The Spiritual Practice Of Empathic Prayer

I am howling today. It’s a cathartic spiritual practice I sometimes engage in because it gets me deep inside an experience. Often it is the only way to break through to hope…if I’m brave enough to let spirit take me there.

A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
Song by Bob Dylan

….I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall….

Oh, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what’ll you do now, my darling young one?
I’m a-goin’ back out ‘fore the rain starts a-fallin’
I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest….

And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’
But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall

https://genius.com/Bob-dylan-a-hard-rains-a-gonna-fall-lyrics

Photo Credit:

“SoulCards” by Deborah Koff-Chapin. The technique Deborah has created is called “touch drawing.” The cards come in two decks of 60 images and can be used alone or with others as reflection tools. They have enriched my meditation for years and have helped those I companion with. http://www.soulcards.com

Used with permission from the artist

Making Friends With Boredom

 

 

“In navigating the changes, in wrestling with boredom, in confronting our restlessness, in learning to pay attention to what is before us rather than forever moving on to something or someplace that looks more appealing, we come to know regions of our souls that we could never enter otherwise.

Where do you find sources of stability?

What do you learn in committing to something—a place, a person, a way of life—over the long haul?”

In the Sanctuary of Women by Jan Richardson

 

 

Photo Credit:  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/6-scientific-benefits-of-being-bored-a6839306.html

 

Time Will Wait

The Press of Time

We set the pace.
But this press of time—
take it as a little thing
next to what endures.

All this hurrying
soon will be over.
Only when we tarry
do we touch the holy.

Young ones, don’t waste your courage
racing so fast,
flying so high.

See how all things are at rest—
darkness and morning light,
blossom and book.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Sonnets to Orpheus I, 22

Photo Credit: https://www.ikon-images.com/stock-photo-multitasking-woman-in-hamster-wheel-with-hourglass-body-illustration-image00017049.html

The Dog Days Of Summer

Befriend The Stalker

Heat and covid stalk
us down the steamy alleys of August
like bloodhounds on the prowl.
Their incessant baying and trail of spewing spittle
threaten to relieve us of our senses.
We long to just flop down in the shade
with these bloodhounds and flick at flies.

If only we could stop running
long enough we might catch up
to our senses and it wouldn’t be so hot.
It wouldn’t be so dangerous.

If we sit and let be, relief shoulders beside.

c. Rita H Kowats
August 17, 2020

Photo Credit: animals.net

Here We Are‐ Still!

Shall we celebrate the exquisite wonder that we are alive today? We still can discover the yet uncharted territory of our being, even while we struggle for meaning in this new external landscape. It is indeed a wonder that we are here, and that we are managing as creatively as we are.

We are a wonder. Let’s celebrate. It will sustain us in those other moments.

Photo Of Baby Credit: https://sleeploveandhappiness.com/2019/06/27/baby-is-a-light-sleeper/

A Little Light Fantastic

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The light in August
shoots linear lines
of spun gold
into the gardens of our souls
producing unique, varied fruit
a joy to behold.

 

I love this time of year in Western Washington.  I wake up to autumn mornings, followed by summer afternoons, culminating in still-long, warm evenings bathed in shafts of nuanced August light.

May gratitude become my daily practice, it’s shafts of nuanced light become the grace I need to believe that all is well. Regardless.

Photo Credit:  pexels.com

One Little Speck of Energy

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Let us today reach out with our finger and plug the dyke, lest a rush of this pandemic flood of angst overtake us.

We are such funny people, aren’t we? One little speck of energy these days lies latent under 50 mattresses, and our busy minds worry it into a hotbed of troubles.

Yes, sir, then we’ve got troubles. Yes, ma’am, then we’ve got troubles, right here in River City, with a capital T and that rhymes with E and that stands for Egoooo!

Leftside, rightside, backside, frontside, over and around we turn, mattresses complaining, minds exclaiming. Just like the Music Man (1962 film) who cons a culture-deprived community, this little speck of energy, whatever it is, can con us into believing that it IS the universe instead of one PART of the universe.

STOP TOSSING AND TURNING! Throw a protective blanket of divine energy over and around this speck, and move on.

May it be so.

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Photo Credit: wickipedia.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inebriated With Light

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This morning when my friend asked for prayers in dealing with negativity I recognized my own need immediately.  I offer a practice and a prayer.

Practice To Release Negative Energy 

 

Once settled in a comfortable position (lying on my back works well for me), ground yourself with breathing.

When focused, begin the ritual of releasing negative energy embedded in your aura, your brain, anywhere in your energy field where it tends to get stuck. Imagine using your hands to unravel and pull out the pieces of negative energy, sending each one down your spine, and into the ground where it can be reconstituted… recycled for the good, if you will. Accompany the release with the words, “Releasing this unwanted negative energy….sending it down to the earth.”

When finished, take the time you need to let welcome, positive energy to settle in.  Follow the ritual with a physical cleansing with water, sage, or incense.

 

A Prayer For These

Times

 

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Photo Credit: Cathedral of light | vivid sydney 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wheel Of Fortune!

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I looked at my cat this morning and exclaimed, “Wheel of Fortune!” capturing as much of the exuberance of “Rain Man” Ray as I could muster. Sherlock yawned in reply.

Tarot card “Wheel of Fortune,” had been my meditation. I learned again that change is inevitable and try as we may, we can’t control everything. We should just work on staying centered as we experience the spin, the fortune and the misfortune.

How could I not be inspired by the long running American game show, “Wheel of Fortune?”

 
Wheel of Fortune!

With a flick of the wrist
The Wheel offers up both
Fortune and misfortune.
Around and around she goes
And where she stops, nobody knows.

The trick is to relinquish control,
Relax into the spin
Learn from the landing point.
Of course
We can always call for a vowel
From the great white dove
Who wafts across the stage
Of our lives handing out hints
And glints of grace
For puzzle solving.

© Rita H Kowats 8-3-2020

 

 

 

Photo Credit:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_of_Fortune_(Tarot_card)