SAHASRARA (Crown Chakra)
Manifesting Sophia |
Focus on the Crown Chakra started as usual by visiting material shops. It was difficult to find something that was close to my vision. But I found two contrasting pieces of material - one lighter and the other a deeper violet colour. I wanted to represent the aspect of nebulosity - the difficulty to grasp of this chakra - the visible and invisible of it. For me the Crown Chakra is about life and death. Walking with my little dog Chico who is very much in the moment, everything is now and new and exciting. Supporting my friend who was dying and his partner who was looking after him at home also kept me in the here and now but also put me in touch with endings and loss. |
The two polarities were very contrasting this month and also very intense. One kept me on the side of life the other plunged me into the darkness and fear of death and dying, suffering, pain and uncertainty.
But all through my meditations with Sophia this month strong realization has come through that whilst I am here on earth, I am to live.
The spiritual aspect of my being is not about leaving this body, focusing on heaven; it is about being embodied and enjoying that. It is about enjoying the fruits of the Earth, being present, through my senses and physical being. And Sophia is my companion and teacher of life on Earth.
Visiting my friend as his life diminished and ebbed away, I felt that bitter sweetness of how anchored we are to this existence, how difficult it is for us humans to let go into death, how unreal all that feels. Paradoxically the spiritual path has felt for me up until now one of not valuing my life on this earth, but to identify it with suffering and pain and the need to prepare for the life of spirit, the life eternal and non-changing.
The message of Sophia has been: "You are here; be here, but feel me, be with me. I will whisper and open the spaces of what you need to see and feel, but really learn to be present in this realm". I can feel Sophia tapping my crown chakra and hammering me into the soil.
The most remarkable aspect of this month was that my friend died as we all sat in meditation. I could feel him going and so did Nicola.
I read out the following poem by Adélia Prado – translated by Ellen Doré Watson
But all through my meditations with Sophia this month strong realization has come through that whilst I am here on earth, I am to live.
The spiritual aspect of my being is not about leaving this body, focusing on heaven; it is about being embodied and enjoying that. It is about enjoying the fruits of the Earth, being present, through my senses and physical being. And Sophia is my companion and teacher of life on Earth.
Visiting my friend as his life diminished and ebbed away, I felt that bitter sweetness of how anchored we are to this existence, how difficult it is for us humans to let go into death, how unreal all that feels. Paradoxically the spiritual path has felt for me up until now one of not valuing my life on this earth, but to identify it with suffering and pain and the need to prepare for the life of spirit, the life eternal and non-changing.
The message of Sophia has been: "You are here; be here, but feel me, be with me. I will whisper and open the spaces of what you need to see and feel, but really learn to be present in this realm". I can feel Sophia tapping my crown chakra and hammering me into the soil.
The most remarkable aspect of this month was that my friend died as we all sat in meditation. I could feel him going and so did Nicola.
I read out the following poem by Adélia Prado – translated by Ellen Doré Watson
The Holy Face
Your false teeth are stuck? Pray!
Promise abstinence for a year
to get those cheap things out of my mouth.
O God, you are so good to us –
roses, removable dentures,
tufts of grass like tiny palm trees,
a profusion of miracles.
The poet Casimiro de Abreu, who was no saint
but appeared in our schoolbooks,
used to say, just like Job,
(and my mother and father):
‘A being we cannot see
is greater than the fearsome sea...’
What do I do now, as I discover You in silence
but also inside me, in my bones,
dizzying sweetness?
Dentists are the ones who make dentures, not You,
the earth is what brings forth roses.
Ever since I was a girl I’ve been asking to see You,
show me Your face.
So, this is the splendour,
this desert blazing bright,
too bright to see the way!
This new sweetness depletes, me,
like being born fatherless, motherless,
object of a love conceived inside myself.
A flower isn’t God, nor is the earth, and me, neither.
Poor and worthless I surrender to whatever it is,
this force of pardon and repose,
infinite patience.
I can almost say I love.