Turning as October's Theme
Somewhere in the midst of the pandemic, during a Zoom Bible Study, one of our group members called the day of judgement the true turning. Well that stuck. I don't know why it stuck, but it really came home that night. The song, "Tis the Gift to be Simple" was in my mind the second I heard her words. I searched and tore apart the internet and a variety of texts for the possible source of that phrase, and more than a year later, when I asked her where she'd picked up or assembled that phrase out of her experience not only could she not remember where she'd ever heard it, but my friend could not recall ever having said it!
But I was stuck with it. Calling the fabled Dies Irae by the words, the true turning landed in a powerful way for me, and since then I have spent many hours meditating on its implications.
Because it's the last moment of our free will, right? The moment you have answered for every tear that fell on Earth because of your choices, you will make one final choice: lay down your will for eternity and share eternity with God, or keep your will and bid your maker good-bye.
The true turning.
In the season of Autumn we're in a season that is turning about us in visible ways. I took a picture one year in Wisconsin of a stream with many different trees surrounding the bank in all their foliage changing, and my husband (a physicist) saw it and said, "Those are some very unstable compounds to make those brilliant colors!"
Unstable compounds. Yes, we are. We creatures of the Earth are extremely unstable compounds and we spend our existence in preparation for a single final choice by attempting to live each day turning towards God in every choice instead of away from Him. It's not easy. Our instability shines and shimmers, dims, flickers, flares into brilliant colors, and fades and dies against His radiant, silent, and unswerving Love. All we're doing in this string of "nows" that make up our quotidian existence is turning.
This month's meditations will take up this larger theme in two, one-hour long meditations with the singing bowls. October 11th's meditation is going to hold the topic of Exquinox and Pausing. Our breathwork will focus on the ways that Equinox is halfway to Solstice and it's a good moment to Pause before we hurtle into the celebrations of that time of year! Soon on the heels of Halloween is a two month plunge into the New Year! While we breathe we'll concentrate on why pausing is sometimes mistaken for the suffering of exhibiting patience when its real power is the ability that humans have to hold still with meaning as opposed to feeling arrested.
On October 25th we'll meditate on how seasons of turning can reflect our natures back to us. After pausing we can reflect on what we are doing in our lives, where our feet move, where our hands give their time and energy, and what we focus our minds, hearts and spirits on. The breathwork will be geared to let you choose to contemplate some of these questions: "Where do I give my hours?" "Whom do my hands serve?" "Have I made these choices consciously?"
Come to Lover's Leap in Cameron Park from 8:15 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. and join me in contemplating the true turning during the month of October.
In Peace,
Rebecca