Silence, The ninth letter of Maria (June 2021) |
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Listening to a tree silence... filled with colour. |
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Dear friends, Some weeks ago I saw two people hugging a tree. I like to imagine they were listening to it. I came home and wrote about the silence we become aware of when we listen to trees. And about the love, the Interspecies friendship that maybe one feels, when connecting to the bark of our green friends. And a human friend, Tom, wrote back about the wonders of "Feeling the space between spine and trunk on the inhale and the exhale ." And I went back to visit my tree and did exactly what Tom advised. I so much wanted to feel the silence deeper. The emptiness. The no"thing"ness leading us to being in presence. In Silence. Between breaths, and beyond the breath sound. The stillness of being one with the bark of the tree. And the wish to listen more to silence, when silencing the senses. The stillness here. Right here. now. |
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The foothills of the era of the soul Gently, imagine yourself there, by the tree. And close your eyes. And feel the silence, in your heart, inbetween heart bits, inbetween breaths. Maybe the tree will speak to you, to your soul. Yes. The soul always speaks from silence, and we’ve reached the foothills of the Era of the Soul, Caroline Myss wrote in her newsletter that I just received. And I wholeheartedly agree. No! I should say, I know! (don't we all know?) The soul... shaping itself as an embodied, organic, deeply felt reality, as real... as the invention of the psyche one century ago. The soul is deeper, it connects us all, it takes us to the age of wisdom. And today, in various conversations with people, we spoke about that. About the loving laws of the soul, and about healing and cure... and the qualities of soul medicine shaping itself as this new decade moves towards the future. And in wonder, we realised how each soul is co-creating its own growth and its own healing. Taking responsibility for it, finding its own unique resources and, yet mindful and willing to step into the power of the relation and presence of the sangha, the circle, connecting with each other, all engaged in processes of co-creation, of co-healing, of love.. when feeling the si len ce. |
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And what is the gift of silence today? The gift is patience. There is grace in silence. The silent voice that stops us when we are about to say something we will regret, the action that doesn't benefit anyone. And the other silence, such silence as the one of a luminous darkness, eternity. And we all know it. And we all forget about it and relearn. Such silence. Mary Oliver writes about it, in her poem: " (...) Such silence. It really wasn’t so far from a town, but it seemed all the clocks in the world had stopped counting. So it was hard to suppose the usual rules applied.
Sometimes there’s only a hint, a possibility. What’s magical, sometimes, has deeper roots then reason. I hope everyone knows that."
I turned fifty years old. Last May, I turned 50. I organised a picnic that never happened, because in London, it rains and rains. And yet, “I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new” says Ralph Waldo Emerson, and so did I... as I reached 50 and begin now... the 6th decade. In this ever going continuation of body turned sparks of soul creating form, and the other way around... enveloped by the rythm and deep embrace of sleep, stillness, silence. |
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"A miracle is always waiting to be born into a human will." Orland Bishop With love, Maria |
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ACTIVITIES Learning and Drawing the I Ching A 2 session workshop on the I Ching. This workshop will explore the I Ching through drawing. We will discover the history of this ancient wisdom text, learn how to use the I Ching, and journey through the whole 64 hexagrams... through sharing, drawing and readings, using the original translation by Richard Wilhelm with commentary by Carl Jung. In July, over 2 Sunday Mornings (10 to 13 PM) 10th and 11th of July. PM me if you would like to sign up. More information here: https://www.marialusitano.org/i-ching-workshop |
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Image by Joana Patricio, participant in Drawing and Soul workshop |
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Silence - New Workshop in July "Silence is the root of everything. If you spiral into its void, a hundred voices will thunder messages you long to hear." says Rumi. And what are those messages, and how can these help our lives, change our heart and our art? This workshop explores silence ... and a deeper listening to your inner wisdom, because, 'When the lips are silent, the heart has a hundred tongues.' In this 4 week workshop we will explore silence through meditation, art (text and drawing) and shared conversations from the deeper space of the heart. The workshop is also a good introduction to mindful meditation (heart centred). It will happen over 4 weeks in July, from 6.30 to 8.30 PM: 5th July, 12th July, 19th July, 26th July! More information here: https://www.marialusitano.org/silence-workshop New Dream Work Workshop coming up in July 2021 Working with others and with our dreams, is a deeply healing process that accelerates personal and spiritual growth. Over the years, I developed my own practice of working with dreams, which is inspired by Tibetan dream yoga, Sufi dream work, Carl Jung, and the use of creative tools such as drawing, storytelling and feeling the dreams through embodiment. Working with Dreams, enables us to become more aware of the main drives of the personality and how our struggles, aspirations and blockages paint the rich imagery that fills our nights with stories. In this workshop, we will meet in the evening and help each other remember our dreams. We will learn the basic skills to improve our dream recollection and we will work creatively through text and drawing to explore dreams and dream diaries. We will also learn how to lucid dream and the basic meditation techniques used by dream yoga. The session concludes with a Meditation inducing participants into remembering the first dreams of the evening. https://www.marialusitano.org/dream-yoga |
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Dream circle every Monday at 2 PM Just like the seven sleepers, a group of us keeps meeting every week to share our dreams with each other… and dream together.
Many centuries ago, 7 young men prosecuted by Decius, a Roman emperor, due to their Christian faith, entered a cave to pray ... and fell asleep. The emperor ordered that the mouth of the cave be sealed with the men still inside, but these didn't even notice as they were happy dreaming all together, for days, weeks, years, decades, centuries. One day, the story goes, the landowner decided to open the mouth of the cave… As light streamed to the inside of the cave, the seven sleepers awoke, they had been sleeping … and had dreamed for 200 years… even if they thought it had been just 1 day. The circle is very important in dream work, as one becomes more supported to explore ours and each others dreams, both content and the embodied emotions locked in the imagery. The group serves as a container, a sacred space where participants can access safely their inner world, and see it recognised … and transformed. The group also accelerates the process of moving into soul consciousness, as a deeper part in us relaxes and rests in that silence of togetherness held by the group soul. As Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee says: “Group meets together for the purpose of transformation beyond the ego. If a group meets for this purpose the group is both energised and protected by the Self, the source and the goal of our inner drive for transformation.“ PM me if you would like to join this group. |
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