From our Gathering on March 20, 2025

"Tree of life, mother of abundance, she who returns— teach us to sprout new life from every scar and offer ourselves to the bees.

Teach us to be groves to all who come, and let our pathways be of peace." ~ Aurora LevinsMorales

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“In what rings and hymning circulations the greatworld awakes and sings!
The rising winds, the falling springs, birds, beast, all things adore Him in their kinds.
Thus all is hurled in sacred hymns and order, the great chime and symphony of nature.
Prayer is the world in tune, a spirit voice and vocal joy whose echo is Heaven's bliss.” ~George Herbert

From our Gathering on September 20, 2024:

Blessings for Autumn Equinox – Rabbi Yael Levy
Here in the Northern Hemisphere
Autumn begins on Sunday, Sept 22nd.

On this day we will pass through a moment of equilibrium,
When all creation returns to balance.
May this experience touch and inspire our souls.
May it help us keep turning and returning,

Reaching, seeking and pursuing
A world in which harmony reigns
And goodness, love,
Justice and peace prevail.

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Compassion~Thich Nhat Hanh

The only thing worthy of you is compassion –invincible,limitless, unconditional.

Hatred will never let you face the beast inhumanity.

One day, when you face this beast alone,with your courage intact, your eyes kind, untroubled (even as no one seesthem), out of your smile will bloom a flower.

And those who love you will behold you across tenthousand worlds of birth and dying.

Alone again, I will go on with bent head, knowingthat love has become eternal.

On the long, rough road, the sun and the moon willcontinue to shine.

From Our Gathering on June 21, 2024

The Du’aa of Light (as given by the Prophet Mohammed, Peace be upon him.)

O Allah, place light in my heart, and on my tongue light, and in my ears light and in my sight light, and above me light, and below me light, and to my right light, and to my left light, and before me light and behind me light.

O Allah, Place light in my soul. Magnify this light, and amplify this light. Make for me light, and make me light.

O Allah, grant me light, and place light in my nerves, and in my body light and in my blood light and in my hair light and in my skin light.

O Allah, make for me a light in my grave and a light in my bones.

Increase me in light, increase me in light, increase me in light.
Grant me light upon light.

Nuran Allah Nur…

Light upon Light…

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Blessed Are You Who Bear the Light, by JanRichardson

Blessed are you who bear the light in unbearable times; who testify to its endurance amid the unendurable; who bear witness to its persistence when everything seems in shadow and grief.

Blessed are you in whom the light lives, in whom the brightness blazes –your heart a chapel, an altar where in the deepest nightcan be seen the fire that shines forth in you in unaccountable faith, instubborn hope, in love that illumines every broken thing it finds

Soul of all souls, life of all life—you are That. Seen and unseen, moving and unmoving—You are That. The road that leads to the City is endless; Go without head or feet and you'll already be there. What else could you BE? You are that.

- Quatrain 419 by Rumi, Version by Jonathan Star, "In the Arms of the Beloved"

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For No Reason | Hafiz
And for no reason I start skipping like a child.
And for no reason I turn into a leaf that is carried so high I kiss the sun’s mouth and dissolve.
And for no reason a thousand birds choose my head for a conference table, start passing their cups of wine and their wild songbooks all around.
And for every reason in existence, I begin to eternally, to eternally laugh and love!
When I turn into a leaf and start dancing,
I run to kiss our beautiful Friend and I dissolve in the Truth
That I Am.

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Be Your Note

Remember the lips where wind-breath originated, and let your note be clear.

Don't try to end it. Be your note.

I'll show you how it's enough.

Go up on the roof at night in this city of the soul.

Let everyone climb up on their roofs and sing their notes. Sing! Sing loud!

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The body is like Mary by Daniel Ladinsky

And each of us has a Jesus inside.

Who who is not in labour? Holy labor? Every creature is.

See the value of True Art, When the earth or a soul is in the mood to create beauty.

So that the witness might then, for a moment, know beyond any doubt that God Is there. God is there, within.

So innocently drawing life from us with her Umbilical Universe –infinite existence – and needing to be born! Yes, God

NEEDS TO BORN. So BIRTH!

From a hand’s loving touch, birth from a song, birth from a dance, breathing light into this world.

The body is like a Mary. And each of us, each of us has a Christ within.

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Why We Turn—Mevlevi Shaikh Suleyman Hayati Dede

If you are quiet and in a state of prayer when you turn, offering everything of yourself to god, then when your body is spinning, there is a completely still point in the center...the heavens respond; and all the invisible kingdoms join in the dance. But the world does not understand. They think we turn in order to go into some sort of trance. It is true that sometimes we do go into that state you call ecstasy, but that is only when we know and experience at the same time. We do not turn for ourselves. We turn around in the way that we do so that the light of god may descend upon the earth. As you act as a conduit in the turn, the light comes through the right hand, and the left hand brings it into this world. We turn for god and we turn for the world and it is the most beautiful thing you can imagine.

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ONE SONG

What is praised is one, so the praise is one too, many jugs being poured into a huge basin. All religions, all this singing: one song.The differences are just illusion and vanity. Sunlight looks slightly different on this wall than it does on that wall and a lot different on this other one, but it is still one light. We have borrowed these clothes, these time-and-space personalities, from a light, and when we praise, we pour them back in.

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Compilation by Mariam and Petaluma— From “The Soul of Rumi”, translations by Coleman Barks

Spine became strong. Spine became strong, because of two lucky stars: Justice and Forgiveness

Listen. Hear blessings dropping their blossoms around you. God.

We are the night ocean filled with glints of light. We are the space between the fish and the moon, while we sit here together.

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I like when the music happens like this: Something in Her eye grabs hold of a tambourine in me, Then I turn and lift a violin in someone else, and they turn, and this turning continues…

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YOU are song, a wished-for song. Go through the ear to the center Where sky is, where wind is, Where silent knowing is. Plant seeds and cover them. Blades will sprout where you do your work.

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Whatever comes, comes from a need, a sore distress, a hurting want. Mary’s pain made the baby Jesus. Her womb opened its lips and spoke the Word. And every need brings in what’s needed. Pain bears its cure like a child.

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And don’t just ask for one mercy. Let them flood in. Let the sky open under your feet. Take the cotton out of your ears. The cotton of consolations, s you can hear the sphere-music. The place that Solomon made to worship in, Called the Far Mosque, is not built of earth and water and stone, but of intention and wisdom And mystical conversation and compassionate action.

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Wherever you stand, be the soul of that place. Where there is ruin, there is hope for treasure. This universe is the mountain and the actions are the echo.

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Spine became strong, spine became strong, because of two lucky stars: Justice and Forgiveness.

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The Ambience of Love by Hafiz, translated by Ladinsky

We all sit in his orchestra—some play their fiddles; some wield their clubs.

Tonight is worthy of music. Let’s get loose with compassion,

Let’s drown in the delicious ambience of Love.

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This season with the Friend so near, the body dims. Heart-light grows more intense. Storm clouds finally weep, because the lightening has started to laugh. With heavy tears everywhere coming down, the fields get uncontrollably tickled. ~from ‘Birdsong’ translation by Coleman Barks

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From our Gathering on Earthday~ April 22, 2022

Element: Earth — poem by Petaluma Vale

It is not really an it. It is a community, held together by the hidden face of the garden it sustains, alive with millions, all contributing to its slow magic, the crumble of creation— The source, the process the outcome. All dead tucked in dearly. Worm weavers. Mushroom hush…

It is the inevitable—we need it; we are it. We swing around awhile in bones and skin, reveling as our feet detach from it, but this dance will end soon.

It feeds our food. It takes what we leave. It hides our secrets. It knows the wisdom of working in the dark, without rushing, without fanfare. If we listen well enough, it is the soft mountain of evidence that no one is alone, that we are in this together, kicking and crying, fasting and feasting and fooling, until we are still— and long, long after that.

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"Many of us walk for the sole purpose of getting from one place to another. Now suppose we are walking to a sacred place. We would walk quietly and take each gentle step with reverence. I propose that we walk this way every time we walk on the earth. The earth is sacred and we touch her with each step. We should be very respectful, because we are walking on our mother. If we walk like that, then every step will be grounding, every step will be nourishing.

We can train ourselves to walk with reverence. Wherever we walk, whether it’s the railway station or the supermarket, we are walking on the earth and so we are in a holy sanctuary. If we remember to walk like that, we can be nourished and find solidity with each step.

To walk in this way, we have to notice each step. Each step made in mindfulness can bring us back to the here and the now. Go slowly. Mindfulness lights our way. We don’t rush. With each breath we may take just one step. We may have run all our life, but now we don’t have to run anymore. This is the time to stop running. To be grounded in the earth is to feel its solidity with each step and know that we are right where we are supposed to be.

Each mindful breath, each mindful step, reminds us that we are alive on this beautiful planet.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

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Chesed ~ Rabbi Yael

The earth is blooming: greens, yellows, purples, pinks. Gracefully rising with so much generosity and love, in the midst of all that is. And this is our call as well, beings of creation that we are: To break through the hard packed ground, To rise, To open, To blossom. To join in the earth’s chorus of Hallelujah and give of ourselves in generosity and love.

The soul on the brink of opening cries, “The world is filled with so much brokenness, so much sorrow, suffering and pain. How can I possibly shine?

All the more reason, the Infinite responds, Look towards the trees, flowers, the expanding buds. We are all lifted by each other’s beauty, kindness, generosity and care.

May the steadfast love of Chesed fill us all; may it inspire our endurance and devotion, and may the exquisite generosity of earth remind us that loving transformation is possible in every moment. ~ Rabbi Yael

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