The Light of Love © 2016 Lynn M. Keefer
Virgo New Moon Mandala
September 1, 2016
The Light of Love
The Month
Happiest of Birthdays and best wishes again to Sandra “Sunny” Mosley who celebrated another birthday/solar return on the day of this new moon! 😉 xoxxx
As I had written, the energy shift of each cycle seems to be delayed for me this year. This cycle we were in visiting with our eldest and two of his friends during the new phase of this lunar cycle. The real “work” of the cycle began after we returned from that visit. With both of our kids now tucked away and into their own lives, new for our youngest now at college, Lovie and I began to figure out what it meant to be a “couple” again. In addition, I was sitting with the space created by the absence of loved ones in my daily life. When our eldest left for college we stopped eating meals at the kitchen table. It was the one place, other than his room, that it was most evident that he was gone.
Lovie felt it was only right that the household chores that the kids used to do be divided and he took on some of those. In addition he had won a cruise earlier in the year so we decided Alaska would be a great destination. (Personally, I think he thought the diversion would be really good for me or maybe he didn’t want to be home with a boo-hooing wife? Lol… It really isn’t that bad! Truly!) Alaska was different from anything we had ever done. What a landscape! Massive. Majestic. Ancient. Breath-takingly beautiful. Not that any life is ever insignificant, but to be in the presence of such ageless and timeless beauty as well as the massive grandeur of the landscape truly humbled and moved me. I began to ponder this eternal quality and what it meant to live beyond one’s days on earth. Also on the boat, was the “Happy-Happy-Washy-Washy” man. He greeted us at every meal with a spray bottle and a smile and washed our hands. Always a smile. Always a song in his heart and a twinkle in his eye – for everyone – all week! The highs of this Alaskan experience helped to offset the lows I was experiencing.
Near the end of the cruise I was called back to the reality of this new life without kids at home through a song from the boat’s Piano Man, Jim Badger, who thoroughly entertained us all week! What a guy! What a talent! As he sang a request from the audience, my heart broke open and the water works started. Who knew Puff the Magic Dragon could do that? The next night in the last port of call we were out window-shopping. In the window of an art gallery in Victoria was a stunning marble carving of a mama duck, wings spread wide, with two baby chicks beneath her. So proud of them…so happy for them, but tears from me none the less. I have to say, I have a new appreciation for those who experience “loss.”
The next weekend we were back with our youngest enjoying Parent’s Weekend. Twenty four hours is NOT ENOUGH TIME! But, so great to see how well she is doing…able to meet most of her delightful friends and enjoyed the football game and the March 110. THEY! Are! AWESOME!! She’s definitely in her element! Between trips, the Prayer Shawl Ministry I facilitate had its first meetings in its 4th season and I was continuing to take better care of the body I inhabit. I actually lost 1.5 pounds on the cruise. Who does that?
Still on my mind was the empty nest I had found the cycle before – or did it find me?
The Mandala
The Light of Love © 2016 Lynn M. Keefer
This mandala speaks to me of an infusion of heaven into this earthly realm symbolized by the square (earth) combined with the square on end (like a diamond…”sparkly matter” or heaven/Spirit), and what appears to me to be germination or cell division created through seven interlocking circles (seven: perfect completion), whose source is Light and Love…. actually The Light OF Love. Five interlocking hearts create the two five pointed stars. There are even flecks of “light” in the outer ring. The whole pie is dissected into 8 pieces – 8 for me often symbolizes the Cosmic Christ. The Eights of this mandala can also be directional… going out to the whole world. So the seed planted and germinating here invites us to a higher plane….a higher level of being. The colors chosen are yellow-green, the color of the spectrum for Virgo, the pink of unconditional love, and magenta which bridges purple to red…heaven to earth. I added some Swarovski crystals to the mandala to invoke the magical and mystical, higher level quality this mandala has for me.
Trending…
So the nest… As I shared on Facebook, I came to the realization in this cycle that the nest was not empty. Yes, the chicks have flown but the nest harbored a gift… a cherry pit:
Google search
So what to do with this tragically short life we live? Trending this cycle was “Living Large”… but not in the way that one might think. Traditionally the term “Living Large” means to live an extravagant or self-indulgent life style. The truth of the matter is the paradox of “living large” – of really living large – has an eternal quality. What is larger than eternity? It is not what we do, but how we do it. In our small selflessness, the little loving things we do day in and day out that make life a better experience for those around us…from close loved ones to those we do not know… to those who are “important” or “significant” in the eyes of the world (think suck up to ) to those who appear to be “insignificant”– those who don’t seem to matter at all (think those whose gaze we work to avoid as we walk or drive by.) In the words of Henry Higgins from My Fair Lady…we are to treat the Duchess and Guttersnipe the same…not with his example of contempt, but with love – equally the same. The paradoxical message of living large is not one of self-indulgence. The true measure of living large – of living the highest eternal quality – is being the Light of Love.
I post this late…that’s how I seem to be rolling this year. Today just happens to be World Smiles Day. That’s a great place to start! 😀
Love, Hugs and Blessings,
L xoxxx
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