that the unique aspects of this creation that you are resonant with, can find you and we can all be re-united with the light.

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within." ~Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

We are here now in a dance of shadow and light. This is a dance that we must come to enjoy. For even though we all know that the life giving light of the sun is what keeps our body and mind alive and well. It is under the cover of the night, and in the void of our own soul, where all possibility exists and the deep lake of our inner being, reflects the light of God and refracts it out into the world in a way that allows us to reveal, share and receive God's Love. This is the means by which the omnipotent forces of creation can experience itself in the material world, where we can play and have fun, creating our dreams and manifesting love without "blinding" each other with our Light. This is how we all come to shine our Light from within and live as one.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." ~ Marianne Williamson

Sunday Talks with Rev. Renee Bledsoe
September 06 - Illuminated Life
September 13 - Shine Your Light From Within

September 20 - Tools for Enlightenment
September 27 - Light is Truth: Dispelling Illusion

LIGHT AFFIRMATIONS
I am guided by the Light.
I am filled with the Light of the Creator.
I meditate with the Light.
As I shine the light and reflect on my life, I look for the love.
I ask what would love do?
My life is alive with the truth of my existence.
Life is Light.
I am a being of light.
I am evolving into the full realization and becoming my soul.
My soul will set my spirit free.
My light must come through the depths of my soul.
The Light is in service to my soul.
In the darkness of my soul, all things are possible and I choose according to the desires of my heart what I will create.
I use reflection and contemplation to know myself.
I allow myself to shine.
I allow others to shine, and bask in the gifts they freely give.
I see the inner beauty of all those who surround me.
I receive the gifts of life, through all the people, places and things on my journey.
The Light destroys all illusions of love.
The Light leads me to divine love.
I am inspiring, when I am inspired.
I live an illuminated life.
I dance with shadow and light, understanding that this is how I am able to choose with my free will.
It is within the darkness, that I find the true light within.
I order to access the darkness, I turn toward my problems and issues, not away.
I face the power of my own Light within and actively work with it to dispell illusion.
Once I see the Light, I have faith that my innate wisdom will guide me to the choices that will free my soul.
As I free my mind, I free my body. As I free my heart, I free my soul.
I am a radiant Light unto the world.
What I love inspires and enlightens the world.
I shine my Light from within.