Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment

Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.
Lao Tzu

Whew! Pretty intense yoga workout today. I use these cards I bought, The Yoga Deck and The Yoga Deck 2. You design your own workout, so I start with the warmup, the workout and end each with a breathing exercise and a meditation. Each day is different, so I never get bored. This particular meditation, though, I found enlightening.

Spirit Meditation

Sit quietly with your eyes closed. Let your breath be slow and relaxed.
Visualize the lower half of your body as warm, moist, vital soil.
Picture a beautiful white lotus flower blossoming in the upper half of your body.
Breathe into its essence and repeat several times:
I am willing to embody my spirit
Gaze deeply into the lotus blossom that is the embodiment of your spirit. What truths do you see? What message does your spirit have for you today?

Inside the lotus blossom I saw a swirling fire, like magma. I watched the beautiful colors, red, yellow, orange, wondering what this meant. Then white shapes, misty, ghostlike, began swooping upward, graceful. I watched them in amazement, again wondering what they were. As I lifted my eyes upward to watch their ascent, I glimpsed a night sky brimming with bright stars. I watched in awe at the beauty of it all, realizing only then what my spirit was trying to tell me: that I am much, much more than this body, that I am a part of something grander. I am a part of the universe. I found this quote and it summed up my experience nicely:
I Am One With Spirit and All Creation - I give thanks for the unity of all creation and for everything that has brought me to this moment. I release my entire being to the gentle nurture of Spirit.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

In keeping with my practice of NEAT, I am honoring the Goddess of the day by wiping down my counters and mopping my kitchen floor with an infusion of sage, then traveling room to room ringing a bell to keep sickness away. This brought a giggle because my cats all stared at me like I was crazy, yet followed me to each room to see if I would do anything different.

NINA
Pan-American Health Day (United States)

Themes: Health; Cooperation; Dreams; Magick; Meditation.
Symbols: Lions; Fish; Serpent (her sacred animals)

About Nina: A very ancient Mother Goddess figure in Mesopotamia, Nina has many powers, including healing, herb magick, meditation, dream interpretation, and helping civilization along when needed. Today we will be focusing on her healthful attributes and knowledge of herbs to improve well-being for the winter months.

To Do Today: Pan-American Health Day focuses on worldwide cooperation in the public heath field. On the home front, do everything possible to make your home and body healthy and strong. Beginning in your living space, wash the floors using sage water, and burn a sage smudge stick. This herb decreases germ infestation and is magickally aligned with Nina's energy. As you go through your home, carry a small bell and add this incantation:

Nina, come and make us well;
banish sickness with the ringing of this bell.

Ring the bell in each room at the end of the incantation. In many religious traditions, bells are considered to scare away the evil influences that cause sickness.

To overcome a troublesome malady, put a picture of one of Nina's sacred animals under your pillow to invoke a healing dream. This tradition is very old and sometimes results in healthful energy being conveyed through your dream, or in a dream that shows you what to do for a cure.
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By Patricia Telesco ~ From "365 Goddess"

I find it interesting that today's theme includes cooperation. My daily tarot card pull for today is Two of Cups, which also suggests cooperation. Add to all of this that tonight is a Full Moon in Gemini! Being a Gemini, this is particularly auspicious for me. This Full Moon is in Gemini, the sign of communication, changeability, short trips, and anything of a mercurial nature, and Mercury, the planet of communication and the mind that is the ruler of Gemini, is very active in the chart of this Full Moon.

A good dish to serve tonight is:

Eggplant Pomodoro

1 eggplant (sliced into 1/2 inch rounds)
3 roma tomatoes, diced
10-15 chopped basil leaves, fresh
1 cup vegan/soy mayonnaise (must have some fat in it)
1/4 cup Dijon mustard (regular mustard may be substituted)
1 cup Italian style breadcrumbs (no parmesan cheese)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine mayonnaise and mustard in a bowl until well blended. Coat each slice of eggplant with the mayo/mustard mixture and second-coat each slice with breadcrumbs. Arrange coated eggplant slices on foil covered cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.
While eggplant is baking, saute diced tomatoes and basil in olive oil until well-heated, and set aside.
Serve baked eggplant with a generous portion of tomato mixture. Enjoy!
Serves: 4

Walked for 30 minutes with hubby, did five weight lifting exercises with dumbbells, 2 yoga sessions, 60 crunches.

Two slices cinnamon toast for breakfast, rice and beans and peach slices for lunch. Would have made eggplant for supper, but son made supper, instead! Spaghetti and quorn meatballs and slices of French bread.

Later tonight I will draw down the moon, then watch a movie with hubby and gnosh on unsalted pretzels.

Drawing Down the Moon

Lady moon, Lady moon, where are you roving?
a children's song

The act of drawing down the moon is a powerful psychic and magical experience.
By focusing on the light of the full moon, you are actually drawing its energy into your own body. Realize that lunar energy is intuitive, magnetic and receptive. This is a force of nature, and tapping into this power is a transformative experience. This type of empowerment needs to be felt, and it’s going to be different for each individual.

I have heard this process explained and intellectualized to death, but the truth is this is a silent ritual. it requires no tools or props other than yourself and the full moon. Learning to draw down the moon is an intuitive and personal experience that marks a significant step of a witch’s journey, for you learn to make your magic both intuitive and personal.

No words are needed while you drawn down the moon. If you’d like to say a few words in greeting before you get started, go right ahead. Seems to me that a simple and heartfelt greeting is much more eloquent than fumbling around trying desperately to remember some lengthy, dramatic memorized poem. This does not require melodrama. Just be yourself, and follow your own insights. The following steps of the process are straightforward ones, and simple is usually the best.

. Step outside and stand under the light of the full moon. You do have to go outside for this one, folks.

. Imagine your feet are like roots of a tree, and sink them down into the earth. Visualize that any stress or anger you may be carrying is draining away to be absorbed back harmlessly into the earth. Now see that the earth is in turn sending you revitalizing energy. Raise up your arms, and stretch your fingers. Take a nice deep cleansing breath and blow it out slowly.

. Next, you may stand with your hands loosely at your sides, holding your hands palms up. I have seen people dramatically throw their arms out wide and embrace the sky. Go with whatever position feels more natural to you. If you are concerned that someone, maybe a curious neighbor maybe be watching, then just keep your arms down and stand in a relaxed pose.

. Then open yourself up to that energy, lighting up those seven chakras.

. Tip up your face to the light of the moon, and envision pulling some of that luminosity and power down and inside yourself. Give yourself a few moments and feel the difference it makes. For example, if you feel down and self conscious, you will likely stan taller and be more confident after drawing down the moon. If you feel overwhelmed and stressed out, you’ll notice that your shouders will relax and you will feel more at peace when you are finished. You may feel a shivery and tingling connection with other witches from all over the world. or you may feel a comforting warmth surrounding you, like an astral hug, telling you are not alone. Enjoy the sensation for a while.

. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Now zip your chakras closed with a quick arm motion from your mid tight area to over the top of your head. Relax.

. Whisper a “thank you”, feel grateful and return indoors

Write down in your journal what you experienced. Try it with different full moons or even different lunar phases, at different hours. Then compare your notes.