Success

Mark 4: 21-25
"The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you.To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away."

What goes around ,comes around. Karma. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. To be successful, work hard. 

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.If you don't at least try, you will not succeed.

New Art - Blue Harpman

My latest piece - Blue Harpman - 24" x 34" - Acrylic - also available on note cards.

Migration

“The Migration”

Awesome it is –

a movement monumental –

fleeing oppression,

fleeing violence,

fleeing homeland

     and culture comfort.

Why?

We see the injustice

laying on the surface

like oil on water.

But that is what we see

with our eyes.

There is more –

Ask them what they see

with the eyes of their spirit ---

Perhaps they sense it,

perhaps not.

But there is something more---

They are moving

the best of their culture

to preserve it,

even if it appears

as oil on water,

or beans growing

among the corn.

Can you sense it?

It is coming ---

A great change.

And these souls,

fearful of merely

losing their lives,

are saving a Life

worth living.

For no more shall their homeland be –

Soon – just a hole in the earth

so big,

our eyes in space

will see it clearly

from their far-off balcony,

so high above

our blue home.

What will survive?

How shall we live?

Who will establish –

--- a new culture?

--- a new Life?

--- a new God?

agd 1.26.2016

Blizzard's Progress

Blizzard’s Progress

Swaddled in frozen white,

Sparkling in the sunlight,

The silence is welcome,

The feeling is wholesome.

Warmed,

   Fed,

      Rested.

A short hibernation

Before scurrying to my station,

Sounding the fife

In the continuing project of Life.

Sela.

agd 1.25.2016

Blizzard 2016 - White Quietude

White Quietude

It’s a blizzard out there!

But in here,

thankfully,

warmth and safety.

It’s quiet in here,

so silent

when all the

house functions cease,

save for occasional creaks.

It’s quiet in here,

save for the T-drone in my head

and my beating heart.

It’s quiet in here,

and out there, too –

It’s a beautiful, flaking,

blowing, blanketing,

white on whte

crippling blizzard.

Stay home,

and enjoy the silence.

agd 1.23.2016 Blizzard – really.

 Even St. Francis has his hood on!!

Why pray?

So, do you understand what "prayer" is?
It is not talking to some unseen being who you think is waiting on your word and judging your words and whether they are worthy of a response.
True prayer, even though it might be preceded by formula prayers, mantras, etc., is a means of connecting with that which IS - that which is Life - the Force, if you will (sometimes new terms make more sense than old concretized concepts). It is connecting with that to which you and I and all of creation are connected. I like to use the image of the Allium flower - hundreds of florets attached to the center orb - everything "material" is connected to the Source, or else it would not exist.
Religion is supposed to teach us how to re-connect to that Source, not be cow-towing to some mysterious, ethereal judging power or "god-person". That power is in you. That power is you. Connecting more intimately with that power gives the individual a handle on reality - it leads to the realization that all things are connected.
These comments are a response to something I read one "minister" comment on the changing perspectives in religious attitudes - "Most prayers invoke a god that doesn’t act in that way, yet I am still called to pray.”
Again, prayer is not to a "god" - a mysterious being who holds our destiny. Prayer is connecting with the Life which creates and animates this amazing universe on all its levels. And as we deepen that connection within ourselves, we cannot help but become aware of the connection all of life has to that Life at the center of everything. Everything is connected. 
Prayer (connecting to the Absolute) leads to developing those sacred attributes most faith-filled souls aspire to: compassion and love. Practicing love and compassion reconnect us to one another and change lives. As more souls learn to love, it is like lighting more candles in the darkness, and that light grows more brightly, and is seen by more souls who become en"light"ened, adding to the brilliance, and so on.
So, pray. Pray every day - learn to pray always - stay connected with your Source, and your love will radiate and transform the world in which you are walking.

It's Trans, you say?

It’s Trans, you say?

His wrapping is male,

but not her soul.

His physical gender

thrusts outward,

her astral draws inward.

Years of surging urge

shook his life,

so little understood by so many –

so easy for her to hide.

Past lives sensed –

some bearing new life,

serving the home,

pleasuring and

being pleasured

in pinafore and gown,

warm wraps,

hair combs and perfumes.

Other lives of challenging strength,

leading and protecting,

guiding, building,

hunting, plowing, siring.

And the gamut of “gender”

is layered within me –

no need to choose –

I am all of that,

no matter if wrapped

as male or female.

I am all of that,

and I will live it.

How to live

the androgynous life

takes a lifetime to learn.

But this is only one,

chosen in spirit ---

yes -- chosen – by me.

So live it, learn it, and grow.

Choose wisely next time,

and …. remember.

agd - Jan. 2016

New Snow

Frosty chill today,

Light snow sparkles in the grass,

The cat still explores.

agd 1.13.2016

Harp Song of the Danish Women

What is a woman that you forsake her,
And the hearth-fire and the home-acre,
To go with the old grey Widow-maker?

She has no house to lay a guest in—
But one chill bed for all to rest in,
That the pale suns and the stray bergs nest in.

She has no strong white arms to fold you,
But the ten-times-fingering weed to hold you—
Out on the rocks where the tide has rolled you.

Yet, when the signs of summer thicken,
And the ice breaks, and the birch-buds quicken,
Yearly you turn from our side, and sicken—

Sicken again for the shouts and the slaughters.
You steal away to the lapping waters,
And look at your ship in her winter-quarters.

You forget our mirth, and talk at the tables,
The kine in the shed and the horse in the stables—
To pitch her sides and go over her cables.

Then you drive out where the storm-clouds swallow,
And the sound of your oar-blades, falling hollow,
Is all we have left through the months to follow.

Ah, what is Woman that you forsake her,
And the hearth-fire and the home-acre,
To go with the old grey Widow-maker ?

Classic poem shared on the Harp List by Jon Murphy

Worship

I met the Beloved today,

under a drowsy Ent (‘tis autumn),

in the cool morning twilight,

in the pre-dawn silence.

Selah.

agd 11.8.2015

Shepherd's Retreat Ctr.

From My Bed

The earth spins …

through narrow slats

and stars float

thru the sky.

I spin …

and my world becomes

a snow globe.

The galaxy spins …

And who gives a shit?

Hafiz!

Make me a sandwich …

Please.

agd

11.8.2015

Retreat

Grateful

Grateful time

to be ---

No cats,

No students,

No planning,

No cooking,

No mowing,

No cldaning.

Just grateful --- to be.

Thanks.

Harp Retreat

Shepherd’s Spring Retreat Center

Sharpsburg, MD

 agd 11.8.2015

Changes

Changes

Summer yawns deeply,

And the sun dims.

Yet in the waning light

the fires of autumn burn brightly –

in reds, oranges, yellows and greens.

Day to day,

the fires delight

‘til frost and cold

steal the fire’s glow,

leaving the landscape

dotted with browns and ash

‘til winter’s icy winds

bare the branches naked,

readied for the snow and ice

to grace their limbs

‘til the sun burns brighter once more

to wake the sleeping earth.

agd 10.31.2015