Light on Sunburst Sanctuary – Spring Equinox • by Letha Kiddie • This year as we celebrated another spring equinox at the Sunburst Labyrinth, my thoughts turned to the deeper meaning of Equinoxes, a time of finding balance. It seems especially important this year, following an unprecedented year of forced changes in our lives (due to the pandemic) when everyone’s balance seems to be thrown off.
To me, equanimity is extremely important in times like these, having the ability to weather the storms without incurring too much damage on our emotional, mental and physical bodies. Self care is essential, as well as giving ourselves time to process the many changes and challenges that have taken place during this time.
What can we do to balance the emotions and exhaustion we may be feeling? First of all, just being an observer to our state of mind, body and emotions, can be helpful. Giving ourselves empathy and understanding, starts us on a path of healing.
Acknowledging the stresses in our lives and perhaps sharing our thoughts, feelings, and emotions with others is a good start. Taking time to walk or sit outside helps us to expand our awareness into the larger movements going on in nature, and it helps us see that we are all part of this grander scheme of life.
Balance is symbolic of Libra, which is opposite Aries. These two signs sit directly across the zodiac from each other. While Aries (the Ram) is a fiery, outward, expansive energy, Libra moves us and nature inward into fall (autumnal equinox). They are currently a dynamic dual influence.
And how interesting that the Northern Hemisphere experiences spring equinox at the same time the Southern Hemisphere experiences fall equinox. This is another example of the duality of the third dimension in which we live—something to ponder.
Our small world can feel so large and overwhelming, but we are just a wave on this ocean of life, and we are being carried along by this force we call Life/Love/God. May we all find balance and joy in this grand adventure of life!
by Dawn King • Each of the twelve astrological signs has a corresponding virtue. Western astrology’s Aries Sun illuminates us from March 21 (Spring Equinox) through April 19th. Aries is considered to be the first or beginning sign of the zodiac. The virtue for Aries is Loyalty. The purest essence of loyalty is unfailing devotion to the pure Self, the image of the Creator within each of our souls.
How do we connect with our Creator, or hear Spirit’s voice so we can be devoted, and do Spirit’s will? The key is in listening. Is there a way to enhance our ability to listen to Spirit? As we sit in meditation, our conscious breathing calms and settles the mind. We sit very relaxed, very open and receptive. We sit in the observer’s seat as a watcher, not a doer. A key to listening is entering that state in which we forget ourselves. We blend with the creation. We breathe and relax, becoming one with all life. Now we are still and can listen. Now we can receive.
How God communicates with each one of us is different. For some there are visual images. Others hear audible words. There may be thought transference, feelings, or a combination of any of these various experiences. When you receive a divine message, it’s evident that you didn’t think up the experience. You had no preconceived notions or expectations of the message. It was spontaneous. Sometimes it’s startling, or gives you somewhat of a jolt.
What about when we are not still and meditating? We need guidance most when we’re in the middle of a hectic day and there’s a lot to do. How do we listen then? If we can maintain a conscious listening and looking for Spirit’s communications, we will find them in our day-to-day experiences. Sometimes it comes through the spoken words of another person. Sometimes it’s a visual sign or an omen. For you it might be seeing a feather, hearing a songbird, or the feeling of a hand touching you when no physical hand is there.
A famous story about omens among Indian astrologers is one of an esteemed astrologer who answered a particular client’s question without even looking at his astrology chart. Later, the astrologer was asked by a student who had observed the incident, “How did you know so quickly that this man would indeed prosper in the business endeavor he was enquiring about?”
The astrologer was guru to the student and, as is common for Indian astrologers, he used omens as well as the day’s planetary placements for answering questions on the spot. “Look at the mangos!” he exclaimed. The client had brought a strikingly beautiful platter piled high with perfect mangos as an offering to the astrologer.
We gain sensitivity to our inner and outer environments as we spend time in spiritual contemplation and meditation. When we are sufficiently detached from ego and the busy mind, we become aware of the many times divine messages are coming our way. These messages will keep repeating themselves until we learn to listen and actually hear the Divine. It is a tremendous blessing to be guided by our Creator, our most loving Mother and Father. Take the time to develop a personal relationship with the Divine. Nothing else is as comforting, or as fulfilling.
By Letha Kiddie • Whenever you desire a change of energy, or more clarity in your life, addressing your physical surroundings is a good place to start. This works any time of the year.
The best place to begin is the front entrance of your home. Make it visually inviting to walk up to your front door with some kind of beauty to greet you. This can be pots of flowers or green plants, wind chimes, a fountain or other water feature, a beautiful sculpture, or just a neat and tidy pathway to your door. Painting your door an energizing color can also be effective.
Once inside, be sure that the front door can open completely without any blockages. Remove clutter from around the door and give the eyes something beautiful to see upon entering the room. It can be a colorful rug, vase of flowers, a painting, stained glass window, or anything of interest to you. This will hold the energy momentarily so that it can collect there before moving into the rest of the room or house.
Always be sure to have a well-defined walkway within the rooms. Ideally the center of each room should be empty so the energy can circulate.
In the Chinese art of placement, known as Feng Shui, it is believed that the different parts of our home are associated with the different areas of our life, such as career, wealth, love, health, etc. There are nine of these areas within the home which can be enhanced by simply knowing where they are, and by putting something symbolic into each area. It can be as simple as a picture of happy children in the area of creativity, a heart shaped pillow in the love-and-marriage area, or postcards from a favorite place in your travel area.
These actions send out the message of intention for these things to manifest in your life. Any time we bring attention to something, we bring energy to it.
It’s helpful to pay attention to where you live and how you feel in your living space. Ideally, your home is a sanctuary of nurturing and renewal, as well as a place of empowerment. Take some time to look around your home—see which rooms you love, and which rooms might need changes. Learn a few basic principles of Feng Shui, and enjoy the connection between your physical surroundings and your well being.
Light on Sunburst Sanctuary – Today • Notice the fresh green leaves popping out on trees behind the Sunburst mailbox and sign on Highway 1. Springtime is progressing at Sunburst Sanctuary, though spring doesn’t officially start for a few more days.
Below the entrance road, ignoring the frost, early morning wild turkeys are cleaning up the horses’ hay from yesterday.
The main area is still lovely with its gardens, water features, and wild birds, including Anna’s hummingbirds.
Inside the temple – above. Heiko feeds the horse – below.
Everyone very much looks forward to the day it’s safe for us all to return to Sunday services, and group events. That day will come! Meanwhile stay safe and stay well, to live and love another day.
by Valerie King • If you sit down and are still, you start hearing the thoughts moving across your mind, like a river – an endless river. Thoughts, feelings, emotions, pains from the past and worries of the future. But is this really who you are? These are like clouds that are going by in front of the sun of consciousness that you are.
Recently, I had the great blessing to be invited to the labor and the birth of a new child. When you’re in this situation and you see the mother working so hard, this incredible, transformative act, and you see this lump inside the mother moving and moving, and all of a sudden, that lump is not just a lump. It has a face, and it is a new being.
We all went through this miracle of life. We have come out of infinity, and shortly we will go back. But the great divine consciousness, the Divine One that brought us all forth, wants to be fully awake, and fully alive in us, while we walk here upon this beautiful earth. It wants to awaken and recognize itself looking out through our eyes, working through our hands, loving through our hearts, creating through our minds and our bodies.
How can we accomplish this? How can we awaken to what’s truly inside of us? Eons ago, the ancients brought forth meditation techniques to help open the way, to help us still our minds long enough that we can begin to see the space between the thoughts where Spirit shines forth eternally. It is a work, meditation. We have to work with the life force and light we are given to create a light body that this seed can reside in, this seed of God, so that it can awaken and grow into a new being. It is our self, but our Self as we are truly meant to be—our pure Self.
We all have inklings of this pure Self in our lives. It is the power of love, wisdom, unspeakable joy. It says, “I Am.”— the answer to the question “Who am I?” The work is becoming aware of our own consciousness, and by becoming aware of it, we still the thoughts. We are not so attached to the emotions that carry us, like waves, on the ocean. We sit in the observer’s seat, where we are given the gift of immortality, infinity, infinite love, and we find out this is who we really are.
Divine consciousness lives in each one of us, and we know it as intuition and the voice of conscience. Our job is to listen ever closer to this divine consciousness, to let it heal and transform us, and bring that healing all around us.
In the gospel of Thomas, which is one of the Gnostic gospels, Jesus said, “If you have everything, but you do not know yourself, you have lost everything.” So this is the challenge for each one of us, the adventure of life. It is never too late to start the journey. Start it in this moment. Find out who you are. It is a question that can only be found by each one of us, can only be answered by each one in our own inner discoveries.
I want to end with a quote from Norman Paulsen, who is Sunburst’s founder, when he was speaking about this gift of the meditation tools:
A good meditation technique is the most important thing you could ever have in your life. If you don’t have a technique to get in there and find out what’s going on within you, how are you ever going to know?
The meditation tool is the gift from the gods, the angels of divine consciousness, for our future. They are saying, “Here is your way. You’ve got to go unlock the doors. You’ve got to do the work. You’ve got to climb the mountain.”
They are not going to carry you, but here is the key. Go unlock the door; go climb the mountain. It’s all inside of you.
As we awaken to the divine consciousness within us, we will be able to look out, all the more, and see heaven as it exists on earth in this moment. As the poet William Blake said, “To see the world in a grain of sand, and heaven in a wild flower… to hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour.”
