<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="">Thank you Riante, for your Crumbs of Revelation and the inspiration of receiving ourselves even in our shadow revelations. These can be the greatest gifts,<div class="">very humbling and often uncomfortable.<br class=""><div class="">And then, to express these revelations and to share them is a beautiful way to learn from each other and create intimacy. Thank you for YOU. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">And thank you Roz for your comments too. As I have shared many times, this whole subject of spiritual bypass is something that interests me quite deeply as I have been working on this for many years Without really being aware of it, I had adopted a “spiritual image” or “spiritualized ego” and always wanting to the “Spiritual thing” when in fact, in some cases, I was really just “acting” spiritually, and sometime plain old self righteous. And later realized the price I paid trying to be “better than I really was” was saying yes, when I meant no,….was “giving to get” or to be liked, or to impress. Was being prideful. Working on this has increased my ability to be sincere, hold better boundaries, and accept myself without having to “prove” myself. Its also helped me be more transparent and forgiving. So many rewards to wholeness and seeing the light as well as the shadow!</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">And knowing its all being held with</div><div class="">Love, Toni<br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Sep 25, 2020, at 7:50 PM, Lydia Rand 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; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">The equinox indeed is a time for self honesty. I have been looking at the spiritual bypass hiding so well I don’t recognize it unless I use the utmost vigilance, look more closely and listen more deeply as Tony invites us to do.<div class="">Through all the heartfelt and wise communications from Toni, Ron, the one from Tomas, and all the responses full of love and praise I ask myself :"Am I really being neutral, embrace the light and the dark equally, do I create a separation when I praise another, am I congratulating myself for how much love and gratitude I have in my heart? I might have fallen with everyone else into the love well and it might blur my vision to some extent, un-neutralize my neutrality.</div><div class="">Here is a piece that came from looking closely at what I believed to be inspired revelation! </div><div class="">
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<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal">Crumbs of Revelation<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br class=""></p><p class="MsoNormal">When a thunderbolt of revelation</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">hits me like a ton of bricks<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I feel so en-lightened<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">that words spark out of me <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">like fireworks<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">in myriads of colors and shapes<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">undulations, convolutions, ripples, <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">intricacies, flutters, and waves.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I put those words down in a hurry<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">in the belief that it might be food for many. . .<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">A little time passes. . . <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p class=""> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">When I think it is the moment<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">to put those words ‘out there,’ and have them heard, <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I look at the page and come to a realization<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">that hits me like a thunderbolt of revelation.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I thought I was offering a pie to share with everyone<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">when there were really <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">only crumbs on the table: <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">hard picking for anyone<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">to try to get nourishment.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p class=""> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">A little more time passes. . .<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p class=""> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I come to the understanding<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">that poetry, writing and all forms of expression </p><p class="MsoNormal">belong to all of us,<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">that those crumbs are only meant <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">to inspire, <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">to activate in everyone <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">the desire to create,<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">the longing to bake a
pie.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p class=""> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">It’s only when I enter in relationship<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">with my inner silence<o:p class=""></o:p></p>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";" class=""><font size="4" class="">that I can hear my true voice.</font></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-font-family:
"ＭＳ 明朝";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA" class=""> </span><!--EndFragment--></div><div class=""> <br class=""><div class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Sep 24, 2020, at 09:22, Yasskin Marc 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; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""><div class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Thank you dear Toni for this amazing poignant outpouring from your heart and soul ~ I felt as though we were definitely all together joined in Spirithouse hearing your invitation to look more closely listen more deeply open further to what we know is real and needed in our lives and in the world. I can see you standing there radiant as ever as I read this ~ and it lifts my soul in this dark time ~ helps me remember what to do ~ how to align ourselves with<font color="#531b93" class=""> “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.”</font><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">What you say here is what I keep saying to myself and others ~ </div><div class=""> ~ that <font color="#531b93" class="">“it is only in shining our brightest love light can we bring balance to the impending dark.”</font></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Once again we speak the same language ~</div><div class="">Keepin’ our love lights shining ~ !!!</div><div class="">Only love,</div><div class="">~m.🌟<br class=""><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><br class=""></blockquote><div class=""><div class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Sep 22, 2020, at 3:19 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=""><div class="">Dearest Spirit House Community, <br class=""><br class="">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=""><br class="">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=""><br class="">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=""><br class="">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=""><br class="">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=""><br class="">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=""><br class="">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=""><br class="">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=""><br class="">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=""><br class="">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=""><br class="">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=""><br class=""> 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=""><br class="">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=""><br class="">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=""><br class="">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=""><br class="">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=""><br class="">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=""><br class="">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=""><br class="">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=""><br class="">With endless love, <br class="">Tonijean<br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><br class="">_______________________________________________<br class="">Thespiritexpress mailing list<br class=""><a href="mailto:Thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org" class="">Thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a><br class=""><a href="http://lists.mcn.org/mailman/listinfo/thespiritexpress" class="">http://lists.mcn.org/mailman/listinfo/thespiritexpress</a><br class=""></div></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div>_______________________________________________<br class="">Thespiritexpress mailing list<br class=""><a href="mailto:Thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org" class="">Thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a><br class=""><a href="http://lists.mcn.org/mailman/listinfo/thespiritexpress" class="">http://lists.mcn.org/mailman/listinfo/thespiritexpress</a><br class=""></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></div>_______________________________________________<br class="">Thespiritexpress mailing list<br class=""><a href="mailto:Thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org" class="">Thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a><br class="">http://lists.mcn.org/mailman/listinfo/thespiritexpress<br class=""></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></div></body></html>