Passing on a Gift....

A Classic DD from Valentine's Day 2011.......a love letter to my love for Dan and his art. The BEST gift I have ever been given on this day hands down! This culminated on a retreat, a time when my soul gets so quiet, I can hear my own beliefs. <3

Sometimes in life, you receive signs, messages and offerings of love and peace that are undeniable.

This past weekend I was honored to guide 2 beautiful women into the woods to discover truths they already possessed......that their inner teacher is active and wants them to know they can trust her and allow her to speak out in purpose and wisdom.

When preparing for a retreat, I always listen to my intuition on all counts, and especially about how the opening evening should progress, what would be most needed by each soul on the journey with me, etc. Many months ago, as I was returning from a visit with my daughter and her family, I was in the car listening to Dan, my road companion. "In the Passage" came on the iPod in shuffle mode. Instantly I knew I was to share the lyrics to this song with the ladies joining me on the retreat.

The first words to the song are:
"There's a ring around the moon tonight, and a chill in the air"
As I have heard the song over the years, I would visualize in my mind's eye, the moon Dan might have witnessed that birthed these lyrics into their existence. I could feel the cool night air and sense his amazement at such a moon on such a night. Dan's songs ALWAYS paint a picture in my mind, always! I am sure this was his desire.... for us to see movies in our brains, that are personal to us alone as we listen to his fluid art. I heard him say in an interview once that music videos take away the personal images a song can gift to someone. I so agree with this!

As I was saying, when I prepare for presentations or retreats, or lesson plans, I shoot from the hip, processing it all in my head as I move closer to the event. It does not bode well for me to over prepare, I like to utilize the spontaneity of a moment and the synergy of those in the room to spark the flow of my teaching.
So, a few days before we were to head out, the song presented to me again, and I printed off the words to share with Theresa and Dana.

The theme of the weekend was "Your Inner Teacher". In the Passage speaks to so many issues around this theme. On Friday night, I presented the printed page to the ladies and told them they could read the words later if they liked, and that Dan had been my first real spiritual teacher.... that he guided me to the inner wisdom my soul possessed. I always say he knew my soul better than I did.

We continued on with my gently guided "presentation" and then spent lots of time bonding on that first night. We learned about each other, laughed, cried and experienced a visit from a loved one on the other side of the veil. A pretty amazing bonding session. Stories about Unicorns, grandfathers, families, fears and joys made up the strands of the unique fabric we weaved together.

On Saturday morning, we all awoke to silence and the inner journey that brought us all together. We spent time in the woods, in contemplative silence, and with hands moving across page as our own lyrics made themselves visible to us. Each of us on the perfect date with stillness and silence we had come to experience.

The day was warm, clear and bright. A lady bug came to me and spent time in my room as I wrote, and wrote and wrote. She spent time on my page, my window sill and my pillow. The rhythm of the melting snow falling from the rooftops pulsed out Gaia's heartbeat as I spent time in my little pink walled room that transformed into a BIG PINK WOMB of creativity.

That night, when the sun hunkered down to its gentle slumber, I dove into a deep meditation. At some point I was jostled out of this deep soul excursion by a thought, clear and direct....."look outside for stars". Obeying this call to action, I gazed; a bit sleepy eyed; out through the angled window atop my bedside. And then I saw the fuzzy glow, not of a star, but of a gift!!! I became very awake immediately. I donned my coat and boots and the other necessary winter garb and headed out into the mild February night. I was quietly greeted by Theresa who was outside already. I nodded my head to her and smiled. She met my acknowledgment with one of her own. "Hello, fellow Goddess" we wordlessly conveyed to each other.

I lifted my gaze skyward, and there I saw the most beautiful half moon, completely surrounded by a ring of white resembling the taffeta and netting of a fairy princess' dress. I stood there in humbled shock for a few minutes, blown away by the synergistic events that brought me to this very place of realization. The realization that I was receiving a visit from Dan, or a visit of collective awareness somehow orchestrated on a plane other than this physical one. The full skirted hoop of this heavenly dress was too far expanded to capture on my camera. 'It is only to be captured in my memory", I thought to myself.
The picture painted for me this night, as the lyrics to In the Passage ran through my mind, was right there in front of my eyes, at the precise timing when it meant more to me than it ever could or ever would again. "WOW" kept emitting from my lips. "WOW!!!"

There indeed was "a ring around the moon tonight and a chill in the air", and I was a woman blessed in ways immeasurable! The ring of connection that we are a part of was showcased in that moment, in grand form for all to see!!!! The chill in the air dissipated gently, as my heart warmed to that of a glowing ember.