It is snowing again – lightly, like a whisper. No wind. No worry. Gentle as a blessing. A quiet
A Knobbed Whelk (the pinkish one) and a Channeled Whelk (the grayish one) in my garden.
contrast to the whipped-up insistence of the blizzard a few days ago, which blew more than a foot of snow around my house. Five miles away, a friend got only six inches. It was a temperamental storm, circling back to dump more snow, riding the whims of the wind.
Watching the weather maps, I could see the storm spiral around itself, another example of nature’s perfect proportions, like a whelk or the coiled petals of a rose, only in the form of moving chaos. Everyone stayed home during the storm. Everything closed down. Paul and I made a fire and reveled in a free day.
Winter is the time of going within – within our homes and within our selves. Like spiraling clouds, we spiral down to our inner core. We watch. We wait. We listen.
On that heavenly snow day, I listened to a new CD, “Psychedelic Prayers,” by Kimba Arem. Arem composed music to accompany a poetic translation of the Tao Te Ching, which is a Chinese spiritual text from the 6th century BCE, written by Lao Tse. Arem writes, “The intention of this offering of psychedelic poetry and sacred sounds is to provide a healing experience to guide your way home.” Here are some excerpts from the prayers.
I am unraveling into the primordial beginning,
the serpent coil of living things,
coiling back beyond mind,
life from spiral void.
…
Do nothing.
Return to Source.
The wood carvings await within each uncut branch.
…
Sound wave. Here (hear) you are heart – life – scarlet drum.
Can you float through the universe of your body and not lose
your way?
…
So now, grab hold tightly.
So now, let go lightly.
For God’s sake, feel good.
…
Love grows.
(original prayers written by Dr. Timothy Leary and Ralph Metzner, Ph.D.
updated by Brigittel Mars)
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