Meeting 11th December

The theme, as we approach the shortest day, was Darkness and Light. 

We sang,
"Be still and know that day and night,
Be still and know that dark and light
Are one holy circle"

and Ring the Living Bell.

Peter told the story of Mullah Nazrudin and his lost key, the read a poem The Key is in the Darkness while we meditated on a word to share with the group.  Then we covered ourselves with blankets and whent into the darkness while listening to Eve read part of a poem:
"I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope, for hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love, for love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith, but the faith and the love are all in the waiting. Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought: So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing."
— T.S. Eliot

Then we lit a candle, and shared our reflections on darkness and light.

Neesa led us in a dance "Thy light is in all forms, thy love in all beings".  Then Jehanne and Rob played us two songs, The Winter Solstice and The Gift of Winter.

WINTER SOLSTICE

It’s four o’clock and it’s almost dark;
The darkness falls so soon today.
The swings are empty on the park;
Cold winter’s on it’s way…
But it’s time to pass around the bowl
And it’s lighting up time in my soul
For the winter solstice.

The leaves are trodden on the ground.
So many hopes have fluttered down.
Sometimes I don’t know where I’m bound
And the path is hard to see…
But if trees could talk then they would tell
How the leaves were blazing as they fell
With hidden fire.

The doors are shut and the curtains drawn;
Cold winter locked out in the street;
The hours seem endless to the dawn
And the stars so far away…
But every star is listening
To hear what music we shall bring
To the winter solstice.

The seed lies buried in the ground;
The longest night will soon be done.
As the year begins another round
The seed begins to grow.
Then the dawn will chase the dark away
And the bells ring out the livelong day
On Christmas morning.

Song lyric © Jehanne Mehta


THE GIFT OF WINTER

Here the land is open and the stream is singing free,
But where are willow, alder oak, as it dances to the sea,
That hold the banks and cool the earth, allowing springs to rise,
Springs that ripen in the dark to well up through the ground?

Here the land is open and the roads go seething by,
But where is all the boggy land the soaks the floods away?
Here stand high fields of winter wheat, where once the earth lay resting.
Now the rain pours down and tumbles through the little houses in the vale.

We have clothed the earth in surface, shutting off what lies below,
Where the life withdraws in winter that in spring will rise anew.
Midwinter calls ‘Oh come inside, wake up and meet the challenge!’
The gift of winter is the chance to find a way into the ground.

The ploughman in his furrow knows the smell of earth is sweet.
The walker on the mountain feels the life beneath her feet,
The ground beneath is the ground inside, where the light unborn is stirring:
The seed that ripens in the heart for the new song of the earth.

Come one and all who battle on through wind and rain and cloud,
As we raise our voices in one song and carol it aloud:
The ground beneath is the ground inside, where the light unborn is stirring:
The seed that ripens in the heart for the new song of the earth.


Song lyric © Jehanne Mehta


We ended by gathering around the candles in the centre.

There will be a meeting at 10.00 on Christmas day at the Centre for Science and Art for those who can make it.

Vocal Improvisation Course

Vocal Improvisation - TASTER - Jenna Monroe

This Taster for Jenna’s six week vocal improvisation course introduces you to meditative breath techniques, singing from your core muscles to allow the expression of authentic emotion and weaving together spontaneous sound tapestries.  Invigorating, grounding and liberating. 

Date: Thursday, January 12, 2012

Time: 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm (1 Hour )

Price: Free

At The Isbourne Holistic Centre, Cheltenham.

Meeting 13th November

The theme was "Trust", and as it was Remembrance Sunday we also built remembrance into our theme.

We sang,
Good friends when gathered together
Sing for the joy of singing,
No matter what the weather
Good friends are happy together.

Then Neesa and Eve led us in another song written by Peter to the tune of a Starhawk chant:
Freedom comes with every chain we break,
Life's reborn with every chance we take;
The future starts with every step we take,
Energy comes from every change we make.


Peter read a poem by Pablo Neruda, "Keeping Quiet" which led us into a period of silence, followed by another poem read by our guest Kevan Manwaring, "Eden Rock" by Charles Causley.
Neesa led us in two dances:

Into the Earth I go,
Into the Earth I know.
Into the Earth I go,
Into the Earth I know.
Take my hand, sister, take my hand.
Take my hand, sister, take my hand.
Take my hand, brother, take my hand.
Take my hand, brother, take my hand.


Into the silence of the night,
Into the silence of the moon,
I am making my dreams come true.

Then Cynthia led us in an exercise of laughter, and finally Jehanne and Rob sang two songs for us.


The next meeting will be 11th December; note the different location, the Centre for Science and Art on Lansdown, opposite Stroud Library.

Meeting 9th October

The theme for this meeting was "Letting Go" and involved a few changes to the format, beginning with being in a different room for this week.

We welcomed new and returning members and celebrated a birthday.  Then Neesa led us in some Sufi breathing exercises (see meeting on 10th October ).  Jenna led us in two songs, one of which was "The River is Flowing" with an extra chant sung over it:

The river is flowing, flowing and growing,
The river is flowing back to the sea.
Mother Earth carry me, your child I will always be.
Mother Earth carry me back to the sea.

/The heart is the start and the end, my friend.  The heart is the start and the end./


Peter, having let go of the need to write a poem, read instead an extract from Wild Geese by Mary Oliver, and from Rumi.

The activity was led by Judy Clinton and was a creative writing exercise where we wrote as fast as we could for six minutes on "Letting go".  The need to write quickly and without stopping frees you from critical thought getting in the way and perhaps allows feelings to be expressed more easily.  We discussed our experience and what we had learnt both from what we had written and the process.

We danced to a song based on a quote by Meister Eckhart:
A seed of God grows into God,
Let yourself go; let God be God in you.


Jehanne and Rob sang two Autumn songs for us, "Shooting Stars" and "Stop the World, I want to get on".

Then we ended as usual with gathering around the centre and singing "This little heart of mine".

Notices:

True Stories told Live will be held on Friday 11th November, Friday 9th December at Star Anise at 7.30pm.

If you enjoyed the creative writing exercise, take a look at Judy's website
and find the details of a workshop on 5th November.

Meeting 11th September

Today's theme was Green Spirituality, but as it was also the 10 year anniversary of 9/11, we started with a poem from Jehanne she had composed after the event.

After September the 11th
( For the survivors everywhere )

We do not know
how it is for you
in the terrible beginnings
of rebirth
out of the mouth of loss;
but in the search for peace
your pain is sovereign.
There are no fances left to sit on;
the choice is clear:
do we walk the way of love
or the way of fear?

Jehanne Mehta


Then we followed Neesa in the body prayer "All of Creation";

All of Creation feeds my soul.
Every leaf and every tree feeds my soul.
The sun and the stars feed my soul.
All creatures of the land, tha air and the sea feed my soul.
Everyone I meet feeds my soul.
And I grow strong and wise.

Then we sang "Blessings on the Blossom";

Blessings on the blossom,
Blessings on the fruit,
Blessings on the leaf and stem,
Blessings on the root.

Peter read us his poem The Tree of Life;

The Tree of Life [Or Preaching The Green Gospel]

God is mysterious and beyond our knowing
And god is so present her beauty is showing:
God’s a far way thing we can only believe in,
And god is so near we can see and feel him.

God is creation and is still creating
All the potential that is ready and waiting:
We make god a problem not a solution:
God is working through our evolution.

God speaks in the bible and the Koran
And in the heart of every woman and man;
God came down from heaven to earth
And comes down still in every spring and birth.

We might see god from our towers of belief
And we might smell god in the soil underneath;
God is an experience we live inside,
Not something we have to believe with our minds.

God is alive in the biosphere
Birds are angels whose song we can hear;
And if our damage to nature goes on
We cut the branch of god we are hanging from.



We meditated on what is God / The Divine and shared our thoughts on connectedness, the indescribable nature of God and treating the Earth as sacred.

Neesa led us in a dance;

The Earth is our Mother, we must take care of Her.
The Earth is our Mother, we must take care of Her.
Hey yana ho yana hey yan yan.
Hey yana ho yana hey yan yan.
Her sacred ground we walk upon with every step we take.
Her sacred ground we walk upon with every step we take.
Hey yana ho yana hey yan yan.
Hey yana ho yana hey yan yan.

Then Rob and Jehanne sang two songs, "Emblem" and "People of the Earth".  Finally we gathered around the candles in the centre and sang "This little heart of mine".

Announcements

Next month we will be in a different room, in the Museum of Science and Art opposite the library on Lansdown.

Spirit of Peace:

Monday 12th September 7pm, Friendship Cafe, Barton Street, Gloucester GL1 4HR

Manal Timraz, Palestinian restaurant owner and peace activist, will speak on how and why she still works for peace in the face of deep personal loss.
Admission is free, but please bring some food to share (without meat or alcohol).


Monday 10th October 7pm, Ribston High School, Stroud Road, Gloucester GL1 5LE

Space to Reflect - a "vigil" including times of silence, prayer, reflection and meditation along with the opportunity to share thoughts and readings.  You are invited to bring an object, picture, poem or reading which has meaning and may serve as a focal point.

A few pictures

Meeting 10th July

Today's meeting was the last of the "year"; there will be a break in August and the Celebration of Life will resume on September 11th.

The theme for today was Community.  We began with a reading of Peter's poem "Welcome to the gathering".  Then we repeated the Rahde Bo dance we did at the end of last month's session.  We sang a song in a round:

Good friends when gathered together
Sing for the joy of singing
No matter what the weather
Good friends are happy together.

Then Peter read one of the poems we had formed as a community, Instructions to the Sleeping Self (13th March), and we then took turns to read a line each.

We then shared our thoughts and readings on Community.

Judy read "God's dream" by Charles Peguy:

I myself will dream a dream within you,
Good dreaming comes from me, you know.
My dreams seem impossible,
not too practical nor for the cautious man or woman;
a little risky sometimes,
a trifle brash perhaps.
Some of my friends prefer to rest more comfortably
in sounder sleep with visionless eyes.
But from those who share my dreams
I ask a little patience,
a little humor,
some small courage,
and a listening heart – I will do the rest.
Then they will risk and wonder at their daring;
run, and marvel at their speed;
build, and stand in awe
at the beauty of their building.
You will meet me often
as you work in your companions who share the risk,
in your friends who believe in you
enough to lend their own dreams,
their own hands,
their own hearts,
to your building.
In the people who will stand in your doorway,
stay awhile
And walk away knowing that they too can find a dream.
There will be sun-filled days
And sometimes a little rain –
a little variety both come from me.
So come now, be content.
It is my dream you dream,
my house you build,
my caring you witness;
my love you share
And this is the heart of the matter.

Beth read:
If one head could hold the knowledge of a thousand decades past,
If one pair of hands could master every trade and every craft,
If one mind could so inspire itself to never cease to grow,
If one heart could be so close to God it never felt alone,
Perhaps then, just perhaps, there would no longer be
A need for this thing we call community.

Carol read a quote by J.S. Bach comparing community to the process of making music in a group:

"In the architecture of my music I want to demonstrate to the world the architecture of a new and beautiful social commonwealth.  The secret of my harmony?  I alone know it.  Each instrument is counterpoint and as many contrapuntal parts as there are instruments.  It is the enlightening self-discipline of the various parts, each voluntarily imposing on itself the limits of its individual freedom for the wellbeing of the community.  This is my message.  Not the autocracy of a single stubborn melody on the one hand.  Or the anarchy of unchecked noise on the other.  No, a delicate balance between the two: an enlightened freedom.  The harmony of the stars in the heavens, the yearning for brotherhood in the heart of man.  This is the secret of my music."
Johann Sebastian Bach.


Jehanne read her poem "No Reference Points":

Along with those, so many now,
whose letting go unravels their age
in a sudden burst of birth,
old memories are leaving,
rising from their comfortable armchairs,
no longer needing their structures,
books, potted plants,
their things,
moments fixed in black, white and sepia.
Old memories are passng through a curtain
of fine rain,
over a threshold
into light.
Even yesterday dissolves
beyond recall.

Who are you, am I, are we,
without them?
Shapeless, immaterial, unmortal,
a consciousness without reference points?

We are nothing special,
forerunners perhaps,
trailing songs like ribbons in the wind?

Thrown from our familiar mounts,
bruised, open, becoming incipient points of shine,
we meet a portal into an unborn world,
a glow, a warmth, no material boundaries,
we are one to one, one into one,
no separation …
heralds of the sun?

Heart to heart here,
unbelievably, first time,
we are one another.

Jehanne 23.06.2011.


In her absence, Jane sent an invitation to experience the community of Springhill Cohousing ( see www.cohousing.org.uk/springhill-cohousing or www.therightplace.net/coco/public/ to find out more).

Then Neesa led another dance:

I am with you that I might heal,
You are with me that you might heal.
We are together that we might heal,
We are healing that we might love.

Jehanne and Rob played the beautiful "This Place" (see 9th January) while we gathered around the central candle.  We finished by singing This Little Heart of Mine.