“Do you know what you are?
You are a manuscript of a divine letter.
You are a mirror reflecting a noble face.
This universe is not outside of you. 
Look inside yourself;
everything that you want,
you are already that. “
from  Hush, Don’t Say Anything to God: Passionate Poems of Rumi by Jalal Al-Din Rumi and Shahram Shiva.

Dear Anam Caras,

You continue to be in my heart as we navigate the twin pandemics of the Covide-19 virus and of Fear. I hope these monthly essays help your heart in some way and that the practices are useful and expansive. This essay reflects upon the nature of communicating to self and others non-violently. At the end of this essay, I’ve also included some comforting, uplifting thoughts from others. I welcome your comments and willingness to share my essays.

Communicating truthfully and kindly in a time of chaos and confusion

The intensity of self-isolation seems to bring us into a deeper rapport with All Our Relations. To hear, feel and see other humans is more precious than ever before. The impersonal nature of texting feels cold and distant now. We’re using new ways to reach out and communicate via Zoom along with video/phone calls.

My Watchword practice this year is to explore how my Watchword, “CHERISH What Is”, is given expression in the 12 Key Life Arenas or the 12 Houses of the horoscope. Today, May 20, 2020 the Sun moves into the sign of Gemini. All forms of communication and transportation are related to both Gemini and its natural home in the Third House.

Gemini, represented by The Twins, is the state of consciousness of
“I think.” Its symbolic ruler is Mercury, (called Hermes by the Greeks) who was the winged-footed messenger in mythology. Mercury helped humans incorporate guidance from the gods into their daily existence.

Mercury’s gift and weakness is Doubleness (the twins), the energy to hold often contradictory dual views of life. As one with a Gemini Sun, my dear friend Marie, an eloquent writer and prolific journal keeper, says that she habitually thinks, “On one hand this…and on the other hand that…” Marie observes that she can be plagued with indecision, a natural result of being able to see both sides of anything!

I am grateful to Marie for sharing her Watchword practice with our SoulCollage® Circle. The Watchword practice has been a tremendous gift to me and so many others!

Gemini energy is associated with the Fool/Trickster archetype. A visit from the Fool is disruptive. Life’s comfort zone is turned upside down. Dearly loved notions are called into question. In the medieval courts, the Jester/Fool was the only one who could speak truth to the king and not be executed.

Right now, the Fool has visited humanity, disrupting every aspect of life around the world. For the first time ever, all beings on the planet are affected by the group karma of the virus. Some kings, enraged by the Fool’s audacity to speak truth to power, insist on denying the new reality and seek to execute the Fool.

“One way to think about lovingkindness is as the absence of fear, because when we think of times when lovingkindness is not our first impulse … usually fear is present.”—Vanessa Zuisei Goddard, from The Four Immeasurables: A Science of Compassion

What does it mean to “Cherish What Is” in the Third House of the Everyday Mind?

Recently, I showed a few of my cards to someone unfamiliar with the process of making a SoulCollage® card and then asking it to speak. After Sue read their “I Am One Who…” messages, she asked me if the cards ever lie. Wow! What a good question—one that I’d never heard in the 15 years I’ve been immersed in the SoulCollage® process.

Sue’s question sent me into deep reflection about Satya, the second Yama in yogic tradition. Satya means to abstain from lying. In The Spiritual Science of Kriya Yoga, Sri Goswami Kriyananda writes that the five Yamas/abstinences can be expressed in their positive psychological form as…

1. Non-violence (ahimsa)
2. Truthfulness(satya)
3. Non-stealing (asteya)
4. Celibacy (brahmacharya)
5. Non-greed (aparigraha)

Kriyanandaji taught that in practicing truthfulness, the law of karma allows the truth to come into one’s life, mind, heart, and soul. Satya means a harmonious unification of our mind, speech, and action—in accordance with truth.

Harmful words are not truthful and should not be spoken. We should examine all our words before speaking and only utter what is useful and good. Satya means becoming mindful of your speech and intending to do no harm.

Before speaking, pause and employ the mantra of “Is it true, necessary and kind?”

My heart-sister Cha grew up in South Korea where honoring and deferring to the “elder” was the norm. On occasion, when I’ve made some self-deprecating remark, Cha will deviate from her normal soft and sweet tone of voice. Rather loudly, she’ll say, “Oh COME ON, sister.” She’s woken me up, helping me to realize I need to practice Satya thinking and speaking! I’m starting to call out my loved ones for the same reason now!

The three levels of Satya/Truthfulness, (intellectual, verbal, and physical), build upon one another. Intellectual truthfulness is the foundation of a steady mind. Satya is about seeing clearly. Satya cherishes truth over the mind’s attachments and preferences.

Dive deeply into your own soul to discover your Truth.
You may choose to deceive others.
But do not do violence to your being by lying to yourself!

SATYA/TRUTHFULNESS TODAY

We’re living in a time when the Fool has disrupted all our attachments to the old ways of living. It’s easy for the emotional thoughts of the mind to delude us. The mind can become confused when it desires some alternative wish-dream, instead of accepting the reality that exists now. With the proliferation of social media, it’s easy for the mind to be manipulated by the illusions and delusions of others. There are those who are speaking to benefit their ego’s greedy desire for power, regardless of how many may be harmed.

Back to Sue’s question, do the cards lie? Sure, if the maker is unable to relinquish the ego’s attachment to its idealized view of itself. The unconscious mind is in the grip of Shadow, a primitive, imbalanced, self-centered energy that cannot clearly see the truth.

“When the ego weeps with what it has lost, the spirit rejoices with what it has found.“–Eckhart Tolle

The SoulCollage® process, by its very nature, involves a commitment to discover one’s own truth. To trust the SoulCollage® process means cultivating the ability to drop down into intuition where authentic wisdom resides. And, yes, discovering one’s truth requires mindfulness, the ability to discern when one is being manipulated either by the ego of another or by one’s own ego!

There is nothing more exhilarating and liberating than witnessing one’s own truth in the visual and verbal form of a SoulCollage® card! Thus the soul emancipates itself by practicing the greatest yogic asan, standing on its own two feet, witnessing its own truth!

“When things fall apart and we can’t get the pieces back together, when we lose something dear to us, when the whole thing is just not working and we don’t know what to do, this is the time when the natural warmth of tenderness, the warmth of empathy and kindness, are just waiting to be uncovered, just waiting to be embraced. This is our chance to come out of our self-protecting bubble and to realize that we are never alone. This is our chance to finally understand that wherever we go, everyone we meet is essentially just like us. Our own suffering, if we turn toward it, can open us to a loving relationship with the world.”—Pema Chodron, Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears

DEEPENING YOUR WATCHWORD PRACTICE

1. Make a SoulCollage® card for this year’s Watchword. Keep it out so you may contemplate it daily.
2. This month we are in House Three. In this new cycle, reflect and record your insights about the aspects of that Life Arena/House. For each cycle, make a new card to represent how that Watchword manifests in the corresponding new House.
3. Journal about the House Three card. See PDF here to help you dialogue with it. Step into the card and ask it to…
   • Tell me about yourself. Listen carefully and take notes when you hear the answers.
     •  “I Am One Who…”
     • Keep listening and allow for a kind of stream-of-consciousness answer.
   • What do you have to give me?
   • What do you want me to remember? Or, what do you want from me?
   • How will I remember your message?
     • (What will trigger me to remember your message? Perhaps a color, sound, fragrance, form or symbol, etc.)

HOUSE THREE (Ruled by Mercury)
Natural home of GEMINI, the “I think” State of Consciousness
This is the Life Arena concerned with one’s…

• Everyday mind that’s concerned with mundane matters of daily life. (The Ninth House, home of the higher mind, is concerned with more spiritual matters.)
• Mental Inclinations
• Speech/hearing/perceptions
• Receptivity to the ideas of others
• Siblings
• Short journeys

Here are the 12 cycle dates. Here are the descriptions of the 12 Houses.

If you’d like some help with the practice, please use our Contact page. I am happy to coach you so you can get comfortable. I invite you to share your experiences in the Comments section below.

My Watchword card for the Third House

Peace be unto you, dear Anam Caras. May you see clearly and communicate with truth, kindness and wisdom. Especially to your own precious self!

May you walk in Beauty today and all the days of your life, dear ones. With great love and respect,

Take a break from the anxious churning of the endless new cycles. Instead, enjoy these uplifting offerings:

An article about the intelligence of intuition. OR

A column about being human in the landscape of the corona virus. OR

Stephen Batchelor on finding ease in aloneness.OR 

Gary Zukav’s reflections on the CoronavirusOR

Gail Minogue on living in the truth of the present moment