<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">sorry folks….that note to Dyanna was meant to be private….oh well, so much for transparency…..maybe we are ALL from the same pod after all….<div class="">joined up here at Spirit House to join forces for the good, the holy and beautiful. </div><div class="">May the force be with us…….T<br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Sep 24, 2020, at 2:14 PM, Toni Bernbaum via Thespiritexpress <<a href="mailto:thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org" class="">thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">I love you back!!!!!! and so touched that we do, in fact, go way back……and maybe even, as I pointed out to Roz, <div class="">we may have all incarnated in the same “pod.”</div><div class="">Hee hee.</div><div class="">xoxox T<br class=""><div class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Sep 24, 2020, at 1:12 PM, D. Sangraal via Thespiritexpress <<a href="mailto:thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org" class="">thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="auto" class=""><div class="">Dear beautiful Ton,</div><div dir="auto" class="">I love you and your open, flying, expanded heart. Words fall short.</div><div dir="auto" class="">Tender and precious is the night and day too.</div><div dir="auto" class="">Ommm shanti ommm </div><div dir="auto" class="">Dyana <br class=""><br class=""><div class="gmail_quote" dir="auto"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 3:19 PM Toni Bernbaum via Thespiritexpress <<a href="mailto:thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org" class="">thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a>> wrote:<br class=""></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Dearest Spirit House Community, <br class="">
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I write to you on the eve of the Autumn Equinox, on the heels of facilitating a very moving memorial gathering for Christie Holiday on zoom this morning. I am open. Cracked open. Feeling a depth of vulnerability in the realization of my own mortality as I identify with this body, and also feeling deeply empowered by<br class="">
the infinite love and connection I felt today, that I know I am, as we are joined together, in this case, to honor the life of our beloved Christie. Thank you everyone who took part.<br class="">
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Today is a powerful day. (and isn’t everyday, afterall?) This being the International Day of Peace. there are celebrations going on all over the planet. I am feeling a gravity of peace and acceptance more than my usual sense of it, even as i am equally aware of how much resistance there has been within me at times, to “what is.” And isn’t this a time of paradox, of the tension of opposites? Aren’t we ever more aware now, of the dark and the light and the contradictions within and without? <br class="">
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At this onset of the next seasonal transition, I greet the Autumn Equinox honoring a day balanced with equal darkness and light. This is the first time in 13 years we are not celebrating this occasion in Spirit House. And so, instead, I invite you all to hear the call of this seasons ritual….to let go…. fall into the power of fall…. right in this moment. <br class="">
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Fall into the groundlessness of this very precarious time where there is so much fear and doom and gloom….so much out of our control.<br class="">
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It’s more important than ever to be able to surrender and let go….and trust. See where we land. See what holds us, even as we fall. We look within for how to do that. Autumn resides in the west on the medicine wheel, where first we have the courage to look within to assess ourselves and see where grasping or holding on to something could actually be causing us or some one else, suffering. In taking the journey of self examination we have the opportunity to own ourselves more fully, pull in our shadow projections based on believing ourselves to be separate, and enter into that “in between place” where we surrender old beliefs, habits, identities or conditioning in order to release ourselves into more peace, love and happiness. In the west we realize what is in the way, IS the way. We cannot stop what is dying but we can honor ourselves in the activity of willing surrender to a greater process. <br class="">
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The judgements, the regrets, the playing too small, the things unforgiven, old identities that no longer serve…..can I let them go? Can we honor the necessity of this process that is here to liberate and purify us? Ultimately, and literally, we ARE entering a darker time. We can’t change that. But we can respond to this cycle of change in a multitude of ways. What way will you choose?<br class="">
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>From where I sit, we are now, in what could also be seen as the autumn of our human evolution.There is so much happening that is bringing darkness to everyone on this planet. In the cosmos, the astrologers are forecasting quite a bit of upheaval in the next few months. In the collective we are experiencing grave unrest. At the personal level we are dealing with multiple losses of every kind….everything is so clearly affecting and connected with everything else. At last, this truth is more obvious than ever. And that is a good thing.<br class="">
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But as we watch our liberties being threatened, seeing changes happening so fast, many of us are feeling ourselves being pulled into a vortex of futility, fear and helplessness. It’s a scary time. This season is associated with death, witches, bats, spiders and the devil. Halloween, afterall. But now especially, there is very little place to look outside of ourselves that is not fearful. To stay in balance, we must find that within each one of us, that is peaceful no matter what is happening. But how do we do that? How do we face the boogie man who is in the way?<br class="">
Well…..dress up in the character inside you that scares you the most……become one with it……or in transformational terms, accept it, face it. Notice what your reaction to your fear creates for YOU…….bring it close and personal, own it and ultimately, look deeper……see it for what it is. Let go of the power you’ve given it. This is the work of the west.<br class="">
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This is also an amazing and awesome time associated with abundance and gratitude, to honor our families……and give thanks for the endless flow of love and inner light that is always available within us to share.<br class="">
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So the question of this season becomes……how DO we stay in balance? Especially now, when what we had depended on is untrustworthy. When death is defined as a hug away. When standing up for equality and justice becomes life threatening. What are we doing to stay in balance?<br class="">
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Herein lies our sovereignty, our strength, our abitlity to make conscious choices. We can tap the courage it takes to be steady like the trunk of a tree even as the winds of change are blowing off our leaves and breaking our branches. How can we be strong and flexiblebe like the bamboo. First we can root, even deeper, into the ground of our Being. Look within. Its in there. We can be like mycellium in the underground network of the invisible realm, joining, nurturing, communicating and supporting each other with our loving vibrations, intentions and extensions. Yes. Look within. The answers are there. <br class="">
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I am feeling very strongly, and many people agree, that each of us here now, at this time, is here for a very important reason. We each have a part to play, a unque gift to offer as well as answers to give and share. Why now? Because it is only in shining our brightest love light can we bring balance to the impending dark.<br class="">
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I want to use this format so each of us can offer something in some way of joining in our ability to stay in balance now, and in the coming months. <br class="">
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We know that love is the answer……and yet…..the imperative now, more than ever, is to discover what are those roadblocks and obstacles to love’s presence right inside my own heart? Where am I being seduced by the media or any person or any situation to believe my source of peace and happiness comes from events outside of myself? Where have I forgotten the truth of who I am? When did I stop taking responsibility for the energy system I am generating into the “field?” Where am I pretending NOT to be the powerful essence of love I AM?<br class="">
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This can no longer be something I am reading about and discussing as “possible"….or something we think is “out there” that others are doing. This is an amazing community. Having the privilege of knowing many of you intimately I can say, without a doubt, each of you has a gift. Where is your expression of love finding a home within you, everyday? How are you lighting your own way on your path of truth and integrity.<br class="">
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Where is your song? Where is your poem, your painting, your dance? <br class="">
What I am suggesting, is a challenge to REALLY look within this season. Find the brightest light you can shine. Now that we are going into the darker time, everyone is needed. It takes courage to let go of what might be in the way of shining that light… but what else can we do? How else will we keep the balance? <br class="">
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So thank you for reading this far. I had no idea when I started writing where I was going but as a writer its good to trust that and just surrender, extend this<br class="">
invitation to look within as I looked within my heart this morning during Christie’s memorial service and saw something <br class="">
inspired by sharing our hearts together. So here is my heart share. <br class="">
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Whatever breaks you open this season, bless it. Honor whatever is dying or needing to break, to bring more light, more love, more balance. <br class="">
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Happy Equinox.<br class="">
Blessings on this deepening and darkening part of the journey. May we look within, find ourselves opened with grace, and be released. <br class="">
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With endless love, <br class="">
Tonijean<br class="">
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