CARD MESSAGES：
1. BEYOND DEATH, LIFE 20
2. PASSION FOR PURPOSE 24
3. THE DISSOLVING LIGHT 28
4. THE CLOAK OF CHRIST 32
5.1 SURGE ON THE UPRISING WAVE OF LOVE 36
6. ONE 39
7. BLOOD ANGEL 43
8. COSMIC HEART 47
9. THE IMPOSSIBLE MADE POSSIBLE 51
10. CELESTIAL ROSE OF MA 54
11. SACRED CONVERGENCE 58
12. DIVINE DISCONTENT 62
13. ARISE 67
14. LET LOVE TRANSFORM 71
15. DIVINE MOTHER MANIFESTS 74
16. FROM NOTHING TO EVERYTHING 77
17. THE HUMAN GIFT 81
18. A NEW GOWN 85
19. SACRED UNION 89
20. THE ALL-ENCOMPASSING HAND 93
21. SACRED PHOENIX HEART 97
22. THE LION AND THE DEER 101
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23. STAR MOTHER ARRAKIS 106
24. RESPLENDENT WITH GRACE 110
25. BEYOND THE THRESHOLD OF FEAR 114
26. AL-UZZA STAR OF VENUS 118
27. THE ANGEL RAZBAR 122
28. ENTER THE GARDEN OF DELIGHTS 127
29. THE RIGHT CHOICE 132
30. WHIRLING GODDESS 136
31. COMMITMENT 139
32. SHE OFFERS THE SACRED WINE, SO DRINK! 142
33. YOU, WHO SHOW THE WAY 146
34. LAYLA 150
35. THE LOVER AND THE BELOVED 155
36. PASSION OF THE WILD RED MOTHER 158
37. SACRED SOUL SISTER 162
38. THE COURAGE OF YOUR LOVE 167
39. BLESSING OF ZAHRA 171
40. BLESSING OF AL-HAKIM 175
41. VICTORY OF MARYAM 178
42. DANCE OF THE DIVINE FEMININE 183
43. HAND OF FATIMAH 187
44. MERCIFUL MOTHER JAMAL 191
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 195
ABOUT THE ARTIST 196
ALSO AVAILABLE FROM BLUE ANGEL PUBLISHING 198
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inTRQDVCtion
RUMI, MY OLD SOUL FRIEND
I have loved Rumi for a long, long time 一 long before I had any idea of who he was in human terms. To be perfectly honest with you, he is still very much a mystery to me in terms of his human self Yet, at a soul level, he is known to me so well, and I to him. From the first moment I read his poems, many, many years ago, I felt as though he was speaking a sacred language that I could understand with my heart rather than my mind. It was at times intoxicating, but at other times quite confounding! I could feel but not always mentally understand what he was getting at.
In time, as my own spiritual journey deepened, I came to understand his words. They echoed my own experiences of the Divine in its eroticism and mystery. I came to feel a closeness to Rumi; a genuine intimacy that surprised me with its intensity and familiarity. I had the sense of remembering someone I knew absolutely and deeply, yet had somehow forgotten about for a while. Somewhat abruptly, triggered through life circumstances, I suddenly just reconnected with an old, old soul friend. Then immediately, it was as though we had never been separated from each other; so deep was our connection that parting was not even possible. It felt somehow very natural and rather strange too.
I have had some deep challenges in my life, which I speak about in my books, but I have also been given many gifts. Although I was raised as a Catholic, by the time I left high school I was no longer interested in following a religious path, and I chose to explore spiritual paths and leave my previous religious affiliations behind me. I had always been interested in the beauty and diversity of a wide
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range of spiritual paths. I was lucky enough as a child to be raised in a household that was very open-minded about religion. Even though that was a Christian household, I was encouraged in my friendships with those of very different cultural and religious persuasions. I recall having friends who were Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Jewish and Greek Orthodox, as well as of the Bahai faith, and of the nature¬based Pagan traditions also. I even had a friend who managed to combine the rituals of Wicca (a nature-based tradition of healing and empowerment through earth cycles and energies) with her love for Mother Mary in her own sort of Catholic-witchcraft blend which would have undoubtedly raised at least a few eyebrows, but to me it just seemed to be the best way that she could express her unique devotion to the Divine Mother in her heavenly and earthly forms.
So it wasnt difficult for me to love the Divine, to love the Goddess, and the Christian idea of God the Father, and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit and so on. It was easy for me to accept that non-Christian religious traditions were speaking of the very same divinity through many different terminologies, iconographies and philosophies. It never bothered me that others would have different names or faces for divinity. To me it was like we were all in love with the same divine person, so to speak, just with different nicknames and stories of connection to share.
In my personal journey, I learned to relate to different faces of the Divine as I grew 一 the gentle face of the Divine, the wild face, the powerful face and more. As I became able to accept more of my own self and of life unconditionally, I would meet and connect meaningfully with more and more aspects of divinity.
I had to mature as a woman, in my acceptance of my body and my sensuality and sexuality as a natural part of my greater spiritual life journey, before I could relate to Rumi personally, and 'remember' him again. During that development phase of my life journey as a
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woman, the teachings of the Sufi mystical path became naturally awakened within me at a deeper and more personal level. I do not claim expertise in the Sufi way at all; only a reverence for the beauty that exists in what I have experienced of it through my conscious soul connection with Rumi and the teachings that he shares, which felt as though they were the very same teachings of my own inner divine feminine nature. My personal sense is that Rumis teachings are those of the heart and will strike a chord and resonate with those of us who are awakening our hearts at this time, to learn to live from a place of wisdom, surrender and service.
Rumi speaks to the hearts of so many at this time. He is spiritually still very much alive and well and operating in service to human spiritual freedom on this planet. I have seen him and Jesus standing side by side, as brothers, offering guidance and love. This rather surprised me at the time, but also felt so natural and easygoing as if they were the oldest and dearest of friends, so I did not question it. The guidance they offered me soothed my concerns and anxieties about a very practical life situation I found myself in, and proved to be accurate and helpful. Theirs is a brotherhood of love that crosses cultural and religious traditions. This is the possibility for humanity. Even just to write of it fills my heart with such joy and passion for the potential of human spiritual growth. Your religious beliefs dont have to get in the way of your connection to Rumi. You can choose to follow whatever path 一 spiritual or religious or both 一 that works for you. Rumi has never spoken to me of religious conversion being necessary to know the Divine. My sense of his teaching is that the only prerequisite for genuine divine knowledge is a willingness to take the journey of love.
Rumi has a heart so open that the world he loves so passionately can easily be held within it. He will not turn away from any genuine request for help, for connection to him, for his assistance in knowing
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the Divine in its mystery. What he seems rather less interested in is us playing small in our divinity. He sees the divine birthright of a clear pathway to the Divine in every human heart. Whether your version5 of the Divine is God, Allah, the Goddess, the universe or any other aspect, it matters not. Rumis work, as I understand it and have experienced it, is to lead us to that clear pathway to divinity via our heart. He is not interested in being worshipped. He is not interested in you gazing at him! He wants you to use the light that he shines forth so that you can see your own way to divine reunion taking place within your heart now. He is interested in loving you as a face of the Divine Beloved that he is surrendered into, in an eternal embrace of exquisite tenderness, passion and reverence.
How this project happened so effortlessly
I had played with the idea of writing a Rumi oracle for some time, but not being a translator of his poetry, and not having yet found the right artwork for it, I was uncertain about how to proceed. Apart from those practical matters, deep within my heart I felt so much reverence for this being - as I do for all the holy ones in their various guises. I also held some moments of uncertainty about whether I was up to the task of delivering something that would truly honour his legacy. Rumi means so much to me; I wanted to be sure I was the right one for this task!
He heard my heart, undoubtedly.
About a year before this project even came to view, my publisher offered me another project called the Journey of Love Oracle. It was not my usual single goddess-themed deck, but my heart leapt at the opportunity to write it. I knew it would be important somehow. That oracle deck was to be based on a book published by the same name
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which contained seventy art images and poems. My publisher said he would send me his copy of the book and that I could write the messages from that.
When the book arrived, I gasped. I didnt know Rassouli was the artist who had created the many images I had found on the internet and loved for years. Seeing his work all together like that was breathtaking. I was excited to work on the project even more so!
A short time later, I was scheduled to go to Istanbul, a place that I had long yearned to visit, where I was offering conscious dance sessions to a group of Yoga teachers. During my time in Turkey, I managed to have some quite profound mystical experiences 一 one of the strongest being in an old-fashioned Turkish hammam or bathhouse. I wrote about this in some detail in my book, Crystal Goddesses 888.
In Istanbul, I witnessed the old and the new, and I felt as if Rumi was holding all the roiling, intense, ancient and modern clash of energy of that extraordinary, potent and intriguing place in the palm of his hand. I felt him there somehow, subtle but pervasive. My meditations became far more of an erotic experience of the Divine than ever before. I could feel the feminine softness and sensuality of my body and the potent, fierce masculine energy of my spirit combined. It was remarkable how the spiritual and sexual energies of my being became as one. I felt it strongly in my Turkish bathhouse experience, where time seemed to stand still and the Divine revealed itself in such sensual glory, filling my body and soul with gentle, unbreakable love. I felt it in the dances of the Whirling Dervishes that were so sublime. As I watched them spin in a heart-centred trance of their own inner connection to the Divine, made manifest through their dance, tears flowed down my cheeks and I just felt love.
It was during this two or so weeks in Istanbul that I wrote the Journey of Love Oracle deck featuring the art of Rassouli. As I
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wrote the deck, it flowed very easily and quickly but also intensely 一 as tends to be my creative way - yet with a very different voice. I was curious about this. Every time I write I feel a different voice emerging. It depends on the nature of the holy being with which my soul is blending to do the work and the types of people for whom the work is being written.
As I wrote the Journey of Love Oracle, I felt a sensual voice that I associated with Rumi emerge. Not Rumi exactly, but certainly of his world. My publisher and editor remarked on the difference in the writing, being as familiar as they are with my usual writing style. They could tell I had been inspired whilst travelling in Istanbul. It was a leap for me； I could feel the writing coming from a place that was authentic within me, of the soul, but certainly different to what I had previously expressed. I felt it flowing again, from that same source, in this deck. I can feel it stirring within me now, reaching even more deeply into that place where Rumi resides, to bring forward this offering of an oracle deck in his name. It is in service to his work upon this planet, his work of tearing aside the separation between us and the Divine, and intoxicating our souls with passion for divinity so that we can embrace the great romance of it, and give ourselves up to divine love.
Some months after I finished the Journey of Love Oracle, I was back at home in Australia meditating in my lounge room. Just in emptiness, Rumi suddenly appeared. It was unexpected and a graceful moment of blessing. I didnt see him； however, I felt him so clearly. It is hard for me to describe what actually happened, but I could feel that we were one. I was me, and he was him, and yet there was no separation between us at all. I thought that I would open up to receive him, as I had previously experienced with other divine beings, but instead, shockingly and confbundingly, I was him. He was me. I was me and he was himself but we burned as one living flame. My
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mind couldnt make heads or tails of the experience because it made no logical sense, but the reality of it was sensational! Just recalling it now is making my twirly, curly hair even twirlier and curlier, with luscious jolts of energy shimmering up and out of the crown of my head in ecstatic flow!
What occurred to me after that experience is that I had needed to know that my spiritual connection with him was sufficient, that I could write this work for a place of authenticity and integrity; and he delivered that gift to me in such sweet grace. So when it was time for this project to come to me, I was ready and willing, and self-believing enough to accept it.
Some months after that meditation, I had gone through a huge process on my own spiritual path which I wrote about in Crystal Goddesses 888.1 had reached a point where I felt the need to empty out' my publishing schedule. My publisher was amazingly supportive and trusting of my intuitive instincts on such matters, and happily agreed to cross projects off my list and simply be open to divine guidance on what would be best to attend to next.
Within a matter of days I received my first ever email from Rassouli, the wildly talented artist who provided so much of his stunning work for the Journey of Love Oracle. He had been working on his own stunning translations of Rumis poetry. He had also just received his own copy of the Journey of Love Oracle and felt that the messages I wrote were so connected to the spirit of his art that he wondered if I might be interested in doing some more writing to accompany his art again 一 this time using his Rumi translations and artworks. Here was the answer to the yearning I had held in my heart, perfectly and effortlessly delivered to me. I instantly agreed!
After the agreement was settled, the art and his beautiful translations of Rumis poetry were at my fingertips. I attended to it quickly because it was needed now. The whole project just felt like
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it had dropped from Rumis graceful hand into my heart, much the same way when my publisher offered for me to write the Journey of Love Oracle. I just felt I had to do it. I didnt have a particular reason for feeling that way, but my heart moved when he offered the job to me. Turns out it was me feeling Rumi before I recognised it was him, that this was the pathway for this offering to be born and come to you from my heart dedication to Rumi, in service to the truth of your own soul, beloved.
It is amazing to me, the love that I experience when I write these oracle decks. Kuan Yin, Isis, Mother Mary, and now Rumi, all bring through the consciousness of a particular being centred in divine love, and yet although it is the one love, each has their own particular flavour and moves my heart in a particular way. It is like the holy ones know about love the way indigenous peoples of certain lands can know about snow. Tb us it is snow, but for those peoples who are intimate with the ways of snow, there are so many words to describe the variations and subtleties of what, for us, is 'just snow： So it is with love. The love I feel through Rumi is such a sweet surrender, such a wild passion, such a fierce and, somehow, also tender conviction.
I know that you are drawn to this oracle deck because at some level of awareness you have been drawn into Rumis embrace. May you know his love completely, beloved, and be utterly mesmerised into its sweet, life-changing, vital medicine for the soul.
A NOTE ABOUT RUMI'S POETRY
At the beginning of each card message in Rumi Oracle you'll find a short excerpt of a poem by Rumi, translated by Rassouli, who is also the artist of this deck. If you wish to read the full poems and explore the beauty and wisdom of Rumis poetry in greater depth, Rassouli has published a book, Rumi Revealed which makes an excellent companion to this deck. Youll find more information about this book in the section at the back of this guidebook, titled Also Available by Blue Angel Publishing*
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HOW TO USE THIS DECK
There are no particular rules* for using this deck. The energy of the deck has its own intelligence and what you need will come to you. Typically, the messages will feel spot on for what you need in that moment. If you are uncertain about the message then it simply means it is taking you somewhere deeper in your process, your healing and transformational journey. So just stay with it, without having to understand or get it' straight away. More often than not you'll get the message instantly, but there is no problem if that is not the case for you sometimes. Its just that Rumi wants you to look at something from a different angle. Be patient and trust. Hie understanding will come.
The simplest way to use the deck is to intend to be open from the heart and say: "I call on Rumi, who loves me unconditionally. Please help me now.” Then shuffle the deck and choose a card (or if you are like me, one will fly out of the deck and thats your card!). Gaze at it and notice what you feel. Read the message for the card. If you wish to go deeper, you may also like to complete the simple healing process for the card. These healing processes come to me spontaneously and are channelled from a deeply effective healing source. They are powerful and they work.
The feedback I have received from people all around the world as they use the various healing processes has been that they work well. Some potent healings have happened simply through using them. Try them for yourself if you feel inspired to do so, for working with this deck is not just about getting an answer, its about being spiritually supported to take a deeply transformational journey through the love of our spiritual brother, Rumi.
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Spiritual guidance fbr you
You can simply say aloud: "From my heart, I ask for the best guidance for me now. I would like help particularly on ... (state the question you have, or if you dont have a specific question or are simply open to receiving whatever you need in trust, then just leave this out). Through unconditional love, thank you.”
Shuffle your cards, read the message and do the healing process if you can.
Readings fbr others
Repeat the process above but simply say: "I ask for the best guidance for... (the persons name) now.” Continue as above.
You may do these simple readings with one to three cards. If you want to go much deeper, you can do the following suggested layout.
Suggested Layout: The Inner Dervish
When I was in Istanbul, I was fortunate enough to witness a demonstration by Whirling Dervishes. It was beautiful, and I had the sense of following their spiral movements from outside to inside. This reading layout is suggested so that you may do the same: journey from the appearance of an issue into its core or heart. You can imagine it starting at the surface and spiralling deeper to the core. The deeper we can go into the heart of an issue - even if that seems rather removed from the surface appearance of the matter at hand 一 the more likely we are to shift and heal it, finding some kind of enduring resolution and release. This layout is for a deep inner exploration and healing.
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」日
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Start by holding the deck and saying: "I call on Rumi who loves me unconditionally. Please take over this reading for the highest good now. Thank you.,^
If you have a specific question, ask that question aloud.
If you do not have a question, or prefer to simply be open, then say: "I ask for guidance which will serve me best now. Help me to see and understand through the eye of my own heart. Thank you.”
If you have asked a question then say: "I ask for guidance that will answer this issue, or whatever I most need to know at this time, clearly and lovingly. Thank you."
Position 1 - shuffle the cards as you ask:
What guidance will help me approach this issue in the best way?
Choose a card and place it in the first position.
Position 2 一 shuffle the cards as you ask:
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What guidance will help me crossfrom the appearance into healing?
Choose a card and place it in the second position.
Position 3 - shuffle the cards as you ask:
What supportive guidance is life bringing to me on this issue?
Choose a card and place it in the third position.
Position 4 一 shuffle the cards as you ask：
What are others helping me learn in this issued
Choose a card and place it in the fourth position.
Position 5 - shuffle the cards as you ask:
What am I role-modelling for others or bringing to the world through this matter^
Choose a card and place it in the fifth position.
Position 6 - shuffle the cards as you ask:
What is the heart of guidance - the core ofthis matter 一 for me to know at this time?
Choose a card and place it in the sixth position.
Go back and read the question for position one, then the guidance for position one. Then do the healing process. Then progress on to position two and so on. It will lead you through a deep healing process.
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1. BEYOND DEATH, LIFE
Footprints lead to the shore ofthe sea! Beyond that point, no trace remains.
-RUMI
I a.m calling to you. Can you hear me? Listen. Witbin your heart, there I speak; my voice rings true. You are urged beyond what has been. The time has come. Lay it to rest now. This ending comes as grace to free you from all that you have known, for what you have known is now too smallfor your soul. Bear your uncertainty with equanimity. lam certain enough for both of us. Allow me to show you the light that you are, that burns within you, blazing angel of heavenly purity. I will unveil you to yourself. Undressing your ego, casting aside its layers, as tender as a lover, with unwavering attention upon the sacred body of light. You shall know yourself in truth. As pure, beyond all experience, untainted, ever innocent. As a pure vessel, stripped bare, ready for the divine revelation. As light. As life. As love.
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The soul craves variety because it leads to wholeness, and wholeness leads to divine revelation. The purpose of the soul incarnating in this world in the first place is to realise its divinity through the sacred crucible of life. The older the soul, the closer it is to the realisation of divine oneness, and the more powerful its determination to shed that which would constrain complete and conscious immersion into the divine presence.
So here you are, an old soul at the edge of something you have known; at the cusp of an ending and a beginning. Perhaps you are already in surrender and falling in, or perhaps you are fearful and resisting as you greet your unknown destiny. Yet this moment is happening because your own divine soul has chosen for it to be this way, so that love may grow. There is no punishment in this ending, nor is there anything to fear. There may be pain； there may be grief and loss. There may be uncertainty and even insecurity. Yet you have a heart big enough to bear such growing pains. Your heart is even big enough to receive the joy that is lying in wait for you as you stumble across her in the course of your clumsy, inspired travails into new life. You can scoop her up in your arms and spin her wildly about as she delights in your embrace, throwing her head back and laughing her vibrant, contagious laughter, filling you with exquisite ecstasy. Yes, you shall know the truth, the knowledge that the Divine is with you, guiding every unfolding moment of your life journey. No matter how dark it may first appear, the Divine is with you in unflinching generosity, with compassion, and with fierce passion for your blossoming into all that you are, all that you can be.
So what must you do to receive this divine grace; this new life? You must be willing to face death. It may be that death has come to you in the form of loss of a beloved one, a physical loss that takes you into the darkest despair or depths of your grieving heart. It may be death that comes to you in the ending of a financial or professional situation you once relied upon. It could also be in the sense that you dont really know who you are anymore; old identities having shown themselves to be inadequate, inaccurate, mere ego masks too small for the great being that you are starting to suspect you may be!
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Your death may be a choice - to let go, to take a step in a new direction, to move house, to end a relationship, to change career, or to step away from a religious or philosophical tradition, or a group or teacher. Your death may not feel as though it has come by choice at all. It may be a sickness that leaves you feeling helpless, a relationship or other life circumstance changing when you wish with all your heart that it would not. Your transition through this death may be triggered by an inner feeling that you cannot quite pin down. Nonetheless, it powerfully propels you away from what has been and towards untapped possibilities, perhaps even towards great confusion as you encounter life in a new way, feeling even somewhat unprepared and uncertain as to what may lie ahead of you now.
How you deal with this grace, hidden though it may at first appear to be under the cloak of crisis, is up to you. You have enough spiritual intelligence to shift perspective and to choose, if you wish, to rest your inner gaze upon what lies beyond the death. Gaze instead upon the new life that is calling you. When you know deep within that no matter what experiences you have had in your life that you are untainted, you will be more easily able to trust in the love the Divine has for you. You wont question your worthiness and therefore you will trust in life more easily and more fully, no matter how much it asks of you at times. The Divine is a relentless lover. It wants nothing less than your total being to be held in its embrace. Sometimes that means we will have to give up lesser loves for the greater lover, the divine one that calls us to remember our true nature.
You are a beautiful blazing soul having a human experience that defies explanation and opens you up to divinity. That is what is happening in your life now, whether the death is obvious and painful to you, or whether you are uncertain as to how it is as yet showing up in your life. Either way, there is an ending imminent and new life coming to you, with greater opportunity for your radiant soul to shine its beauty in the world. Grasp it eagerly, beloved. Now is not the time for fear or hesitation. Focus on what is becoming, whilst honouring what is no longer to be.
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SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place your hands on your heart.
Say the following aloud: "Rumi, who loves me unconditionally, I call upon your loving grace. Please help me release what I no longer need, what is too small for my great light. Help me recognise the purity of my own being so that I can more easily trust in the divine love calling to me, like an insistent lover, in every moment. I breathe in your compassionate grace now. Thank you, my beloved."
Keeping your hands resting on your heart, at the centre of your chest, simply breathe in and out, gently and easily. Focus on the feeling of your hands on your chest. Do this for as long as feels good for you.
When you have finished, open your eyes. You have finished your honouring ritual.
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2. PASSION FOR PURPOSE
Love, like life, flows through the heart.
Feel the thrill ofthe flow and say nothing.
-RUMI
Do you yearn to find your way? To fulfil your divine destiny^ To know the purpose for your presence within this sacred body ofthe Earth Mother? Your heart is questing for deeper meaning It desires certainty as to your sacred tasks for this lifetime. Your heart wants to know why you were born; for what purpose? You must know that the answer to these questions is love! I bring you your answer, straight from the heart of the universe. Be wild within your passion. Do that which stirs your soul, even when it makes you uncomfortable. Especially then! For what is being truly alive if not a decision to be open instead of resistant, to be wild rather than comfortable, so that at any moment we will be ready for the invitation of the Divine Beloved to come closer. I call to you now, the you that is beyond your mind,
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the you that the heart knows, the you that cannot deny life. To that you, I ask this question: what stirs the passions of your nature? Do that. Be that.
As we grow on the spiritual path, so too does our ability to serve life, to serve love, to honour humanity and to offer a contribution that is unique to us, that could only flow in this particular way through the quality of our own soul light. Every light holds its own beauty, and every light has a particular task to fulfil on the divine path of life.
To help us remember this - lest we get too easily distracted by the pain and stress that happens in life - we were given an in-built reminder. That reminder is our passion. We may think that passion is not particularly practical. We may feel fearful that with passion there are no guarantees of success, or that we may even be throwing away a stable and secure life to pursue our passion. These are the fears of many a modern society, yet they are so misplaced.
Life supports all beings based on their true nature. The birds are given air in which to fly and fish are given water in which to swim. Plants are given light of the open plains, or darkness of the damp rainforest, depending on their needs for growth. Different flowers flourish in different environments. Bees have wings that are very small but powerful enough to move with such speed and rotation that their heavy bodies can fly. Each aspect of creation is given what it requires so it may become what it is meant to be, for its unique destiny to be fulfilled.
So it is with humanity. Each one of us has something in our hearts that means something to us. It is irrelevant whether it seems practical or a recipe for success or not. We are simply meant to be what we are, to serve life faithfully from a place of honouring the truth of our nature 一 that which we genuinely feel passionate about - and to allow for life to naturally support growth according to our.genuine nature.
Where we get into difficulty is not in bringing our genuine passions to life - for life supports this - but in learning to let go of attachment as to how that happens. We can struggle to free ourselves of the expectation we have to be something we are not. The divine path of love asks us to
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become conscious o£ and then unlearn, the play-acting of attempting to be a false self so that we may learn to simply love and accept our real self We may even have a struggle on our hands to remember who our real self actually is for a time. Fortunately, there is pleasure in the journey of returning to passion that can make the process of self-discovery a sweet one.
But we must be brave, even in the sweetness of that journey back to the real self We must dare to believe that we are not broken, that we are not inadequate or better off to be like some other person, or some other persons view of how they think we should be! We must be brave enough not to believe in the layers of guilt and shame. We must be bold enough not to fear our passion. As we dive deep within and explore what really makes us tick, what makes us feel alive, we must be open, curious and non-judgmental. That may be a subtle journey at first; we may feel as though we are looking in the dark, wondering if we will ever catch a glimpse of the light of passionate meaning we hope to find.
That passionate purpose may at first be barely recognisable amongst all the 'should； 'cannot' or must do' of our lives. As we stay true to the path, however, that light will become unmistakably clear. Our passion will reveal itself to us as essential as our breath! We would feel as though we were not alive without it. How could we have missed it all those years, perhaps all those lifetimes ? It will seem so obvious then, burning so clear in our hearts that it cannot be more obvious, that we simply must live this desire, this passion, this purpose, or else spiritually perish into a shrivelled up shell of a person, denying of life itself! No! That shall not be! Passion must and shall prevail.
This oracle comes to you with guidance. You are being initiated more deeply into your life purpose. Your passion will reveal itself to you with more depth, nuance and beauty than ever before. If parts of your life are dissembling, or do not seem to be working out as you had planned, these are symptoms of this passionate revelation. Be curious and open to what presents itself in the wake of the falling away. Be ready for the journey within now. You are strong enough to leave behind the need for external
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validation whilst you learn to validate yourself In time - soon enough in fact - you shall reveal your innermost beauty and be witnessed and received, acknowledged for your innate value, purpose and divinity. But for now, sweet beloved, dive deep, be defiant and determined to honour your heart so your deep passion may be witnessed by you and eventually, naturally, make its way into sacred expression in the world.
If you have recently discovered a new talent or purpose, or have been dreaming some big dreams, this oracle comes to you with guidance and confirmation. You are excited! Follow that excitement. Let it lead you into your own heart truth and onto an evermore passionate path of purposeful living.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Sit with one hand at your belly and one hand at your heart.
Say the following aloud: "Rumi, who loves me unconditionally, brother of my soul, guardian of my heart, help me witness, receive and express the divine depths of my passionate purpose. With merciful grace, help me know my life purpose and fulfil my unique divine destiny this lifetime. May I be gifted with the ability to consciously recognise the guiding hand of love on my journey, that I may serve that same hand through passionate and purposeful existence, surrendered into the greater passionate purpose of the universal heart. So be it."
Sit quietly and imagine or intend that energy from the universal heart of love is flowing in through the back of your heart now and circulating between your belly and your heart. Any excess or old energy flows out through the back of your heart as a beautiful energy of love streams into your being. Stay with this gentle process for as long as feels right for you.
You may feel emotion, sexual energy, or nothing much at all. Whatever happens 一 or does not appear to happen - is perfect for you at this time. Trust. Let it be.
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3. THE DISSOLVING LIGHT
I died as mineral and became a. plant.
I died as plant and rose to animal.
I died as animal, and I became human.
Why should I fear anything?
When was I ever less by dying?
-RUMI
Dare to take my hand and become set alight with holy fire, my cherished one. Step rward with me; let us burn together, dissembled in the light that cannot be extinguished. This is the light that burns with such incandescent truth that no falsehood can withstand its audacious vibrancy. Come with me now, to the light. Together we shall melt into truth.
There is a light so intense, so powerful, that nothing other than itself its own truth, can exist in its presence. It is the sacred seed, the star of your being, lit up from within. It is the light that never goes out. It is the light that is so powerful it is beyond duality of light and dark, cannot ever be extinguished or diminished, and quite simply, beyond all logic, just
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is. Certainly no lie or deception, no boundary or defence, can remain intact in its presence. The blazing divinity of this light sears through any pretence, annihilates illusions and takes us into stark experience of divine truth. It is gentleness and yet it cannot be overcome. It is enduring power and yet it is tender.
Though you seek the Divine, and even know it as love, you also know that it is fierce, wild, inexplicable and demanding beyond all measure. It wants you. Completely. Utterly. Without condition. There will be times in your life 一 such as now - when there is something not worthy of you that must be released. This is a falsehood, a lie or deception of some sort that you have come to believe about yourself your life or perhaps even another. You may know what that deception is, or it may be about to be unveiled. It is not a cause for fear or concern, but for celebration. An illusion has or soon will be released, and you shall become freer, free in a way that only truth can provide.
This oracle comes to you as a sign of that which is to come, and soon. The beloved divine presence is calling to you, igniting within your deepest being, so that it may have its way with you! The Divine wishes to live through you and into the world, reaching into the hearts of many and igniting those hearts into greater life. It is a clever and insatiable lover. It will stop at nothing until the entire human race is restored to the wild divine freedom of ecstatic divine reunion, completely and utterly ignited in love.
And so the great lover 一 the Divine - calls for you to enter into the white hot field of its passionate presence. There will be sizzle and burn. It cannot be otherwise. In the height of summer you cast aside the layers of clothing you require in the winter. This is natural. You do not think twice about it. As you approach the radiant sun of divinity, your emotional and psychological layers are to be shed too, for they are too heavy for the heat of the great spiritual sun. What cannot stand the heavenly heat is to be cast aside swiftly by conscious choice, or shall simply burn up, dissolving in the light and melting away. What is left shall be what is true.
So here is your guidance, sweet lover of the Great Beloved. Give
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it up - the smallness, the conditions, the fears and doubts, the lack of reverence for yourself and life, the belief that somehow things are not okay or arent going to work out. That is all a paltry attempt at truth! You are coming into a truth now that is far more worthy of you 一 a truth with a capital'T； the big Truth. Love. Trust. Surrender. This is about a sacred shedding without fear or holding back. Cast aside whatever would hold you back rather than free you to fly into your divine destiny. You are not to be the same from this moment on! That is the holy word, the word inscribed in living divine fire in your sacred heart.
This oracle brings you guidance. Trust in your changing perspective and perceptions. Dont hold onto what you once believed or thought to be true. Allow yourself to be shown another version of events, another way of perceiving. Dont focus on what is not working in your current estimation of things, for that is nothing more than a passing opinion. You are being given an opportunity to see and know yourself others and particular life circumstances very differently. Embrace it. Dont resist what is being shown to you, for even if there are some struggles in adjusting your view at first, ultimately this change in perception will free you and bring you more deeply into the wellspring of your own inner peace and happiness.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place both hands on your heart and say the following aloud: "The eternal light of Rumi burns through that which is unworthy and frees me into unconditional love and truth now. I am blessed by the grace of this sacred brother and I open my heart to the tender fire of passionate presence. Through merciful compassion and my own free will, I ask to be shown the greater truth that will set me free. So be it."
Relax with your hands on your heart for as long as feels good. When you are ready, simply open your eyes; you have completed your sacred honouring ritual.
You can repeat this any time you feel the need to let go of a self¬limiting behaviour, judgment of a person or situation that drains rather
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than leaves you feeling vibrant and free, or beliefs that deplete and depress you rather than open you up to loving and endless possibilities. This ritual is a way to tap into supportive grace to assist you in that conscious surrender. You will be blessed, beloved.
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4. THE CLOAK OF CHRIST
In the school of humanityt when you become intimate with God, you reside on the king's throne and teach the angels the nature ofthe Divine.
-RUMI
My sacred brother 一 he ivho shares my heart and yours, beating as one in harmony with the great unending love - brings you the mantle of his protection. Do you imagine that there is any part of your life, of your body, of your soul, that is outside the realm of his divine love and protection ? Offer all to him, leave nothing cast aside. He and I together receiveyou absolutely, without condition now.
The compassion borne out of our own struggles tempers the karmic weight of divine justice. We have been through the same journey you are taking now, sweet divine soul. In oneness with the divine heart, we know of your efforts and your struggles. So what is bestowed upon you now is the restoration of forgiveness, of kindness, ofmercy.
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My sacred brother speaks to you. He shall receive your darkness and your light, the angel of your heart and the demon of your fear. Nothing is greater than my broth er \ love for you; nothing is greater than my holy passion for you. Take refuge under the Cloak of Christ, the mantle of my sacred brother, and know that you are held in our loving sanctuary.
You are tired, beloved. Your soul has been ravaged, inside and out, and you are succumbing to struggle that is not karmic or necessary, but a symptom of fatigue and weariness of heart, mind, body and soul. That which plagues you - whether something specific or a general nagging malaise or anxiety you cannot quite pin down - is not as powerful as you fear. You are being given a grace, here and now, that it may be overcome. Remember, your reactions are a symptom of your exhaustion and a sign that you need respite, sanctuary, restoration. They are not a sign that something must be done so much as a sign that something must be received, allowed. That something is healing made possible through divine protection. In this instance, protection is bestowed through the Cloak of the Christ.
This cloak is a sacred container that places your body and soul within the loving energy of the Christ Consciousness. This unconditionally loving energy is not limited to the being bearing its name, but is shared by Rumi and many other holy ones. It is typified by wholeness. There is nothing within you that would cause the Christ to turn away from you, not even those parts of you that may fill you with fear, shame, guilt or regret. He and Rumi are sacred brothers, loving and supportive of each other, and they see your soul as one of their family, one of their own! You are so loved by them both, equally and without measure.
Can you allow yourself to take refuge in this knowledge ? Ib feel it, not only as an idea, nourishing as that is, but as a visceral reality where you complete the sacred honouring ritual and allow yourself to feel the peace and receive healing? The knowledge of the Christs unconditional love for you is a safe space, a place to fall into when you are struggling. It is a sacred container for your healing process, an energetic field that is
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stronger and more enduring than even the greatest fears or doubts. The purpose of this sacred container is to provide you with a feeling of being held, especially for those times when you are feeling that you cannot hold yourself Sometimes we just need permission to break down, to really let go, to come apart and be dissembled, so that we can break through, be lifted up, and come together in a new, more spiritually coherent and loving form to move forward.
For you, this is essential. There is a person, place, thing or belief that has come to be like a manacle around your wrist, or an iron ball and leg-iron, preventing you from moving forward with the grace you have earned spiritually. You are being empowered here to shed that. Dont hesitate. Let yourself be cloaked in the Christ energy and receive the spiritual assistance you deserve now. There is a reason for this 一 the unfolding of your life purpose is taking a turn for the better and your energy is required to fuel that new life. This is particularly so if you have also drawn the oracle of Passion for Purpose, or intuitively feel drawn to read the message of that card and complete its accompanying sacred honouring ritual. Just remember that whenever we are asked to release something, it is because the Divine wishes to fill our hearts and hands with more. Do not hold onto scraps for fear that the feast will be denied to you. Use your nose! Smell the feast awaiting you!
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Open your arms wide above your head and tip your gaze gently up towards the heavens. If you are inside, imagine or intend that you can gaze beyond the physical structure of the ceiling, right into the sky that lies above.
Lower your arms to prayer position at your heart and say aloud (if possible): “Rumi and Jesus Christ, who love me without condition, offer me the Cloak of the Christ, the Mantle of Divine Protection, now, that I may receive the karmic grace and healing I need through the power and mercy of your presence. Thank you."
Sit quietly and imagine you are surrounded by a dark, comforting
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cloak. You can easily breathe through it. You can easily see light within it, or filtering through it if needs be, or you may feel comfortable in the darkness. Let it be whatever is most relaxing and soothing for you. You may even imagine it to be the night sky dappled with stars wrapping around you.
Close your eyes and relax now, for as long as feels good. That may be for a minute, for fifteen or twenty minutes, or longer. Just be with what feels appropriate and best for you at this time.
When you feel you are ready to arise from your rest, simply place your hands at your heart and say thank you.
You may notice strong energetic sensations or emotions during this process, or in the day following. You may notice repetitive thought patterns that you need to confront and challenge with more loving thoughts. You may have significant dreams in the evening following also. It may be very subtle for you, so much so that you wonder if anything has happened and if it has 'worked： It has. The effect will be demonstrated at the right time. Trust.
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5. I SURGE ON THE UPRISING WAVE OF LOVE
My lift can be summed up in three accounts:
I was raw,
I was cooked, and I was burned.
-RUMI
I surge on the uprising wave of love. No gravity can stop me from rising! The moon pulls the tide of life towards her, and my soul in oneness with all oflife answers her call. A wave oflove consumes me, and upwards I fly, flying through water, to greet her shining body. Led by my heart, my wits are addled and my mind becomes a blurry mess; and so I feel instead, feel the truth of her love and the divine reflection she shines back at mefrom her radiant heart.
Greater forces of planetary movements affect us all. We experience day and night through the interplay of the earth, sun and moon. This is a
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profound and obvious effect. The movements of the cosmos affect us deeply - body and soul. Some movements are perhaps less obvious in form, but are just as great - if not more so - in effect upon our spiritual growth and life experiences. You are going through a cycle - or very soon will be - by which you will be moved by forces greater than your own personal will. This is a karmic period, a time during which the movements of greater planetary bodies will have an impact upon the earth and humanity. This is the way of things, greater cycles affecting smaller ones. The smaller ones are not less important, but they do have to bow to the power of the great, in oneness with the magnificent unfolding divinity that is life itself
What we always have at our disposal is choice as to how we respond to these affecting movements and cycles. The effect of this karmic cycle now unfolding in your life is to bring you into sweet surrender and awakening into greater love. What a delicious divine destiny! However, even if we sense at one level that a shift has a positive end in store for us, we can encounter resistance and fear, born of the ego, in response to the stirring of spiritual uprising. We may quake in our holy body and wonder if everything is getting out of control and into some disorder. We will be right in our sense of imminent chaos! The disorder, however, is the ego perspective because its range of vision is too small, too limited, to comprehend the greater workings of the planetary systems that move life towards love. That is as it should be. The teacup is not made to hold the ocean, just actually a cup of tea! But if we begin to imagine that the cup of tea is preferable to the ocean, simply because it is more containable, how much we miss out on!
And how terrifying when we are actually thrown into the ocean and moved by it! Its sheer power, its wild force and its passionate dance with the Moon Mother might have us fearing that we most certainly will die. Yet the only thing that is dying here and now is your grasp, your attempts at control. Why? Because your heart is more powerful than your fear and it wants to live in total trusting surrender of the unfbldment of life s genius. It wants to let life happen to it! What a wise intention that is.
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Why seek to impose a smaller and less interesting story upon life when the great master storyteller is weaving a fantastic tale of great love, great adventure and sublime spiritual success ? No. It is wiser, wilder and more fun to surf the great wave of consciousness seeking to overtake you now. Dive in, beloved. Surge with it. You are being given a gift of grace in this oracle - the promise that you wont drown, and that you will, in fact, be given a glimpse of your own divinity should you choose to accept whatever will be offered to you.
Dont try to swim against the tide of your own life journey. Go with it. The Divine is there waiting for you, orchestrating waves upon which you may reach the heavenly shore. Yes, the Divine is there waiting for you, waiting on a picnic blanket of fabric of the heavens, with a sacred feast of earthly bounty just now being unpacked in your honour. Get yourself into that ocean and ride those waves to your sacred date with the Divine right now, sweet beloved. Surfs up!
This oracle comes with a message for you. There are changes happening and they will be out of your control. This is because you are ready for accelerated life change. Rather than paddling, youll be caught up in a wave and moved farther, faster. Let yourself surge on with the energy of what is happening, leading with your heart and just going with whatever unfolds. This will bring you the best fortune and open you up to the divine destiny that is your birthright this lifetime.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Placing your hands on your heart, say the following: "The grace of life touches my heart and I am courageous. I surge, I rise, I meet the Divine Beloved in every twist and turn. I journey home on the wave of love, and I graciously accept the hand of my Divine Beloved, guiding me now through love, mercy and grace. So be it.”
Close your eyes and focus on your heart. If you wish, you may like to intend to connect to a feeling of love for your heart, wise guide that it is.
When you feel you are done, you have completed your honouring ritual.
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6. ONE
I have abolished duality from myself,
I have seen the two worlds as One!
One I seek, One I know, One I see, and One I call.
-RUMI
You look for me and what do you see? You! Am I playing games with you? Holding up a mirror for you to behold God? Yes! These are games of love and truth. Lookfor me and find yourselffor I am you andyou are me, and together we are one, playing hide-and-seek in loves great playground.
Like molten gold, poured from the furnace of divine love into a one-of- a-kind mould, you are created uniquely and of divine essence. You are both the lover and the beloved. There is no aspect of your life separate from your spiritual journey, and there is no aspect of you that is not of divine origin. So then, why the frowning, the fear or the questioning? Let me share a sublime secret with you; let me whisper it into your heart
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now. There is nothing to fear. All is unfolding according to the divine genius and there is a sweet shift in store for you. No matter how dire circumstances may appear to be or despairing you may feel, there is still an avenue through which fulfilment and resolution will be granted. This will happen! That is because the Divine seeks wholeness of the one. That means anything and every part of existence (and that includes you and all aspects of your being and life) is claimed by the Divine. Your return to the Divine is demanded 一 every part of you, every life circumstance! Hie Divine keeps rigorous, flawless accounts. Therefore, nothing shall be left unaccounted for - not even that which seems to be outside divine attention and grace at this moment.
You must remember that you are a living heart, the dweller at the centre between heaven and earth, star and soil, light and dark. If you cannot summon the joy to rise up and meet the Divine Beloved, fear not. That cunning lover lies deep within the depths waiting to gather you into sacred embrace as you descend into darkness. Either through flying or falling, you shall be caught and tangled up in divine embrace. So fear not. Cast aside worry and concern. Know that you are thoroughly itemised on the divine ledger and not one moment of your struggle or suffering shall miss the hawk-like gaze of the ever-attentive and heavenly beloved.
This oracle comes to you with particular guidance. There is a friction or conflict within you or your life right now, a sense perhaps of being pulled in more than one direction and confusion because of this. You are questioning: which path to take, this way or that? What if you choose this path and it turns out the other would have been better? But how can you know now what choice, if any, is most needed in your life? So many questions! Your mind is scurrying! There is no other word for it! Backwards and forwards it goes, to and fro, trying to settle upon the truth. I love you too much to allow this to continue unchecked. Surrender it. Give it up. The truth you seek is this: you shall be.
You shall manifest your destiny just as the acorn grows into the oak tree. You cannot be other than what you are and as you accept this, life responds. It breathes and relaxes around you so what you need can come
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to you more easily. It finds you, drawn to the need in you that is natural and inviting, and not a cause for anxiety or distress. The need leads to satiety. What is desired and what fulfils that desire is one. They are lovers that come to each other naturally, even through darkness and confusion, drawn to each other, following the natural course of the universe to become one.
So do not fret and fear, my beloved. Do not hold back from that which feels incomplete out of anxiety or distress. It is just the lover that will soon be joined by the beloved. You are recognising the moment before this occurs. So fret not, and instead, let that inner lover loose! Allow her to shake out her hair, put on her most sensuous perfume, and laugh as she dances barefoot in fields of lush grass and fragrant flowers. Let her tempt her beloved to come close because she can be seen, she can be heard; her movement sends her scent through the air. She entices the yearning beloved to her. And soon enough they meet, and it becomes possible for, yet again, two to become one, and then there will be wild peace and ecstatic contentment within you.
If there is any part of you struggling to surrender the conflict between old and new, between what has been and what needs to be, between passion and duty, creativity and rationality, between this role or identity, then know this: even the conflict serves. Don't choose either one and believe it is the answer. Sometimes the sacrifice is not one or the other, but the idea that it can be only one or the other! At another level, a level of divine resolution, there is beyond the apparent polarity and conflict a third way, the rising up to where there is only one perfection taking place constantly. Open your heart; you'll find the bridge to understanding and trusting in that perfection there, where it has always been and will always be. Dont worry. All is happening exactly as it should.
This oracle brings you particular guidance. There is a resolution and a perfect coming together, of elements in your life that might have seemed disparate or in conflict. Something you have been trying to integrate is so very nearly ready to 'click' into place. Perform the sacred honouring ritual and stay with your process. The coherence, the integration, the
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balance and coming together you seek is on your horizon, approaching you swiftly now.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place your hands at your heart and say aloud: "Rumi, who loves me unconditionally, I gaze into my heart and you are there! I gaze into your heart and see my own face! We are one. This oneness is contagious! May it swiftly affect every aspect of my inner world so that my outer existence aligns gently with perfect harmony with the great Divine Beloved. You and I are one with the perfection of divinity unfolding, now and always. Through grace and my own free will, so be it."
When you are ready, place your hands in prayer position and bow your head in reverence and recognition to the one divine plan unfolding. Say: "I surrender into the one truth of divine perfection which includes my own divine destiny now. Through mercy and grace, so be it.”
When you are ready, simply close your eyes and bow your head again. Then you have completed your ritual.
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7. BLOOD ANGEL
In the midst of the darkness, a moon appeared with its brilliance. Stepping down from the clouds, it glanced at me.
Like a falcon that hunts a, bird and steals it it captured me andflew back to infinite space.
As I looked for myself,
I could notfind me, for my body had become all soul in the tenderness of love.
The nine spheres of heaven dissolved in that moon as the ship of my existence drowned in the sea of love.
-RUMI
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Doyou dare place a limit on how much lifiyou can contain? I pour ofmyself into your heart and invite you to become nothing and everything, with me. Let us be the sunrise that greets the new day and the sunset that honours the dying of the day, in radiant glory. Let us be the angel of light arising from darkness and the starburst in the awakening heart of a human, beloved. Be the moon at the back of my heart and the sun at the front of my heart. Be wordless and wise. Let us have nothing that we know for certain and be content. Let us be all and let us be nothing. Let us be.
The oracle of the Blood Angel comes to you with a particular message: you are being given the gift of more life. You may experience this as growth, expansion, more energy, more life force or divine electricity circulating through your system. The Blood Angel understands that in the gift of greater life, which enables a soul to live more of its essence, becoming a more palpable divine presence upon this earth, there are many unavoidable experiences. One of these is that there will be more sunsets to counter the increase in your sunrises! This is about balance. When opening up to receive more, one needs to empty out what has been to allow for a new influx of energy. It is not about an exchange of equal measure, for you will receive according to the great generosity of life itself and thus even more shall be offered in compensation for what you are willing to release. However, release must take place. Balance is the natural law. The sunset makes way for a time of night - that might be the darkness of grief or the stirring of unknown places within that only reveal themselves in clarity the following morning. Being ready to endure the sunset and the night to become ready to receive the sunrise - and with it more life - is your divine task now.
Why is this coming to you? You are ready for it. You have outgrown what has been and it cannot satisfy your soul anymore. A part of you 一 your mind perhaps - may question whether or not you really want the change inherent in this oracle, divine gift or not! You may prefer that things remain the same, but what are you really wanting in that belief ? Happiness? A sense of safety and security? Love? Remember, that in
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any divine gift - no matter whether it seems to come at first through an obvious bestowal of grace, such as a wish coming true or a prayer being answered, or through a hidden grace of a loss or ending in our lives - there is always an offering of greater life within it. The Blood Angel tells you to not make yourself too small for what is happening in your soul and life now by holding onto what you know, or holding on when it is better to let go. It may not be easy, but you will gain more trust in the Divine, in you, in life, and great power and heavenly play can and will flow through your soul into the world. The Blood Angel invites you to accept the genius of life and allow it to flow through you, circulating your divine light even more abundantly into the world around you.
This oracle comes with a particular blessing of wellbeing and vitality. You have perhaps become tired, or are well but seek to engage in new projects or practices that will stretch or challenge you. The Blood Angel brings you the blessing of whatever energy is required to expand into where life is leading you. What the Divine has instilled within your heart shall be financed with life force and energy so it may be brought to fulfilment. This is the sacred contract of human life. The journey shall be taken by the soul, and there will be challenges, and yet what is required for divine fulfilment will always be available.
If you have been struggling with your energy levels, or with emotional or psychological challenges - more so than usual perhaps - then you are asked to complete the sacred honouring ritual for the Cloak of the Christ oracle after you have completed the ritual for the Blood Angel. The reason for this is that your energy, as you are going through growth and opening, can become unstable for a time, more porous or vulnerable than usual. This is nothing to be concerned about, but you will benefit from more spiritual protection during this time. These rituals will assist you in gaining additional spiritual protection. If you need to take any particular action to bring yourself healing and wellness, these rituals will help you become conscious of and ready for that action, simply through life experiences and internal wisdom when the time is right.
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SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Say: "Blood Angel of unconditional life and divine love, bless me with the life force I need to attain my divine destiny. I open to your grace with perfect trust and perfect love. So be it."
Close your eyes and notice your breath. Imagine or intend that you can sense the blood moving in your veins. So much life abounds in your body-soul!
In your own time, just open your eyes. You have completed your honouring ritual.
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8. COSMIC HEART
I was dead; I became alive.
I was tears; I became laughter.
The power oflove arrived and made me everlasting power!
I have seen everything.
I have no fear.
I have the heart of a lion!
I shine like Venus.
-RUMI
I hear it and weep. In sublime reverence, I bow to this living, beating, loving heart of the universe. It echoes throughout all of creation. Once, some time ago, I was deaf I had not heard one true sound. Much noise, but no truth. So I believed in many things not worth believing in.
Then in a moment of my crisis that cracked my heart open, I was given a gift. Though I felt fear and confusion, a gift came to me more powerful
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than those temporary ailments. That gift was the ability to hear the sound hidden beneath all oflife. I heard it, that sacred sound ofthe beating heart ofuniversal love. Now I know that belief.in unworthy things - likefear and doubt 一 is lunacy. Even my loneliness became unconvincing to me.
We are animated by this living heartbeat, part of life that is sustained by it. You and I, the planets, the birds and the fishes, emerge from the great source because of this beating heart of the universe. It pumps life through our veins! JVhat proof of this is needed? You live. That is the proof I hear it everywhere now. It has become so loud! Louder than any word offear. It resonates through my soul and eclipses any tremor of anxiety.
There is a time on the journey of love when the beloved (that would be you and me, sweet soul) is prepared to engage more completely with the heart of the divine lover. The preparation will be a rich process, spiritually speaking. It may also feel like being beaten, pummelled, simmered and stirred in the pot of the divine master chef to become a sacred and savoury meal fit for the most heavenly of feasts. This is a courageous and bold process, one that will create the most delicious aromas in the soul. And yet it is one that will likely take us right to the places we would rather avoid, places of confrontation with pain, but where the loss of its grip on our being no longer lets us quake and retreat from life in fear or uncertainty.
You have been through these tantalising trials 一 the push to surrender fear, the realisation your attempts at control amount to not so much, actually 一 so why not abandon them altogether? The trials have asked you to confront every part of your being that holds itself back in resistance to what is, in resistance to what life presents at this very moment. You have been asked to become comfortable with the possible discomfort of not knowing, and to understand you dont have to understand anything for life to work out with perfect synchronicity and generous grace. You have been asked to bear darkness without losing hope for the return of the light. You have been asked to trust in your own heart wisdom when your mind was terrorised by nightmares and hallucinations of fear. They were
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so powerful you were certain they must be real, that you must be crazy not to run and hide, somehow, somewhere!
And yet here you are - still loving, still wise - and ready for a love bigger than you have ever experienced before. So we step forward together, you and 1.1 link my arm through yours and I urge you on. Let us run together and jump over the edge! No more half living in any way for you and me. We will weep crystal clear tears and we will laugh with such joy that stars will burst forth, borne upon our exhalations. We will hear the beating of the cosmic heart pounding in our ears, and how we shall dance to it! That sacred intoxicating rhythm moves hips and hands and hearts, raising the soul from slumber.
But that heart does beat so loud. It can be startling to the parts of you unused to such wild unconditional affection and rowdy playfulness. You may worry that this great love is not going to be careful enough with you. What if you get tossed around in the great oceans of love ? You will surely be disoriented and become lost to the world you once knew. How then will you know where to go? Fear not, my soul mate; love has its wisdom and its way. We shall become lost in its genius together. Whilst our minds are tipped this way and that, tumbled in loves great waves, we shall be forced to surrender our useless intelligence and become mindless. Then how easy it shall become for the perfection of love to guide us, for there shall be nothing within to question and resist. We will no longer have to find the way, for we will have become the way.
This oracle comes with special guidance for you. More love is rushing towards you like a great cosmic tsunami. You will struggle with this blessing to the extent that you will attempt to hold onto what has been. So dont. Let go. Let it move you. Youll perhaps get some water up your nose, but nothing will come to you that you cannot handle. Ydull be dishevelled somewhat, undoubtedly; yet as you are washed up upon loves shining shore, keeping every hair in place will be the last thing on your mind. Youll be too caught up in the wonder of perfection, realising how deeply loved you are and how unnecessary it is to contrive a way to live your purpose. Instead, youll have no idea what is going on. Youll be
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surrendered in passionate embrace with life simply being your exquisite, crazy, unique self saturated with divine love. It will drip from you, out of your feet, your eyes, your voice, your touch. Youll water the earth with loves oceanic presence. Oh, how that tsunami will deliver you into your divine destiny! No need for any contrivance; let your hair get messed up. Your destiny awaits you now.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place your hand on your stomach and the other over your heart.
Focus on your breath flowing gently in and out. When you are ready, say the following aloud:
“Rumi, who loves me unconditionally with all the wild love and unconditional affection of the universal heart, help me now. I trust in my own heart wisdom and in the truth of your love for me. Please help me trust in the flow of life, let go of my fixed plans and ideas, and open up to the genius of love itself May I realise that my destiny will unfold with absolute perfection, and may I trust in the signs I am given. May I be able to release any false guidance based in fear, and may I open up instead to genuine guidance and inner knowing based in love. Under the grace of your protection, may this be so."
Feel the warmth of your hands on your body; just breathe.
When you are ready, simply place your hands in prayer position and bow your head gently to your hands. This is your simple and powerful action that reminds you of this truth - your head is supposed to bow to and honour the heart, not try to dominate or control it.
You have completed your sacred honouring ritual.
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9. THE IMPOSSIBLE MADE POSSIBLE
Love brings the sea into boiling and turns the mountain into a pebble. Love creates infinite openings in the dark sky and shudders the earth with its magnitude.
-RUMI
She spins, this great earth goddess, upon invisible strings amongst a wildly pulsating ballet of life. Stars are born, live and die all around her. Life moves in constant flux, and still she spins in her great, loving, constant pirouette. How can this be^ All ofcreation is born from nothing; out ofendless silence and darkness, light emerges. What strange magic is this? The sun heats the solar system and burns with the power to destroy life; yet, it is a force by which life is sustained. Surely this makes no sense and cannot be? We dance in the realm of the impossible made possible constantly, you and I. We are so engrossed in it, so familiar with it andyet blind to it, that these constant impossibilities happening in every moment fail to inspire us.
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Yet what are your biggest, boldest, most extraordinarily impossible dreams compared to this great impossibility of life itself? Ah, they are but tiny seeds in the Creators masterful hand being now planted in the heavenly garden. Yes, they are being planted right now, for the moon tells us the time is right. Most tenderly shall they be watched over, nurtured into fullness according to the season. Yes, that growth is assured. The impossible is now made possible.
We only limit what we believe to be possible by our lack of imagination! The Divine has recourse to all that is and all that is yet to be. Is there any limit to the resources of the heavens? No! So then, why has not every impossible dream now been rendered possible, indeed manifest in shining glory upon the earth? The human heart knows everything envisioned can manifest according to divine timing and grace. Yet the mind does quake with fear, so much so that it will not listen to the heart at times. That fear is a childlike nightmare: that should you offer yourself up to the sacred loving power of the Great Creator you might be found to be lacking. The mind holds itself captive with dark fantasies of that profound rejection and then avoids confronting it directly at all costs. It creates barriers instead, truly nothing more than lines in the sand yet believed to be forts.
But what strongholds can resist love? It is like water. It seeps into every available space and changes form to survive in every environmental condition. With unfailing intelligence it creates life - from steam to ice, rainfall, the river, and ocean, rain descending into snowflakes, snow capping the peak, expressing itself with beauty and genius. It nestles under the earth and rises to the sky, only to return to the earth again. It will erode blockages and prevail, no matter how long that process takes. It carves the earth into shape and form. Where it is, there is life. Such is the adaptable intelligence and persistence of water, just as is the power of love.
So now you are guided by this loving power to drop the doubt. Shed the incredulity and open up the mind. Allow your imagination to be
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inspired as though you are a child in a great garden hearing the breath of the earth in the wind-whipped leaves and the voices of the ancestors in birdsong. The universe wants something to happen for you, something beautiful, something utterly improbable, and something perfect for your path, your own unique divine destiny. Your mind will wonder if it is even possible. People around you may wonder the same thing, but your heart will burn for it to become real, to become more than a fantastic improbable dream. Youll want it with all your soul. You may not even be consciously aware as yet what this great desire is, but your heart knows. It holds the secret knowledge and will unveil it when your mind can handle it. When your heart is much more powerful than your mind, you wont unintentionally block the incredible grace of manifestation seeking to pour into your thirsty soul, like the sweetest, purest waters of blessing.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place your hands very lightly at your throat.
Say aloud: "With Rumi who loves me unconditionally as my witness, I now offer myself into the hands of the all-loving creative intelligence of this universe. I release all vows, intentions or beliefs ever made - consciously or unconsciously, in this or any lifetime - that are based in doubt and fear, holding back from creative fruition of my soul upon the earth. I dedicate myself to love and accept the gift of grace that brings me into greater fulfilment now. May I be blessed so I can surrender resistance and accept what is coming to me now for what it is - a gift of love. So be it."
Place your hands at your heart and focus on your breath for a moment or two as it flows in and out.
When you are ready, place your hands in prayer and bow your head to your hands.
You have completed your sacred honouring ritual.
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10. CELESTIAL ROSE OF MA
The taste of bitterness becomes sweetness in love!
The searching in the dark finds the light of faith revealed in love!
Love transforms thistles into jasmine.
Love layers heaven, and gifts us with wings to soar into its mystery. Love transforms our every thought into a desire of the heart!
O Love!
How divine is your luring!
Beautyflowsfrom your unseen face! Your very nature is radiant with joy!
You manifest vibrant hues in every flower!
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inspired as though you are a child in a great garden hearing the breath of the earth in the wind-whipped leaves and the voices of the ancestors in birdsong. The universe wants something to happen for you, something beautiful, something utterly improbable, and something perfect for your path, your own unique divine destiny. Your mind will wonder if it is even possible. People around you may wonder the same thing, but your heart will burn for it to become real, to become more than a fantastic improbable dream. YDUII want it with all your soul. You may not even be consciously aware as yet what this great desire is, but your heart knows. It holds the secret knowledge and will unveil it when your mind can handle it. When your heart is much more powerful than your mind, you won't unintentionally block the incredible grace of manifestation seeking to pour into your thirsty soul, like the sweetest, purest waters ofblessing.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place your hands very lightly at your throat.
Say aloud: "With Rumi who loves me unconditionally as my witness, I now offer myself into the hands of the all-loving creative intelligence of this universe. I release all vows, intentions or beliefs ever made 一 consciously or unconsciously, in this or any lifetime - that are based in doubt and fear, holding back from creative fruition of my soul upon the earth. I dedicate myself to love and accept the gift of grace that brings me into greater fulfilment now. May I be blessed so I can surrender resistance and accept what is coming to me now for what it is - a gift of love. So be it."
Place your hands at your heart and focus on your breath for a moment or two as it flows in and out.
When you are ready, place your hands in prayer and bow your head to your hands.
You have completed your sacred honouring ritual.
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Your touch dazzles all creation!
Every particle is attracted towardyou, longing to unite and dwell in you!
-RUMI
The Divine Mother offers me her rose. How rich that gift may be! I tear my flesh on its thorns and my bloodflows. I curse myself for carelessness andyet, in my desire to grasp this gift, it happens again a.nd again. Then I realise, such is its scent, its beauty; how can I be tentative in my approach ?My senses a.re drenched in beauty and I long to inhale the exquisite perfume, to reach for the velvet dew of the petals, soft a,nd delicate under my touch. Perhaps I will be scraped and I will bleed; yet that is not enough to deter me, to prevent me from accepting this gift. The magnificence of the bloom renders the struggle to enjoy it as a worthy, noble, essential pursuit. Of course I understand something so precious must be protected; it must be allowed to live, more than this, to thrive! So those thorns are hooks that allow for growthfor those that would bear the pain of the ascent to the roses blooming heart. And those thorns are barbs that keep away those that would consume the creation without appreciating its worth and beauty. Yes, those thorns serve essential purpose. I cannot begrudge them. For I love the rose - and so I love what is necessary for her to be - so I love the thorns too.
A spiritual gift is on its way to you. The celestial rose of the Divine Mother is a precious offering of sacred love to the soul. That love can lift you beyond what you have known, beyond self-imposed limits, by the uplifting fragrance of grace. You will begin to think thoughts you have never dared think before. You will feel moved by life, by its sacredness, in a way hitherto elusive to you. You will feel ecstasy without apparent cause, and you will feel as though every breath is a seductive caress of the heavenly lover. You will be open and surrendered in a way you have longed to be, but in a way youve never known quite how to go about.
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SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place your hands in an open-palmed, upward-facing posture at the front of your chest, as if open and ready to receive.
Say the following: "Rumi, who loves me unconditionally, guide the spiritual gift of the Divine Mother, the blessing of the Celestial Rose of Ma, into my open hands and open heart, that I may know myself to be a cherished holy child of the universe with my life unfolding according to sublime grace. Help me surrender whatever stands in the way of such fulfilment now. May I be blessed to release pain and be open to joy. Through merciful compassion, so be it."
Close your hands in prayer at your heart and bow your head. You have finished your sacred honouring ritual.
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11. SACRED CONVERGENCE
Roaming about town, the master was holding a light, saying, “I am weary of the demons and the beasts; a human is what lam longing for!n The human cannot befound; we have searched!
aWhat cannot befound is what I am longing for!”
Although poor and needy,
I will not accept small pieces ofruby. The mine of thefinest rubies is what I am longingfor!
One hand holding a cup of wine, and the other, the curls ofthe beloved.
A dance like this, in the middle of the circle, is what I am longingfor.
-RUMI
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How I have longedfor you. My very own. Look no farther, for the family beyond your family, the relationship beyond all other relationships, the great love that unveils all other loves to be mere reflections of the one great and true love, is here. For you. Now.
It is I who has sought you through the stirrings ofyour own heart. Yes, "twas I, hidden beneath every secret, yearning for something more, something full, something special, something all-encompassing Behind every yearning) always, I have hidden. Now I show myself to you, that you may become so filled with the same passionate devotion that I holdforyou, that your mind willfa.Il away, overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of love tossed into an ocean of silent unending bliss.
Come to me. We are to be one now. In sacred convergence of silent, eternal passion.
Sacred convergence indicates a coming together of souls in alignment with a greater cause. This greater cause is both personal and impersonal. There is an aspect of joining together for common purpose, although that purpose may not be immediately obvious at a level of day-to-day consciousness. That common soul purpose may be to lift each other into greater love and self-belief to shed fear and open the heart, filling each individual soul with more holy fire for its personal passionate purpose.
Youll have a sense when this process is happening. There will be a coming together of you with like-minded souls who hail from all walks of life; and yet together, through some invisible genius, you will help each other. You may simply be dancing in the same room, or singing in a group, attending a class or workshop, or just visiting the same beach or parkland, but at that moment there will be a sense of something coherent and nourishing happening at a far greater level.
The 'trickle down, effect into your personal life will be felt too 一 youll have more energy after spending time with these people, even if you dont interact very much on a personal level beyond being in the same space. Youll feel empowered to step forward on your path and love yourself with less conditions. Youll become freer to shed your fears, let
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go of relationships based in fear and judgment, and open up to those more loving, responsive and inspiring to continue on your personal journey in increasingly profound ways.
This oracle has come to you because you are part of a greater sacred convergence happening now. Perhaps you have already sensed its progression, or perhaps it will not be obvious to you, but the effect - whether obvious or subtle 一 will be important to your soul development and divine awakening. You are being asked to drop defences and barriers towards groups of people that feel good for you. However, those that dampen your spirits or drag you down are to be dispensed with 一 no matter what games of blame or manipulation they may play to keep you coming back for more! No, that shall not do for your soul growth now. Just step away! Turn towards those connections that feel nourishing to your soul, and learn to share yourself without fear. Just be. You do not have to force the planets to spin, nor the great cycles of the soul to happen. All that is required is that you show up for what is offered to you now. Do your part. Take your steps. Dance, sing and be, and allow the gifts of sacred connection to change your world, for this is the spiritual gift presented to you now.
This oracle comes with a special message. Perhaps you have been thinking about shedding lower vibrational connections based in the ego world of power games, sabotage, manipulation and fear. Perhaps you have already begun this process, or even shed so many you are fearing you might have over pruned* to be left with nothing and no one! Do not fear, feisty angel of love, your truth is prevailing. You cannot stay in a vibration of fear if you want to dwell in a vibration of love.
Whilst you learn to sustain that vibration within you, until it cannot be rattled by any crisis or demand, you are wise to place yourself in more nourishing connections. If you want a plant to grow, why not give it the best soil and conditions in which to do so? Certainly, the plant of love can and will grow in the most inhospitable conditions, but it can be rather more joyful to grow in gentler, more nourishing conditions if possible.
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This oracle comes to you with guidance that the possibility for more joyful relationships and growth of love within is in your power. You can choose 一 each day, each moment - just make a choice. Trust yourself your discernment and your intuition and choose. You do not owe anyone anything.
Repeat this law of karma 一 you only owe love the chance to grow! So let that be your guiding principle now as you release the old, and trust that even if your garden of relationship becomes sparse for a while, you have been cutting back unhealthy plants to allow for new life to flourish. It is only a matter of timing for the season of new life and growth to come again. And so it shall, bringing with it sacred convergence of souls on the path of love, your soul tribe, your soul family, your new tribe of those journeying upon the path of love.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Say: "Rumi, who loves me unconditionally, I open to your grace. I hereby declare I am willing to release those connections that no longer serve my spiritual growth on the path of love. I release relationships based in fear and am open to those based in love. I surrender the need to know, to judge, to assert control and to be 'in the right： I open up to tolerance, intuition and honouring of my heart. I open to love. Show me the way, brother of my soul; guide me through your grace into the sacred convergence of my soul and divine love in its most gracious expression, now and always. I call in my soul tribe of love, and I open my heart to nourishing connections in all ways now. So be it."
Close your eyes and relax with your hands resting on your heart. Do this for however long feels good for you.
When you are ready, simply open your eyes and you have completed your sacred honouring ritual.
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12. DIVINE DISCONTENT
Winterfalls upon us so spring can bring new growth. Cry the tears!
Allow the longing!
Sadness brings surrender and a deep desire to be free.
-RUMI
I know your heart! I hear it breaking and groaning in darkest night when you imagine your self to be silently cast adrift in sleep. It speaks to me, that sacred heart of yours, whispering its longing a.nd bemoaning its divine discontent. It knows when something is amiss! It senses that something is not quite right as yet - there is a piece ofthe puzzle missing.
Even in its tremendous gratitude for all that is 一 and there is much gratitude and sweet appreciation in that precious heart of yours - there is a murmuring, a questing It cries out to heaven. Vouchsafe me a blessing! I cannot go on! I am broken and in need of your tenderness for healing! I
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a.m empty and in need of filling, not with stuff and bits but with the most precious nectar of divine fulfilment! Nothing else will satisfy me. Please, please restore me to wholeness! I can bear this missing piece, this broken disarray, no longer! I listen and I cajole that wise heart of yours. I praise it for its honesty and longing, for the longing is an irresistible perfume to the beloved, attracting the only salve that will soothe the divine discontent of your truth-speaking heart - that of divine presence, absolute and unquestionable.
There is a sense within you 一 perhaps quite obvious to your conscious mind, or perhaps only dimly registered as an unnameable underlying sense of anxiety - that something in your life is not quite right. It may be the sense - even amongst so much gratitude - of a yearning yet to be met, a longing yet to be fulfilled and satisfied.
This is the pain of the awakening heart. That heart is capable of bliss and ecstatic reverence for the sheer beauty and wonder of creation. Yet, as the heart matures, there will be a process of deep passionate longing that awakens for the Divine. It is the impatience for the caress of the great lover, for the presence of the Divine to come to you. Over time, that longing will grow from a mild inner sense of incompleteness, needing to become whole. It will develop into a holy fever, a sacred rage, a stamping of dancing feet, a pounding of fists upon the altar, and a longing so deep and distressing that one may well break into tears at the impossibility of bearing the pain of apparent separation for even a moment longer.
aWhere is my beloved cries the awakening heart. "I call for my beloved and yet I am here, still waiting! I can stand this no longer!M
As devotion grows and passion for the Divine intensifies, so too does this yearning, so much so that this may come to feel as though your heart is breaking for the Divine. Or perhaps you are not quite there yet. Your heart is attached to smaller gods such as your status, your job, your lover, your body looking a certain way, or being able to live your life in a particular way. These smaller gods are not necessarily an issue, yet you have drawn this oracle and so it is guidance for you that the Divine
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wants to draw you closer. Sometimes that means we will have the meagre meal wrested from our hand so we may feast upon something far more delectable and grand.
The Divine is a fiercely possessive lover. If there is a face of another beloved preventing you from longing for the divine embrace, and if you cannot see that it is the Divine Beloved within your lover that you are loving, well then, something will be done by heaven!
So make your relationships sacrosanct. Seek the Divine in all things. When you cannot, when the power of lesser gods has you in its grip, acknowledge it. Bear witness to it. Do not chastise; instead, be truthful. Let your heart break and lie prostrate on the floor, hands clutching and head bowed as though only your sadness and plight could stir the heart of the Divine Beloved into descent of succour and grace, saving you from a life far too bland for your exquisite epicurean palette.
Just dont misinterpret the pain and think that something really is wrong! If you are surrounded by status and money and cannot understand why you should mourn, it is even more important that you allow yourself to do so! Mourning is to be felt; understanding is not so relevant!
But if you must seek understanding, then know this, dear blazing angel: you are just waking from the deepest slumber and with your awakening heart you are realising a truth. A part of you 一 deeper and wider, vaster and more instinctive, truthful and intelligent than your mind - is lonely for the divine embrace. This is right. This is sensible. This is sanity.
It is the pain, the real noble pain of the heart, that says, 4<There is something more than this inadequacy, this settling for plastic instead of precious gemstones, that must end now. I cannot be fed by pixilated sunsets in animation upon my computer screen. I yearn to be blasted by so much radiance and beauty, by the real thing, that I become stupefied! I must witness so much divine splendour that all I can utter is some incoherent grunt, my mind dissembled and my heart ignited by the presence of my beloved. I want to become a fumbling ecstatic wreck in
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the presence of my beloved. I want to allow this pain, this yearning, this divine discontent to guide me to my holy lover so my life may never be the same again !M
And so it shall be. The discontent Divine growing within you is the beginning, not the destiny. Its purpose is to lead you into your greatest connection yet with divinity. Do not resist it. Witness it! Do not dismiss it, trying to cover up its smell with rose petals. Let your rank discontent be the pathway to divinity. Look beyond what is, what has been prized and treasured, and is now found to be plated and not the precious gold it was once esteemed to be.
Don't be scared, for you are my sidekick on this great holy adventure! I am here, you see, just around the corner. I have you in my sights though you may not see me yet. I am holding a loaf of fresh bread, hot from the kitchen of the Creator, hoping to entice you with its wafting scent, tempting you to follow me on towards something of far more substance. If you are still stuck on pine-scented air freshener, imagining it is anything akin to the wild scent of the pine forests for real, then how can I tempt you? Let the stench be the stench, then the fragrance of God can be discerned; and together, we can leave what is less behind, once and for all, grabbing, like hungry school children, for the divine bread with sweet fresh scent filling the air.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place one hand on your heart and one on your belly.
Say the following aloud: "Rumi, who loves me unconditionally, guide me now. I acknowledge the gratitude in my heart, genuine and fierce, and I acknowledge the hunger for the divine unfolding in my belly, the urging forward towards some unknown, indescribable sacred satiety. Guide me to the holy table where the true feast awaits. I am no longer satisfied by stale crumbs or the remnants of anothers feast. I want to feast with the holy one, the great one, to know directly and for myself that I am divine. With your mercy, grace and wisdom, guide me there, dearest brother of my soul. I cast my soul into your care and follow my
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nose! I follow my nose towards the sweetest scent of the holy feast.w
Rest or stand up and dance your prayer. Just be with your body and how it wants to be 一 to rest or move now. Whatever you choose, stay with your breath and with what feels truthful.
Say aloud: "I release that which is not worthy for my soul to feast upon. I do not decide this for myself from a place of distrust or judgment. I surrender my attachment and I trust in the sacred workings of life to present to me what is needed. I surrender, I surrender, in sacred trust, I surrender. May my life be governed by love for the greatest good and in holy service to love now. So be it."
You have finished your sacred honouring ritual.
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13. ARISE
Wings of hope languish from lack ofuse.
When wings dissipate and weaken, life begins to lose its value.
Every cell in your body is created to rise to challenges.
Your life is meant to confront everything that holds you captive,
Don t sit at the bottom of the well, not caring about salvation.
Listen to the voice within calling to you.
Reach for eminence beyondyour own maturity!
-RUMI
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I dance before you in sacred spectacle, hoping to garner your attention.
“Look at me!" I cry to your ailing spirit and despondent flesh, “Look at me!”
If you were to look up you would see that I am a mirror of your own being, your light, your heart, your spirit, your all. Yes, there is pain; yes, there is a letting go taking place and you are frightened and uncertain sometimes. But you make this mean something that it does not! It means that you are to turn your head away from what is dying; do this gently but firmly. Turn your head towards what is living
Look at me! I will showyou truth andyou shall laugh your deepest belly laughter with so much glee, sharing in my secret that the only force at work in your life is unconditionally loving divinity.
I see in you a divine wild child and sacred heart. You have gumption! Chutzpah! Guts! You dare to love where others only see pain. You dare to believe that everything will somehow work out where others see only what they judge to be wrong. You see love where others ply fear. You seek freedom where the world still buys into manipulation and propaganda.
Dont lose heart, beloved wild child. Dare to believe! You are right to do so. It is the divine rebel in you that refuses to surrender hope. Give up the fight perhaps, the battle that comes from a place of fear, but never give up your hope. That hope in your heart, that optimism and patience for growth into love creates a light within you that helps the world see through darkness. It becomes a candle that shimmers contentedly upon the windowsill of your heart temple. There it is, more obvious even in darkness.
The stars do appear to shine brighter at night, beloved, but dont become consumed by your nightmares. They will pass with the coming dawn, you'll see. Dont give them too much stock. Instead, put your attention towards that defiant candle of hope that burns, as is its nature and purpose, within you. Can you sense its warmth, even in the presence of cold fear? Ah, it shall warm you now. And if not, then I come to remind you: you are a blazing angel! You are filled with holy fire and you
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shall prevail.
Oh the joy of you, the expanse of you! You fill my own heart with your magnificent essence. I see and know the Great Beloved in you. There the Great Beloved is - looking out at me from behind your eyes! I see the candlelight of your heart temple flicker within your gaze. That is what the candle of hope honours - the workings of the Great Beloved, so creative and crazed with love for you that all circumstances of your life, down to the tiniest detail, are evoked out of love. Love out of passionate desire takes you from despair into hope - from holding onto letting go, from turning away to opening up - so the Great Beloved takes you across the moonlit ocean into the temple of the Cosmic Heart. Here, an eternal flame burns bright with hope, igniting the light within the hearts of all of humanity.
You are being asked to trust, to gently lay to rest the suffering that has been - perhaps because of what you have labelled as the failure, the doubt, the losses and setbacks. They are so little in the greater scheme of you. Put them aside; allow them to rot and become fertiliser for life, but do not try to keep them alive beyond their earthly expiry date, lest you become tainted or poisoned by the rot. Let them go and instead focus on what is alive now.
Can you sense that before you is a great being of light, a greater pathway opening up? This is truth, blazing angel. This is truth. Take the step. So easy is it when the light of the heart is felt within, reminding you of your own divine nature. The world is here for you to experience so that you may realise divinity in its majesty, mystery and love - more so than ever. All serves that sacred purpose, so embrace it. Find your faith. Be at peace. Know that no matter what appears to be, all is well. YDU are so loved; it cannot even begin to be translated sufficiently into words, but it can be transmitted from my heart to yours, just as the sun catches dried tinder and sets it aflame.
This oracle comes with a message for you: arise. You have been downtrodden for long enough now. Perhaps you have been feeling defeated, put-upon, underestimated or walked over in mind, body or
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spirit, by others or your own doubts and fears. Enough now - you are liberated through the hope in your heart, the defiant optimism that buoys your spirit and demands that you shall have your dawn. You shall rise like the sun and begin anew now. Step up; it is your time.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Stand up and turn behind you. Say aloud: "With gratitude and deep soul-daring, I choose to say thank you and goodbye to my past. What has been has been, and is no longer to be. I am at peace with this, for what has been is nothing more than fertiliser for life to flourish now. With complete forgiveness and acceptance, I allow this letting go to happen. With all of my heart, I ask for unconditional love to assist me in this sacred surrender now."
Turn now to face forward. Say aloud: "I invite in life. I invite in love. I invite in what is required for my own spiritual success and thriving divinity. Through unconditional love and divine mercy, through the guiding spirit of my soul brother, Rumi, may this now be so."
Then place one hand on your heart and say aloud: "In this present moment life thrives. It is within this thriving grace that I choose to place my consciousness now. I am an angel ablaze. I trust in the benevolent divinity guiding my way."
Place both hands in prayer and when you are ready, simply bow your head for a moment. You have finished your honouring ritual.
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14. LET LOVE TRANSFORM
The spring of Iove arrives to transform the dust into a garden.
The call is heardfrom the heavens to bid the wings of soul to fly.
The sea becomes filled with pearls.
The dry land receives the water of lifr.
The stone becomes a ruby, and the body becomes all soul.
-RUMI
Love is my medicine. Intelligent medicine. It takes death and makes it a
anything and everything as a pathway to life.
I have found a bench upon which we may be seated. Nay, not a, bench. A love seat. It is carved of precious ruby. It sits under the gentle shade ofan
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ancient tree that thrives in loves garden. Come sit with me, beloved, as we let the whispers of the Great Beloved penetrate our hallowed ears carried upon the sweet afternoon breeze.
As the sun begins to set the colours become vibrant. Even if we are deaf to the beloved's tender whispers, we shall not be blind. We shall be captured by the vivid display ofthe beloved's artistry, and be transported into peace.
This oracle comes to you as a living spiritual gift. Whether you realise it or not, you have triumphed. You have blossomed, succeeded, cast aside that which was unworthy, and taken up loves way. How much delight there is from all those that walk this way of love, of life, to find another precious companion in their midst. You are welcomed into this world, this world where love finds a way. There is nothing impossible for love. It is not bound by the mind, and because of this, all manner of miraculous grace works through it in endless creative variety. The Great Beloved is a show-off creating with such genius as to be breathtaking! Were we able to remain always in the heart, we would be constantly breathless, in a fit of appreciation and awe so great, truly, there would not be even a slither of emptiness through which fear could enter.
What does this mean? It means an avenue for divine fulfilment has been found. You are being given the power for spiritual success. Your hearts yearning shall manifest itself but you must comply according to the law of love. What does that mean exactly? Do not attach yourself to the form that your resolution and success shall take. Why would we seek to limit loves creative genius thus? No. Instead, trust that it will be magnificent 一 perfection - literally the work of great genius!
Detach yourself from expectations of timing. The harvest will be at the best time when the ripeness is just right, so utterly juicy and sweet you shall know with certainty that this was the best way; not a moment sooner would have been perfect, nor a moment later. Absolute trust is the best way to adhere to the law of love. This gives you rather some energy to spare, perhaps that might have otherwise been engaged in perpetuating worry or doubt.
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Well I am so happy to see that you are twiddling your divine thumbs and wondering if you are not going to worry. If you are just going to surrender and trust, then what exactly will you do with yourself ? Well, of course, you can just live your life, but perhaps, you may want to dance barefoot and wild with me upon the cool sand at midnight under the fullness of the harvest moon.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Open your arms to the heavens and imagine sacred bounty pouring down, more than you can hold. This is love s gift of plenty to you. Imagine whatever it is you want 一 love, abundance, peace, passion, healing, purpose. Let it all descend into your body and soul 一 just like that.
When you are ready, place your hands on your heart and say: “I am loves own. I am seated with my brother, Rumi, who loves me unconditionally, upon the love seat in the sacred garden of the Divine Creator. I am blessed to fulfil my destiny, to become divinity awakened and embodied, to receive all of life with the wings of angels at my back, so I may rise with my sacred animal feet to dance with sacred delight upon this earth?
Put your hands in prayer. Bow your head for a moment. YDU have finished your sacred honouring ritual.
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15. DIVINE MOTHER MANIFESTS
O, you living in the world of six directions, accept the gloom and accept the bliss, for those seeds buried in the ground will one day grow into fruitful orchards.
-RUMI
We share her, this Divine Mother. You and I, we are her precious children. We are born through her love and she shares in our losses and our gains, our tragedies and our triumphs.
Her hair forms the galaxies, her thoughts become the stars. The sun is her own warmth and her breath is felt upon this earth, causing the roar of the ocean waves. Her voice is heard in the call of the whales and the trill of the birds. She is all, nurturing life into existence. She is in my reaching for you and she is in your acceptance of my divine hand.
She is all, this great lady. Nothing lies outside of her sphere ofinfluence and power, compassion andgra.ce. That includesyou andyour dreams, great and small, my angel of Iove.
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This oracle comes to you via the sacred grace and mercy of the Divine Mother who is the great manifesting expression of divinity. All that is created, all that is made manifest, without exception, flows from her being. This is why it is safe to trust in life - even (most especially!) the inexplicable mystery and even the darkness that may give rise to fear and judgment within us. It is all part of her unfathomable workings.
So we pray for light, we pray for love, we honour and live our lives with its mysteries with as much integrity as we can muster. But beyond that, it is best to participate in this life with much less certainty than the mind would have us believe necessary for inner peace. Inner peace doesn't come with understanding, it comes with trusting. Can we understand a star? Or a galaxy? Perhaps not 一 yet we can choose to trust in its beauty and beingness, and from it derive great energy, hope and inspiration. The ways of the Divine Mother are not to be judged by our limited standards rather than can be witnessed, experienced and received. What a relief to not need to understand! What a relief to simply live with trust and know that everything will work its way out!
Through those wise ways of the Divine Mother, there is a gift headed to you now. Will you receive it? That gift is one of manifestation. Something you have been working towards, growing into, loving and dreaming for (perhaps for a very long time), is finally coming to fruition.
Perhaps you have caught a sniff of the aromas from the divine kitchen and know the meal is nearly ready 一 and it smells delicious! Or perhaps you have already been a curious and naughty angel. Youve poked your head through a door to the divine dining room, only to be captivated by the candlelight dancing in reflection upon gleaming silverware, and the subtle sounds of crystal goblets and finest china being laid down upon an exquisite dining table. Or maybe, dearest one, you have absolutely no clue what is about to happen. With your thoughts and attention so often turned to the past or future, you have yet to realise what is coming to life for you this moment. Perhaps you will not gain any advance notice; you will instead run smack into the middle of a dinner party hosted in your honour (and perhaps even feel unprepared, wondering if this mornings
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Yoga attire is suitable for such a grand occasion).
You are being asked to receive this gift completely and utterly. Whether you feel sufficiently worthy or not (or appropriately and readily attired), it is time; and the bestowal of this gift is as it should be. Whether it seems to be in the best form, or how it should be according to your opinion or the opinions of others, it is as the Divine Mother has accorded it to be. She has her wild ways, of course, and often times her workings in the world are, to put it mildly, downright unfathomable. Yet somehow all things - all creations, all of life, her every working - serve love. You are one of her creations and so is the imminent manifestation of your own heart truths. Live it. Love it. Receive it completely. It is yours and meant to be so.
This oracle comes with additional guidance for you. No matter whether or not things appear to be working out, they are. And you are held in the loving protection of the Divine Mother to keep you from straying from your highest path and divine destiny. There is work here for you to do upon this planet in your own unique way. It is the work of the Divine Mother, the work of love. So then, allow her to care for you, even if you wonder what the heavenly minx is up to at times!
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place your left hand with palm facing upwards in front of you, reaching out as if to receive.
Say aloud: "Divine Mother, through your gracious compassion and bounty, I humbly bow.”
Bow your head to your hand for a moment, or if you wish, kneel and kiss the floor. In this action, allow yourself to truly surrender into the workings of love. Just intend to surrender and it shall be.
Then arise and place your left hand out again with palm facing up, and arm extended slightly as if to receive, and say aloud: "I willingly accept the bestowal of grace now manifesting into form as a heartfelt wish, delivered to me through the Divine Mothers genius and generosity. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
You have finished your sacred honouring ritual.
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16. FROM NOTHING TO EVERYTHING
O myfriend, if you are longing to be written on, become a. blank page.
-RUMI
Have you been sheddingyour skins, your layers, your certainties^ Gone are fixed identities and definite opinions! Keep casting those shackles aside, even if you fear you are releasing too much and then, perhaps, you shall cease to exist! You shall only cease to exist as you have known yourselfto be thus far. Another emanation of you awaits, blazing angel! Something more beautiful and true.
Yet here you are at the pruning stage, like a gardenerfbr the soul. Shall the garden spring back to life, or will the enthusiastic denuding process be rather too much and unintentionally kill off the garden altogether? Fear not. Your soul is made of hardy stuff It can handle a lot of culling and will shine even brighter fbr it.
There is a greater story to be impressed upon your essence than the one
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you are currently dreaming up. Though you are brilliant - no doubt about it, my angel of love 一 there is one who is even more so. The imagination of this great writer is beyond our comprehension; the stories that pour forth from that cosmic poet in every moment are so rich they inspire the creation of art and music.
One such story is especially created for you. Yes, you. IVith a starring role and all the best supporting cast! You shallgasp in wonder, awe, glee and delight when you hear it! It is a great romance, a great adventure, with an ending truly spectacular and divine. Would you wish to hear it? Become attentive now. Put your own tales aside, as dramatic as they may seem right now, and prepare to be entranced by the greater story tellerthe living poet of love, as you are entranced in a tale of your unfolding divine destiny.
There are moments on the path of love that seem to focus on letting go; letting go of identities, of knowledge and certainty, of opinion and even attempts at control. We may feel as though we are being stripped back to our core and even then, perhaps, further still. We may wonder if we can bear it. What shall, if at all, remain intact through these rigours ? We may feel challenged every time we attempt to become something great, as though we are blocked by circumstances beyond our control. Again and again, it is as though a greater hand smacks our wrist the moment we try to take hold of something firmly, someone, anything, that brings us certainty or inner stability. Such are the rigours at an advanced stage on the path. We meet this challenge when our soul is ready for it.
Why must it be thus ? This is a sage question indeed. When we are asked to dispense with our story, the interpretations we have given to our life experiences over the years, we may not hear the request at first. We may vaguely note it but not recognise the great divine source asking this of us, and so we do not give such an inclination due accord. We may persist with spinning our own tales instead. Oh, our mind may fancy itself to be a great wrangler of the word, impressed with its own judgments and declarations, yet in the light of comparison with the divine tale for our soul, all our fancies shall pass away, revealed as so very frail, like clouds
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dissipating in the sky.
Perhaps we are graced with the realisation 一 there is so much more! Or perhaps we still dont get the hint and move into struggle as we try to enact what we think our story should be. We may hit obstacle after obstacle and create even more terror in our storytelling 一 that life is such pain, a struggle, that success may not be for us, that we are forgotten and unheard. Yet we could equally choose to wonder if obstacle after obstacle, closed door after closed door, is just a prompt to look for the open window to climb through. And if so, instead of seeking to impose our small story upon the great truth, we can live the truth of our divine destiny.
Then something magical happens: we participate through presence along with the unfolding story of our soul journey. We open up to whatever is asked of us, presented to us, happening through us, as we choose each day to come alive as much as we can. Then, as if by magic, there is something else that occurs. That would be grace - real, rich, dripping with goodness and sustenance - grace. This is the sacred blessing that enables us to pay attention to opening doors rather than closing ones, the divine assistance that lets us know our life is proceeding according to a greater intelligence and plan. Once we stop thinking quite so much and live day to day, we will be blessed with the realisation that our individual life story is so much more extraordinary and perfect than anything we could have summoned, even with our wildest imagination.
This oracle comes with guidance for you. You are being asked to let go to receive, to become empty to be filled. This may mean letting go of attachment to a lover so you can receive genuine love. It may be of no longer holding onto a fantasy of your dream job, but of being guided into your most soulful and successful vocation. It may mean letting go of wishes for your body or health to be other than it is, so you can simply get on with living each day, taking steps into wellness without thinking beyond one day at a time. It is the divine paradox that when we are asked to surrender a story or fantasy, it is because reality is knocking at our door, more often than not, with the delivery of what we have been
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fantasising about 一 but in the best way for us.
The human experience of this paradox is that you may feel you are giving up hope, that your fantasy is dying. It may be very painful and bring you much grief But all that is dying is your attachment and opinion about how it must be. This needs to happen so you can stop dreaming and start living it. This is what is happening for you now. Do not fear any part of your process; embrace it without expectation, with trust in your heart, that the Divine is simply guiding you from fantasy into fulfilment.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place your hands in prayer and bow your head.
Say aloud: "I choose to trust in the great genius unfolding in my life. I give thanks for the blessings of grace now flowing into my heart. I have no need to know. I trust in the perfection of my being unfolding with innate intelligence and wisdom. Rumi, who loves me unconditionally, holds me in his protection, and I accept my destiny with a peaceful and trusting heart. Please help me to surrender the stories, attachments, fantasies and fears that have held me back from living my hearts desires fully. I now choose unconditional trust in the loving genius oflife to lead me into my fulfilled destiny now. So be it."
You have completed your sacred honouring ritual.
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17. THE HUMAN GIFT
O Heart!
What isyour excuse far all these blunders?
Such loyalty is offered by the beloved, yet so much treason comes from you.
Such kindness is ofiered by the beloved, yet so much defiance and resistance comes from you. Such grace is offiered by the beloved, yet so muchfzult and failure comesfrom you.
Such attraction is offered by the beloved, with sweetness and generosity, yet such jealousy comesfrom you, with so much doubt and suspicion.
-RUMI
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Do you bemoan your lack offaith? Do you berate yourself, blazing angel, because you have moments where you cannot bring yourself to trust in love more than you trust in yourfear? Do you lament and worry that you could, or should, be living in greater surrender? And yet, when is light more precious than when it arises from darkness? When is trust more admirable than when it involves an uncertain, yet bold, leap of faith? Oh human angel, your path is perfiction in the divine sense - not in some artificial absence of struggle, but in the wrestling of darkness and light that ignites the fire within your holy heart.
So rise up now from your doubts and admonishments, and let your human self be loved. Even for all the doubt, you are still a cherished one of the Great Beloved and always shall be.
Be kind to your heart. You may believe it to be weary from doubt and distrust, so much heartbreak and so many agonies, yet still it beats. Still it persists, with unquestioning allegiance to life. What a grand heart it is, this sacred heart of yours. How can it be worthy of anything other than tenderness, gratitude, acknowledgement and appreciation?
Do not plague your heart with falsehoods and expectations of some disembodied perfection! The perfection of your heart is that it loves still, even if you try to stop it with some notion of self-protection from future hurt through doubt or fear 一 still it loves. It is perfection that it hopes even after despair, that it holds compassion even after experiences of fear. So then, what is there left to do but breathe the grandest sigh of relief and allow yourself the essential luxury of peace within? So then, everything is all right 一 even if at some moments it seems not to be, still, your heart beats in honour oflife. The heart can be nurtured and coaxed into gentle acceptance of all that is and the divine sight will become available to you.
Yes, sacred sight is what is behind this oracle for you now, beloved. You are meant to be witnessing something important, something that will make the presence of the Divine in your affairs more real to you. It will be something you can come to count on at all times, and in that, gain greater peace and the realisation that, yes, it is safe to trust and surrender!
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Indeed, it is the only safe, sane and sensible way to live. It is also the most fun way to live! And you are allowed to live this way if you so choose. It is not shirking your duty as a responsible adult! It is not deluding yourself and turning away from the real world! Rather, surrender is placing responsibility where it is best placed 一 firmly in the hands of that part of you wise enough to know the Great Beloved is wiser still, and that your life unfolds according to the Great Beloveds grace.
So, for now, take comfort in this oracle. Just for a moment, let your heart be honoured and loved by you, and imagine that you can crack open a window in the dustiest chamber of your own heart temple to let the light of the Divine stream in. You may see the angel reaching to assist you: you may receive the gift of understanding, insight and revelation； you may feel peace; or you may finally allow your heart to break once more to shed those old grievances and be free and fresh to live and love again. Or you may quietly realise you are human, you are light and dark, of heaven and earth. What a perfect blend you are of all that can possibly be. You are an extraordinary, living divine experiment in the making. And you are sacred, cherished and loved by the Great Beloved. So do not fear your fear, but do doubt your doubt with compassion. Let it be and let it go. You are human after all, and your journey is beyond description. Just remember, if you are ever in need of the Great Beloved, there is a place where sacred tryst is always available to you: in the temple of your heart with the window cracked open, so that doubt can fly out and love can breathe freely.
This oracle comes with special guidance for you. You are, or soon will be, seeing with greater clarity and insight, a situation that has been obscured to you in the past. You may be startled by what you perceive, so much so, that you second-guess yourself or chalk it up to wild imagination on your part. You are asked to trust in your perceptions that when they come from the heart - although what you perceive may be darkness - there will be no judgment in it. See what is truthfully there; be in the compassionate nature of your heart, and you shall also be shown the most graceful way to become clear and free of darkness, either within
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yourself or within others and the world around you.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place your hands on your heart and say the following aloud: "I love you. You are strong, brave and powerful. You are gentle, vulnerable and inspired. You are truth. You are insight. You are wisdom. You are life! I love you and you are safe. You are the Divine made flesh. You, my precious heart, my precious connection to life, I adore you. Thank you for loving. Let us open the inner window, let the stale emotion out, and breathe in fresh life now, for you are to be well and thrive according to loves grace and wisdom. I trust in what you know and what you see. In compassion, I honour all perceptions of truth. So be it.”
You have finished your sacred honouring ritual.
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18. ANEW GOWN
Weary and consumed by longing,
I was caressed by my beloved last night. My wounded soul was set free, when I tasted the sweetness oflove.
My spirit was lifted at once.
I surrendered my life, while overflowing with joy, and my vision was filled with light.
Love said, <(Dontfeel so hopeless, my weary and gloomy one, for my generosity is beyond forgetting those devoted to me?
See how boundless divine justice can be. Behold my immeasurable kindness!
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Love embraced my spirit, and all my doubts vanished at once. A new and glorious robe of honor was placed on my shoulders.
Love offered me the power ofnew vision and the transforming touch of divine generosity and placed the chalice ofeternal wine in my hand.
-RUMI*
I have the perfect gift for you. It is a gown ofnew colours, of colours perfectly suited to you and no other. The colours of this gown will make your eyes sparkle and gleam as though they were more beautiful than the most precious ofgems. The colours of this new gown will make your skin seem luminous as if lit from within. For of course it is, beautiful angel, your complexion is radiant with the light of life. Your hair will shine with lustre andyour entire being will be complemented by this gown as it enhancesyour beauty in all ways.
So hold on no longer to that shabby, tattered cloak so unworthy of you. Cast it off! Let me grace your shoulders now with this royal robe instead, that you may shine beautifully as befits a royal child ofdivine parentage.
Ah beloved, if you could only see the incredible gift, the symbolic robe, being offered to you now. Your fears would quake and tremble, disappearing more quickly than you could imagine! Your heart would take wings, and become so light your entire being would lift clean off the ground, and soar like an angel-bird amongst the playground of the Divine Mothers skies.
Yet like a young one, so much younger than your years and wisdom warrant, you may hold onto your tattered robes as though they were a security blanket. Though you know it is time to let it go, you may take pause and have a moment of doubt. You may wonder if the new robes
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will descend swiftly enough; or, that without what you have known to cling onto, you will be left stark-naked, exposed and vulnerable! These thoughts are not worthy of your status, but perhaps you are yet to realise you are of the most sublime royal lineage, that you are worthy of a cloak of galaxies, a crown of stars, a body of sacred earth and a voice of stirring music.
You may be craning your neck to see who it is that can bestow permission upon you to receive a gift of such dignity. In whom is such authority vested, that you may no longer be as the beggar, asking for scraps and contenting yourself with stale crumbs ? You may simply decide to shed that, stand up to walk with your head held erect and with regal grace, and assume your place at the table of divine feasting. Remember that your royal birth certificate is stamped in your heart. There is no authority required, no permission to be granted. You are what you are already, and always have been thus. All that is required from you is to realise it.
This oracle comes to you with sacred portent. You are fast approaching a moment of a great leap, an evolutionary shift on your spiritual path. Your sense of yourself and your divine identity is about to be revealed and realised in a way more potent than ever before. This is wonderful! It is a divine happening! You must allow it. Do not confuse humility with humiliation. Do not humble yourself excessively. You do not have to battle with false pride either. Simply honour yourself as a living being, worthy oflife, worthy of this royal path of divine realisation. What a gift it is to cast aside belief in inferiority or superiority, unhelpful as those notions are for you now. What a gift instead to embrace your own path, irrespective of what any other may think, whether they hold it in glory or derision.
Who cares? Not you; nor I. Your royal heritage has been revealed, and in seeing the divinity within yourself you become blessed to see it in all beings, all beings returning to the realisation of royalty within. Crazed searching outside of the heart will come to an end. A simple golden path will be found, as though a river of molten gold flows from your heart
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back to the oceanic heart of the Great Beloved, where, united again, you finally ascend your throne and claim your divinity once and for always.
This oracle comes with sacred guidance for you. You are stepping into empowerment in a new way and it is to be honoured. Do not allow yourself to be dragged into dramas or power games. You are worth so much more than that. You are tapping into your inner dignity and others may not know how to respond. Some will respond with love and acknowledgement; others with fear and judgment, calling you "too big for your boots' or 'high and mighty： Those are voices of fear, not truth. Be in your dignity and power and keep going. It is the Divine that urges you thus, not the ego. Do not doubt the changes happening within you now - embrace them.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place your hands very lightly upon the top of your head. Say aloud: “I cast aside lesser crowns."
Open your hands up to the heavens and say aloud： "I receive the royal gown descending through grace."
Slowly and gently guide your hands down, from over the top of your head alongside your body, as though drawing a royal robe over your head. Allow your hands to gently touch the floor, as though the robe completely covers you.
Sit comfortably and visualise or intend that the most beautiful gown of many colours surrounds you. You may or may not be aware of the colours. You may see layers of shimmering lights, stars, roses or more. You may hear the gown singing like a choir of angels, or gurgling as though it is a fountain of liquid gold. Let it be as is for you - as subtle or powerful as it wishes to be. Whatever happens for you is perfect.
When you are ready, simply open your eyes, place your hands in prayer position and bow your head. You have finished your sacred honouring ritual.
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19. SACRED UNION
Only the oneness oflove and the lover is eternal. Surrender your heart into this union, for all else in this world is momentary.
-RUMI
Stupefied with bliss, I become without thought. There is no grief in that loss! I gladly surrender my intelligence in favour of this mindlessness. It is ecstasy, rapture. The sweetness of the union so sacred overwhelms my senses. The lover and the beloved are my world. Nothing else exists except this love, this unity of divine masculine andfeminine, and thefresh new universe that shall be born from their sacred conjoining.
It happens even now - between my body and my spirit, and in yours, and in his over there, and that woman passing by. All creation in sacred rapturous embrace! So shocking and wild, this frenzy of loving delight without limits!
Let us be swept away, my beloved, in the passionate loving that renders duality into oney and tips the mind into empty ecstasy.
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You lucky, lucky angel 一 you are to be blessed with sacred union. This union is of the lover and the beloved, the masculine and the feminine. That which appears to be opposite will no longer appear to be so. There is a coming together that is destined and divine. YDU are to be swept up in a wave of such love.
This oracle comes to you as a portent, a sign of that which is to come, and also as a confirmation of your spiritual journey thus far. You have been working to integrate masculine and feminine energies within. Oh perhaps you have not used those words, but you have been attempting to find the balance between living a surrendered life and leading from the heart, and then knowing when to take the initiative to set something in motion, when to put your body, mind and soul into getting your shoulder behind something to push! You have been working hard to surrender attachment to plans and how you think things should go.
Instead, you have intended to show it up for what it is, to seek out the genius of life through unconditional acceptance instead of judging and fearing, resisting what is, as though it were a big mistake, perhaps caused by ignorance within. No, you do not seek to hide from love anymore. You have been learning, step by step, how to embrace it and allow it to embrace you. What a journey you are taking, beautiful, lucky angel!
So your confirmation is thus 一 you are growing, you are evolving, you are making genuine shifts in consciousness that are allowing you to change the way you are in the world, to become freer, more loving, wilder, more divine. The Divine has been seducing you with love and beauty, and now, in your surrendered state, you are seducing the Divine! You are calling such passionate devotion to your cause, such clever and capable assistance, such graceful intervention. The Divine cannot resist your beauty! So keep going with that sacred surrender. Keep believing in the inner healing path you are travelling with such success. Accept this confirmation and acknowledgement close to your heart and keep travelling along your path of love. Keep this knowledge in your heart. You are meeting your beloved! What could be more exciting?
The sign coming to you with this oracle is that of great love bestowed
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by the hand of grace. What this means is there is destiny at play in matters of the heart. There is heart-healing and a letting go of past obstructions, suffering or misunderstandings. You could say, in a way, that the great cosmic matchmaker has taken up your cause. If you are already in a relationship, expect that there will be healing of that relationship in whatever way needed. You may have no sense of how it is going to play out. It may result in a deepening of commitment to your lover, but it will certainly result in a deepening of your own commitment to love.
If you are open to attracting a new and significant relationship into your life- perhaps a life partner, soul friend or other supporter of your life journey - then the Divine is hearing your call and is answering. Let go of your grip； do not hold onto a particular person, to a particular fear or fantasy. Instead, open your arms as if expecting your lover to run straight into them. For what could be more perfect than the divinely sanctioned relationship entering into your life ? It will move you; it is likely through romance, but it could be through soul-satisfying partnership, the soul for whom you have been waiting so your life path and heart-inspired work can continue to develop. It could be through the presence of a child, or even a coming together of your own inner masculine and feminine, so that you finally have a clear sense of your purpose in life and the means through which to take action on it, even if that action is to surrender yet again.
This oracle also comes with a particular piece of guidance for you. No matter what has been, what has succeeded and what has appeared to fail, what has been loved and what has been lost, there is only one truth that will prevail in your life - without failure, without exception - and that is love. It is all you are truly seeking, and it is behind every life experience seeking you. Do not stand back from it. Do not put yourself aside, turn down your eyes and pretend you cannot be seen by the world. Be bold! Claim the love that is your divine birthright and know that sacred union is yours, destined in the heavens and blessed by the Great Beloved.
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SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place one hand on your heart and the other outstretched before you, as if to place it on the heart of another.
Say aloud: wThrough the grace of Rumi, who loves me unconditionally, I call upon my true beloved now to be at one with my heart purpose. Through divine grace, our sacred union is now sanctioned and blessed. The love in my life swells to overflowing and I do not try to contain it. I am satisfied to be washed away in bliss, and I serve the Great Beloved in this divine romance, offering my heart to the one great love through which all other love emanates. I am love. I am united, heaven and earth, conjoined in passionate devotion to the Great Beloved. Love fills my life in all the ways I need, and I am graced by divine blessing so rich. Thank you. So be it."
Place both hands on your heart and rest for as long as feels good for you.
When you are ready, simply open your eyes, place your hands in prayer position briefly, and then on your head. You have finished your sacred honouring ritual.
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20. THE ALL-ENCOMPASSING HAND
You are the essence of my existence.
Who am I? A mirror in your hand!
Whatever you do, I will do.
I am your irresistible reflection.
With every breath, I feel my heart is beating with yours. In yourjoy, lam exuberant! In your sadness, lam in sorrow. If you are bitter, I become bitter. If you are grace, I become grace.
Myjoy is when lam bewildered in your beauty and taste the sweetness oflo ve on your lips.
牙I pick a rose without you, it becomes a thorn in my hand.
If lam the thorn,
I become the rose in your hand.
-RUMI
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I have held your hand in mine for so long that I have long since ceased to distinguish where your sacredflesh oncefeIt separatefrom mine. This sacred grasp pulses with love divine, and there is one hand, holding and held, one being, loving and loved, though we may appear by less ecstatic angels to be two. The love that gives us this handfast, beloved, is so powerful we could spin the entire universe upon its axis, and still our hands would be joined, gently andyet enduringly, in unfailing love and sublime friendship.
Perhaps you are in need of reassurance, dearest one. Perhaps you have been feeling somewhat alone on your path, or struggling with a matter deep within your precious, beautiful heart and speaking of it to no one. Such loneliness that can foster in the heart! With no other to bear witness to your life experience, you may question your life, your sanity, your truths, and create doubt where no doubt need be. This must stop now. You are worthy of so much more, and this suffering is not essential for your growth now. It is time to let it be and to open up to the touch of grace.
So this oracle comes to you as the hand of the Divine. It is the all- encompassing hand, the hand that has no limitation upon the blessings it can bestow, upon the troubles it can lift from you, upon the tenderness it can communicate to you through sacred touch. Allow that divine hand to reach for you, beloved. Do not turn it away. Do not let old shame, guilt or mistaken notions of false independence keep you from accepting this heavenly hand! This hand reaches to gently wipe away tears of the past. It will deftly unravel the ties that have bound your own hands, preventing you from fully giving and receiving according to your worth which is incontestable and without limit.
This divine hand will reach for you in your meditations, your sleep and your prayers. It will reach for you through life circumstances, through the smile or hug you receive from another, or the touch of another human being. It will reach you through the song of a bird, the falling of leaves, the soft fur of a beloved pet, through song lyrics that seem to speak what you are feeling deep inside, or the colourful dress of
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the stranger across the street who catches your eye and makes you smile. This divine hand is reaching for you now through this oracle.
says the Great Beloved, “I am reaching for you. Yes, I know you - you are my own! I would never abandon you! Perhaps you have turned from me unknowingly, forgotten how much I love you because the world is in a forgetful daze too, and ignores the caress of the breeze, the joyful acknowledgement of every sunrise and the reverence made radiant in every sunset. Life is the touch bestowed by my hand. Shall you receive me? Let me love you! Let me restore your soul and remind you there is nothing to fear now. Come; lay down your weapons and your fear for this moment. Quit using that mouth to cry for war or to cry in despair. Bring yourself to my table and use that mouth to taste some bold and rich wine instead. Enjoy with me, in this moment, the unbreakable bond that lies between us. Allow me to bring the cup of wine to your lips. Behind your head, so gently, lies my all-encompassing hand. Know the peace of my love; so deeply can it register with you now, that you shall never again forget it."
This oracle comes with a particular message for you. There may be a situation or circumstance in your life that you may feel is somehow unable to be solved. This oracle comes with reassurance that there is nothing beyond the reach of the divine hand of grace. All can be solved, all can be resolved; there is always a higher, better, more beautiful outcome possible.
You are asked to pray using the sacred honouring ritual, and to do so with conviction. The Divine has this situation 'in hand，and all is unfolding as it should be. Ask for help each day by saying: "I ask for help this day, in all ways, through unconditional love. Thank you."
You can be more specific in your request, asking for help in a particular relationship, or project too if you wish. The Divine wants to lend you a hand： You must ask for help first however - so ask. Empower that all-powerful hand of grace to bless your life and all circumstances, relationships and situations that have been or are yet to be for you.
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SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place one hand resting upon the other with palms joined together.
Say aloud:u Through the loving grace of Rumi, brother of my soul who loves me without condition, these hands are now blessed as the hands of the lover and the beloved, as the one divine hand, all-encompassing. I am blessed, protected, nurtured and received. I am touched by the Divine with compassionate mercy and loving tenderness. I call on the hand of grace to touch, heal, bless and protect all aspects of myself and my life journey. Through divine grace, so be it."
Simply rest with your hands in the same posture for several moments, then finish your ritual.
If you wish, you may continue by speaking in prayer to the Divine and offer up any issue or concern you have. Give it a voice; it doesnt matter how small or major the issue may seem. Talk it over with the Great Beloved, a wonderful and responsive listener!
When you are finished, place your hands in prayer, bow your head, and simply say thank you. You have completed your sacred honouring ritual.
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21. SACRED PHOENIX HEART
Under the cover of blood, love veils many rose gardens. In totalfaith, love tenderly guides every lover to the garden ofthe heart. Reason says, the world is limited in six directions, there is no way out. Love says,
there is a way, and I have traveled it many times.
-RUMI
How I adore your defiant, rebellious heart! It knows that whatfor the mind is an endt is for the heart, simply another match to ignite the sacredflames. It eats of Iove until it isfilled, and then becomes hungry again and eats some more. And again and again. It eats of love until it is so fall it must simply explode into a sacred fire of passion. It bursts, incapable of sustaining old
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consciousness in the expanse of blessings unlimited, lavished upon it through the Great Beloved^ affection. It would be like attempting to fit an ocean in a teacup! So it does not. It bursts forth, like a. dying star, into spectacular radiance, only to be reborn again, new and hungry for the next feeding frenzy in loves great banquet. How I adore your defiant, spectacular heart!
Love guides us through travails that seem improbable, if not impossible. It does not shy away from any challenge, from any cause. It cannot. It is just loves way. Love says to us there is always another way. You are receiving this guidance now.
Perhaps you are scratching your head quizzically or are in deepest despair because you appear to have met a dead end, a frowning no, or a dismissive laugh upon your quest to bring love alive. So then: do you choose to believe in love, or in the death of sorts your heart faces ? Your heart shall rally! I choose death because that is the portal to new life! And so it is wise, you see, but you must be brave, lb be burned in love -by love, for love - will involve endurance of pain, but it will also place it in context. It is the shorter pain that is not compounded by erroneous thinking! That pain comes and goes quite quickly when you realise that love is simply, playfully, smacking your wrist and saying, "Not that way, beloved. There are great pitfalls on that path - come, take this one, where there shall be wine and dancing !,5
So you are guided to accept the closed doors, the death, the pain, and to let it become tinder for your fire. Cry whatever tears need to be cried so your tinder can be dry and ready to create the sparks your heart needs. That sacred phoenix, ready to die into life within you, is hungry for the fire. Let it feast so it can fulfil its potential, its divine destiny, and become born again into new form, more divinely aligned and alive than ever before. *
This oracle comes with a message for you. You may feel as though you have been wandering in a desert for many years with no oasis in sight. You might have been through darkness, through trials, endured confusion and uncertainty as you sought for your truth, sought divine
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revelation and sought your purpose to confirm your plans. Seek no more. The answers are now given, or very soon will be, and the life, the passion, the purpose 一 it will all come to you in clarity.
Does life need to be grasped for? It is bestowed according to grace and destiny. It need not be sought so much as received. The spiritual destiny that calls your soul - even whilst you may feel your bodily ears are deaf to the call - makes your heart leap. It is as though hearing the beloveds voice and stirring an ancient memory of love so powerful moves you, even without you necessarily understanding how or why!
So let the life come to you. Be prepared to let the old version of your life pass away into the new life now being born. What does this mean? It means letting go of your striving, your opinions, your doubts, your despair and your fears. Life wants to happen through you, blazing angel. You don't have to do much other than get out of your own way. Love is your nature. Let it flourish and life shall unfold accordingly.
This oracle brings a particular message regarding divine timing - that oh-so-significant factor in our dreams coming to life. Your time is fast approaching; it may even be now. It may seem least likely to you. There may be great darkness or confusion, and yet the unveiling of the new dawn is closest to the deepest darkness of night. Do not turn back or away from your progress. Your very next steps shall be upon hallowed ground, rendered golden by the rays of the rising sun.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place your hands on your heart and say: "This Sacred Phoenix Heart is blessed. Through every loss, every grief and sadness, every mourning, this heart grows strong, ready to ignite into new life, into the dance that is not the funeral procession but the rite of spring. This heart is ready to leap with new life, to be infused with the joy of innocence and the passion of deepest devotion. How I trdst my heart to lead me, guided by the inner voice of love, through all that could possibly be. I am safe. This heart knows the way and I follow it faithfully now, into the light of a new day. Through sacred grace, so be it.”
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Place your hands in prayer and close your eyes. Imagine there is love in your heart and that you can send a gentle acknowledgement of that love from your mind to your heart. As you bow your head towards your hands, imagine you are mentally bowing to the greatness of your heart and the love it honours.
You have completed your sacred honouring ritual.
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22. THE LION AND THE DEER
When you enter the garden of the heart, you become fragrant like the rose.
When you fly toward Heaven, you become graceful like the angel.
If you get burned like oil, you become brilliant.
When you become thin like hair in yearning, your joy leads the way.
You ll be the kingdom and the king. You ll be paradise and the guardian angel. Youll be infidelity, and you ll befitith. Youll be the lion, and youll be the deer.
-RUMI
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You are the lion and the deer. You are bold, fierce and vibrant, andyou are silent, sweet and gentle. If I should come to you in arrogance you roa-r at me until my falsehood quakes in fear, so terrified it gives up the game and loves conquest happens yet again! If I should come to you in surrendered adoration, open to whatever you may wish, you are so gentle with me. Like a deer, you offer me nothing to fiar or resist so that I too become sweet and gentle, longing to submit to your tender ministrations.
So then, I do not fear my own errors. For even if I stumble into arrogance^ I shall be made wiser by your magnificent roar and become humble. Even if I become weak, I shall draw succour evoking the tenderness in you. Whatever is needed to keep me true, true to love, is what you give me. For you are the holy lion, proud and mighty, and the sweet deer, gentle as the mildest breezes of spring.
Hello my old friend. Do you remember me ? We are the oldest of friends; ancient soul mates we are, acquainted over many lifetimes past and through many lessons learned together in the school of love. So here we meet again, in this advanced spiritual training of the human experience, with the earth as our classroom. The moment is upon us to leave behind what we have once known, and to open up to the great mystery of life again. Our souls leapt from the divine oneness through the river of forgetfulness and now dive into a body and a life. What a journey that leap begins!
Let us embark on this studious adventure together. Let us honour the tiger and the lamb within each other, the lion and the deer. I can witness in you both the raging warrior who fights with unbreakable honour, and the healer who brings together those things torn apart. Of course! For are we not all things? Are we not human and angel, animal and spirit? Are we not heaven and earth? Are we not divine? And in being divine, being all things, all things are divine.
So we are here together in the school of love; not for the soul who still adheres to p inference instead of curiosity, not for the soul who craves comfort instead of devotion to divine adventure. We must be like lovers,
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you and I, if we are to take these lessons. We must be willing to become mad with passion, crazy enough to chase the Great Beloved, even if it means forgetting who we are for a time to have the sacred delight of rediscovery, breaking some rules and looking like fools. Well what could be greater than becoming a fool for love ? That will do for us; that will do well. Let us be fools for love, together.
So shall we become study mates ? We'll recognise each other, even in all of our varied garbs, bright or sombre, wild or gentle. We^l become the most enthusiastic students in the school of love, urging each other on to ever greater feats of passion and devotion. How we shall outdo each other in grand gestures and our unwavering commitment.
This oracle brings you a special message: you are rediscovering a part of yourself that has been lost or submerged underneath more practical1 concerns. Of course, if practicality is about survival then learning to be your true self is most essential and practical! All other paths lead to death of the soul!
You are asked to bear the chaos of this rediscovery. It may be that talents from this or other lifetimes are reawakened and cause you some discomfort at first, even though they will ultimately bring joy and greater fulfilment. The discomfort may be around how those talents are best expressed, about overcoming shame, guilt, doubt or other judgments. It may even be about who you are, if you now admit your talent or other emerging personality traits. Perhaps what is being unearthed in you now is darker - your sacred rage, refusal to accept disrespect in your life, your inability to tolerate lies and deceptions. Well then, you are the lion and the deer. That is nature. There is to be both in the world. You are not becoming contradictory or hypocritical. You are becoming whole.
Tie guidance this oracle brings you is that you shall prosper most now if you are willing to unbecome what you have believed yourself to be. It was never really true anyway, that view. It was partial at best; and just a view, an identity, not a genuine reality. Some of your previous sense of self shall likely come with this transition into the fuller experience of your being, and some of that previous identity shall be shed as far too
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limiting. It just wont feel true for you anymore, if it ever did.
Any crisis or confusion this brings you shall be temporary fuel to ignite the divine fires within. They simmer into life, cooking you from within, bringing all of your flavours, spicy and sweet, bitter and sour, into perfect balance so that your being, your presence, becomes an exquisite dish served up as a divine feast. You shall become nourishment for the world, in perfect balance. Your being will hold all, for it holds all within it. It will deny nothing, and become a tonic to feed every taste, every appetite, every hunger and every deficiency. What an extraordinary sublime meal you shall be! How your presence shall nourish the world!
And it all begins with shedding the 'either' and the or* and recognising instead the 'all： With such wild permission for unconditional love you shall thrive in your beingness and feed the hungry world with a meal complete, satisfying and exquisite.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Say aloud: "Rumi, who loves me unconditionally, bear witness to my declaration now. I honour the spiritual maturity within me that bestows upon my consciousness this sacred task. I have accepted the fundamental goodness of my being, and can now cast aside all notions held of myself and enquire into my wholeness. What nestles alongside this goodness ? All, of course. I am unafraid. I honour my heart, and it is big enough to hold all my nature within its graceful light. I witness my darkness with compassion and I become able to dance with all of my being 一 light and dark - in graceful acknowledgement of my divine wholeness. The gentle acceptance of all of me now brings me peace. This acceptance allows the Divine to live fully through me as a vessel for the great mysterious plan unfolding upon the earth. With reverence, grace and surrender, so be it."
Sit quietly for a few moments and gaze at the image upon the card. Notice the colours, the interplay of light and dark that create the one beautiful image. This represents you - all light and all dark would have no art at all remaining, only extremes. It is in the interplay of light and dark that enables the living art in progress 一 your soul 一 to come most
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fully to life.
When you are ready, simply say thank you. You have completed your ritual.
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23. STAR MOTH ER ARRAKIS
Be the king who has made his own kingdom.
Be the moon that has made her own summit.
How much longer willyou coo coo like a pigeon?
Empty your head of all mortal lusts, and become life without breath.
You will not call out far God anymore, for you have become immersed in God.
-RUMI
Your star mother, Arrakis, dances with your soul on the celestial inner planes. She dances in the embrace of Father Sky, shining white and pale, deep in devotion to the light behind all that is. Arrakis, Dancing Star of the Heavens, incites our souls to feel the rhythm of life and surrender to it in flow, in grace, stumbling and in play. Like a child tuho thinks not of the "right steps but just moves with music and with joy, she reminds you
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to dance freely and from your heart. She reminds you that your soul is constantly dancing with the Divine. What better way to connect with the joy and beauty of your soul than to mimic its movements^ So dance, beloved. Let your being dance. Oh Arrakis! Your bright beauty penetrates even the darkest of minds to remember, remember, remember.
She calls out; her voice is music to our hearts. aYou are a child of heaven. You are born of such regal stuff, dear dancing child of the stars. When you suffer, I send you my cornfbrt as starsfallingfrom the sky. When you triumph, my dance becomes wild, and light erupts from my heart in all directions. The light becomes music, stirring within you with an urge - almost inexplicable and yet so very deep and real 一 to make music, to create art, to dance, to play, to be at one with thejoyficl creative energy that dwells within you^ beloveds
Star child, earth angel, divine creature - your Star Mother keeps an eye on all the wild games happening in the sacred playground of the earth. She will care for you, righteous and true, shining divine justice and protection. No bully shall prevail over you. No bully from within you shall prevail either! No lies, deceit or injustice shall temper your wild truths. Be demanding in claiming her love for you. Learn how to love yourself as she loves you 一 with wild, unconditional, passionate regard! Be like the child wailing for its mother, “Ma! Ma! Ma! Come close!w
Then she descends! Like a torrential downpour of devotional light, a tsunami of affection is unleashed. A rampaging cosmic tigress hurtles towards you, her claws gripping the fabric of the skies as she rushes to protect her beloved cub. She will fight for you against the forces that would dull you and dumb you down, obscure your brilliance and stultify your free form dance into strict, choreographed movements. She will pour her luminous essence into every crevice of your demanding soul. Nothing can resist her light. All shall be washed and revived in the outpouring of her luminous love. Then, sated and content, you are the child so secure in the love of the mother, you trust in life implicitly and in what is brought to your door. You do not succumb to untruths. You
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do not resist because you are safe, held in the love of the mother. You have no need to resist. What is there to resist? Nothing! There is only the loving truth in your world and all is ar peace in your heart.
And should there be cause to stand up and fight - for love, for freedom, for light, for her truths of unconditional life, respected and honoured - well, you shall be particularly equipped for success. When there is that war to fight, you shall be the warrior who defends the motherland, absolute in your devotion to her ways and empowered through her vast, indefatigable, triumphant power.
And shall you bludgeon your way with brute force and fear? Of course not.
So here is your guidance. Lay down your old weapons for new technology awaits you! It is the most magnificent of forces, that of divine alignment, of surrender to the Star Mother and her way of luminous potency. From her great vantage point, the vastest problems of our earthly mindsets are merely in need of a quick whipping by the tail of a comet, and this she easily achieves by flicking a strand of her hair or poking out her tongue. In the hands of a greater being, even your deepest trials will succumb to divine victory. Your ability to take the journey will be strengthened, and your success only a matter of the passing of time. Can you give yourself this gift, this blessing of the love, power and protection of your star heritage ? We all descend from the stars, but some of us are asked to remember to acknowledge the divine parentage from which we come, and to allow the innate divine dignity within to restore us to faith in the path here on earth.
No matter how dark life on earth may seem at times, when we remember our holy heritage we can also realise, “Ah yes, I am blessed, held as one with the mother who shall not be deterred from great holy purpose. I shall prevail! I forgot that and feared, but now I remember and am determined once more." Then you shall feel joy and be inclined to dance, to sing, to make your art, and to live fearlessly once again.
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SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Open your hands up above your head and say:4< Through unconditional love and divine mercy, through the blessings of the ancient master and sages, including Brother Rumi, who loves without condition, I call upon the blessings of the stars, the remembrance of my divine heritage and the gift of spiritual success. I call upon the assurance of my souls triumph and the luminous embrace of the Holy Mother. I honour my souls need for art and for expression, and for creativity now, from a pure and loving place within me. So be it!"
You have finished your sacred honouring ritual.
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24. RESPLENDENT WITH GRACE
Greetings from my heart to you who a.re always with me, hidden inside as the heart.
You are the compass of my life.
My course is your way, no matter where Igo.
You exist everywhere and in everything always watching over us.
My soul brightens in the darkness when I speak your name.
Far beyond the body, there is an opening仍om my heart into yours.
Through that opening,
I send you secret messages like the moonlight.
I polish the mirror ofmy heart
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to be your reflection.
I make my ea.r the receiver for the tenderness of your words.
You are in the ear.
You are in the mind.
You are in every burning heart. IVhat am I saying? You are 7： This is my way to describe you!
-RUMI
Your divine grace clothes me in robes of sky blue and blood red. As a shimmering galaxy of compassion within the field of which no being is excluded, the darkness ofnight is illuminated^ and all creatures are bathed in thefine, golden hue of your presence. There is only beauty beheld now, for there is nothing that is not of your artistry, of your divine hand, generous with its grace.
Is it difficult to see your magnificence ? Without a mirror the size of a galaxy, how could you possibly witness all that you are ? You must just catch glimpses of your truth now and then. Oh, if you could see yourself as I see you in all your glorious fullness of being! You are swathed in robes of grace, so light and freeing that they do not weigh you down, and yet so luscious and full that you cannot help but stir the movement of all of creation as you step this way and that.
Of course it matters not to grace whether you see or do not see, for grace simply is, without witnessing being required. Yet you might live rather differently, my beloved, should you realise you are not only worthy of grace, but actually dripping with it, saturated with divine presence so rich it leaks out of you and causes sunlight to pool at your holy feet. Oh yes, you are resplendent in holiness and sanctity. Should you come to know this as I do, you would take each step with awe and reverence. You
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would decide that not a thing in your world could be classed as mundane, and decide, with bold fervour, that you are living in godliness and must create your world through choices that honour love.
No fear, even the most stubbornly persistent, would be able to withstand the sight of your magnificent beating heart, so wild with life. In the sight of that wild heart, you would have to call all your fears close to you, soothing them with your words of love like riled children in need of tenderness and quiet. Then, when rested, you would wake them from their slumber, and they would arise as falcons, ready to soar to the height of your most daring visions. Hunting for life to feed them, they will ensure the ample grace pulsing within your heart has its chance to come to life in the world and serve love.
This oracle comes to you with a message. You may be wondering if you can attain this next stage of growth in your life. You are already well- equipped to do so, no matter what you might believe about the situation, circumstances, or others involved, even yourself You have within your soul possession more than enough grace to see you through anything you are bold enough to envision for yourself or for any vision you feel life has bestowed upon you. So pray, through unconditional love to access all that you are, to be supported by those beings that love you without condition. Pray to realise that you are so drenched in sacred grace that the well of your being is full. All that is needed to nurture you onto the next step of your life path is within you now. Success is yours, but you must believe in your ability, your readiness and your capacity, to take this next phase of the journey now. How could it be otherwise, for you are one with grace.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place your hands on your heart. Visualise, sense, intend or feel that you are being bathed in a golden light. It may rise up from the earth or descend from above you, but all around you is golden light. It is before you, behind you, on either side of you, above you and below you, creating a field of golden energy all around you.
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It may be soft or it may crackle, with electricity. Just be with it, whatever it is, whether you can feel it clearly, or not seem to be able to imagine anything at all. No matter what appears to happen or not happen, it is just perfect for you at this time.
When you have passed several moments connecting with this golden light, finish your honouring ritual with this prayer.
Say aloud: "Rumi, brother of my soul who loves me without condition, bless me with the confidence, trust and wisdom I need to take my next steps, and to accept the grace already bestowed upon me in abundance, that will continue to be so given as I grow. May I believe in myself just as you believe in me! Through mercy and unconditional love, so be it."
Bow your head to your hands in prayer position. You have finished your honouring ritual.
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25. BEYOND THE THRESHOLD OF FEAR
Enter the lionsjungle!
Dont think about getting hurt!
Fearful thoughts are phantoms of the mind!
No one is harmed in this jungle.
Everything is compassion and love.
It isyourfear holdingyou back, like a bar behind the door.
-RUMI
How I celebrate for you. After so long away from home, you are finally returning! Beyond the threshold of fear, you dispense with your doubts, hesitations, cautions and tentativeness. They are oldjriends with whom you no longer have anything in common.
“Goodbye oldjriends, I wish you well^you say, whilst turning your face to the burgeoning light of a new and yet ancient world. You are visiting
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as though for the first time and yet, somehow, also remember deep in your sacred heart. Finally, we can sit together in the charming courtyard at home. We shall tell our tales of adventure and laugh, and well dance and sing. Eventually, day shall pass into night and well gaze beneath ourfeet, our mouths gaping open in awe and minds utterly blank, rendered dumb in sweet submission to beauty, as we watch the world spinning on her axis.
After so long, you are changing your relationship to fear; no more shall it hold you in its thrall. You are becoming able to observe it, to witness it, even to have compassion rather than resistance. Instead of unconsciously sabotaging your growth and choosing to slumber in darkness, you awaken and delight in the light and sound of your divine being.
Push and pull, one step forward and a half step back. So it has been for so long, and you have endured. Yes, you are winning the race, brave one, and fear is left to fizzle out. It was always a far less beautiful firework than your passionate conviction for love anyway. Better to let that dazzling firework come to light instead - much more satisfying.
Oh, what a spiritual marathon you have been running! Now the end is in sight. You are drinking the sacred waters to replenish you from your journey. The cups are pushed into your hands by encouraging angels as you approach that blessed sash marking the finish line. Your body and soul are on this journey together and now they are ready for victory, and yes, to rest and recover from the effort. Rest now before a new adventure begins from a completely different state of being.
This oracle comes with spiritual guidance for you. You have broken through a barrier, a self-imposed barrier of fear (whether it seemed to originate from within your consciousness or from an external set of circumstances) that held you back from taking the steps you are now taking, or just about to take. These steps may feel strange, new, uncertain and exciting. Your mind might not have received the memo that fear¬based existence is no longer in operation for you. It may need a loving, tender, reassuring and firm update that the relationship you have with fear is now rather different. You are the witness, not the victim. Your
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consciousness is strong enough to hold it in compassion. You don't collapse under its weight; in fact, it is becoming less and less substantial for you. When it is there, it seems less convincing than what it once appeared to be, compelling still at times perhaps, but not anywhere near as powerful as it once was. That power has been claimed by your heart instead.
So give your mind the memo! Get used to the new way and take steps. lest your legs 一 youll find them powerful and ready. Get set to fly! Test your wings 一 trust is one, daring is the other. Youll find them enthusiastic for flight and ready to learn to ride the currents, purpose- built for soaring to great heights. Trust in your vision - without the murky filter of fear it is sharp and clear. You can see what is meant for you, what is true for you, what is beckoning you forward now. Take the running leap. There is no darkness and light for you anymore - just life, living, free and clear. I'll be running and flying beside you. We^l soar and dive and rise, together. Lets play!
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place your hands at your belly and say aloud: "With the aid of Rumi, who loves me without condition, and the loving grace of Mother Earth, I lay down all old fear that no longer serves my great soul purpose. I release it now with complete forgiveness, acceptance and gratitude. Be at peace old fear. Thank you for your teachings. Return to the Earth Mother now, I no longer bind you to me."
Slowly and purposefully, move your hands from your belly towards the earth as if taking the fear from your body and dropping it with reverence into the receiving earth at your feet. Repeat that movement three times, or for however long feels necessary. You may also like to repeat that movement with your hands, moving from your heart down towards the earth, and then from your head sweeping gently down to the earth.
When you are ready say: aThrough the grace of Rumi, fear is replaced with wisdom. I am gently, powerfully restored to my inherent
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divine radiance, ready to live my life with love filled with trust, patience, boldness and tender affection. So be it."
You have finished your honouring ritual.
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26. AL-UZZA STAR OF VENUS
lam the pure Lights my son.
lam not a handful of worthless dust.
lam not just an empty shell.
lam a, regalpearlfarmed in this world!
Close your eyes to see and become aware of e.
Perceive me with eyes that see the unseen.
Come into the mystery to find me.
lam a carefree visitor hereforyou.
-RUMI
My beautiful one, born of pure radiance, you have love in your heart and a
passion for play that cannot be dulled by bleakness, boredom or fear. Your
Though the ways of this world seem strange to you at times, you eventually declare it to be nothing but strange beauty, and expand your heart, resisting nothing, to allow all to be bathed in the radiance of your being. You are here
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to share the light of another world, a blessed world of consciousness pure, and divinity so absolute that it transcends duality and instead, brings all into the oneness ofthe greatest love.
The Star of Venus is the great androgyne; neither solely masculine nor feminine, but an integration ofboth. The power it bestows is mighty and based utterly in love. When this star seeks us out, multiple blessings are bestowed, and our spiritual growth can be accelerated in ways that may be quite dazzling and surprising to our more limited mindset and belief systems.
With great blessings, great growth is possible. However, the blessings dont do the growth for us making it magically happen. They give us the oomph we need, the power, and the opportunities and assistance we need, yet it is still we who take the journey. The great spiritual journey for old souls at this time in earths history is the journey from duality to oneness. Many are signing up for that wild, loving adventure. This oracle has come to you as a reminder that you, too, have been granted a ticket for that journey. This journey of oneness is not about denying duality, but about experiencing it as an expression of one love. It is about no longer being enslaved by it. It is about avoiding what is not wanted in order to pursue what is wanted. It is about embracing the all, of finding the freedom and joy originally sought, but now through a path that takes you into joy and freedom existing within.
To take the great transformation from man or woman into cosmic androgyne does not require that we lose our sense of femininity or masculinity. Rather, they become so superior in development that they cease to be distinguished from each other! Our masculine clarity, with its discernment, practicality and application, becomes so tender, loving, compassionate and tempered with grace, that the feminine is integrated with it. Our feminine nurturance, dedication and connection to life become so fierce that discernment and wise action naturally prevail.
With this great androgynous integration of the masculine and feminine into oneness, men and women of this beautiful earth become
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capable of a new consciousness. It is of one based in love, of service to life, of letting go of judgment, stereotypes and limited belief systems, and of opening up to compassion for all life. As the consciousness is anchored, spiritual growth becomes rapid. This is not necessarily without some bumps and bruises. Letting go of old notions of what it is to be a man, or a woman, to be masculine or feminine; letting go of fear of women or men, of emasculation or victimisation; letting go of wounding are all great steps forward! They promise liberation, empowerment and compassion, as well as peace and happiness, yet they are not easy steps to take. Great resistance can be evoked within you as an individual, and also within the culture around you which might find your notion of personal spiritual empowerment confronting and challenging to their culture of fear-based enslavement of the soul. (They will be right about it being confronting, but mistaken in assuming that confrontation is something best resisted!)
So then, what to do ? Al-Uzza, the ancient shining one, also known as the Star ofVenus, holds much power and strength. Even a small blessing of her light is more powerful than the fear of thousands if not millions of people. She is known as a worthy ally in battle of any kind - even spiritual battle. You must, however, stay aligned with her way which is not to fight fear with fear, hate with hate, or anger with anger.
Does this mean you should not' feel fear, hate or anger? Of course not! Venus denies no experience. So let yourself feel whatever you feel. The guidance is not to stop being human. Take the next step into the divine human, into allowing the star blessing to nestle in your heart so you can shift as you feel the feelings, holding them with compassion, then choosing your own truths that resonate at a far more refined vibration.
The rebellious passion of the Star of Venus is that she seeks out whomever is ready to know more fully the truth of divine oneness. Whether the culture around them can acknowledge one of 'their own, becoming more enlightened as a blessing or not, it is a divine gift nevertheless. How liberating it shall feel to be truly empowered to live life as you feel is truthful, and to feel completely empowered to allow others
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to do the same, with joy in your heart. You understand that everyone is walking an unfolding path, and that we dont have to understand or justify the path of another to feel peace in our own hearts.
If you are stumbling with judgment within yourself do not fear. The blessing of Venus is coming to you to help you surrender it, to help you find your way through so that you can be free now.
Your guidance then is to trust your path, trust your evolution, even in the face of those around you reacting to it possibly in fear or discomfort. Trust in the paths of others too. For in truth, there is one path and we are all on it! You do not have to convince anyone of anything； that is not your job. Your job is to embrace your wisdom, embrace your freedom and empowerment to grow spiritually and live your life accordingly. You are becoming, through bestowal of grace, something more of a goddess and a god, of a human and a sacred animal, integrated as one. This is sacred alchemy, amplified in the star fires of Venus who loves you as a brother/sister and honours your soul with her blessing. Shine true, beloved, shine bright.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Say aloud: "I call upon Rumi, who loves me without condition. Beloved of my own soul, bless me now that I can dispense with limiting notions of what it is to be a man or a woman, that I can become freer to live as one integrated being. May my relationships become richer and freer, empowered and healing. Al-Uzza, shining one who loves me beyond any condition, may I live truthfully in the light of you, great Star of Venus, in your infinite wisdom, love and conscious grace. Through divine mercy and unconditional love, this healing is now begun."
Place your hands at your heart in prayer position and bow your head for however long feels right for you. When you are ready, just say thank you, and you have completed your sacred honouring ritual.
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27. THE ANGEL RAZBAR
fiTell me the truths I asked love, aWhat areyou?n
“I am the everlasting life!" love said, aI am the recurringjoy of living!"
-RUMI
The master speaks of a. den of riches, where many precious jewels can be found. In abundance they lie, patient andyet ready to be claimed.
“Go, scoop them upsurges the master. The devoted ones look but cannot see.
"Where are these precious jewels^ they cry, afor we cannot find them anywhere!，,
The master gazes lovingly at the devoted ones and responds kindly, uIn service^ my beloveds, you shallfind the jewels through service. For what is the soul but thefinest and most precious ofheavenly jewels? What is service but the scooping up of the soul that it does not lie lost, nor unclaimed, but instead honoured for all its precious worth and beauty, tended to until it
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becomes vibrant as a flawless ruby, radiant with thejoy of living
Divine contribution is offered to those who wish to contribute to the world. The Great Beloved sees what is in your heart, what it is you wish to offer, and is saying, uYesln
So, you are being empowered to serve, to assist, to offer a genuine spiritual contribution to this planet, to become a sacred hand at work for the will of heaven. Such is the capacity bestowed upon the soul that is wise and filled with love and therefore desiring to serve. So then, do not doubt yourself beloved. You have been blessed with this by the master to find the precious jewel of your own soul and claim it! Cast aside your doubts then.
Yet perhaps this is not easy for you to do. Perhaps you look at the world, even your chosen field of endeavour, and already you hear so many voices speaking. You may wonder if your own contribution would simply add noise to a cacophony. You may wonder if you can really help, if you have anything genuine to add, or if there is just too much noise anyway! You may hesitate and become fearful. Do not despair, my beloved. It is part of your divine destiny to add something of great value to the world, something that has its place even amongst all that activity, something needed absolutely in the hearts of all.
That precious gift: is the true silence. The true silence is peace. It is the living experience of the eternal love of the Divine that asks nothing but to be received and gives of itself unconditionally. That silence is present underneath even the most raucous noise, if one knows how to access it. The true silence can only be felt through the beautiful, feeling heart. When you know how to feel for it, to surrender into it, you can transmit silence in many ways: through the peace you cultivate in your heart in your own daily living, through your presence, through your art, even through your voice written, sung or spoken. Yes, even through sound if that is your path of service. Silence can emanate through your voice, and divine silence can be felt in the hearts of others. The true and great silence 一 as you may now realise my dear angel 一 is not the absence of
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sound, it is the experience of the divine presence of love.
So, shall you trust in the wisdom of the master who bids you to serve, to serve according to the graces you have been given? Will you choose to put aside your doubts, and instead believe in yourself and the power of divine love that will reach out to the world through your willing soul? Ah yes, I knew your brave heart would accept this empowerment. I knew you wanted to serve more than you wanted to fear.
Whatever is in your heart is the method by which the great jewels shall be collected. The master teaches us that we are built to serve according to a higher perfection. So if to dance is in your heart, then dance. Be open and free; do not hide 一 dance. If prayer is in your heart, then pray. If you can feed the poor with food, if you can give the despairing kindness, the lost your words, and those who have turned away from the Great Master a healing touch, then do so. Do so without doubt, without having to be the best or the greatest, or any other notion your mind conjures 一 just be willing. Willingness, not perfection, is required from you, so then there is room for freedom to awaken in you. Willingness opens you to divine assistance and, through that empowerment, an even greater joy of being will grow within your sacred heart. Your service can flow from simply being yourself in the world, completely and utterly. Your radiance can become one of the sacred candles of the Holy Master. There are many candles that hold the masters light, and yet each one of them is precious beyond compare. Be such a light.
Scoop up the jewels through your service, and do not render yourself incapable through nightmares of false imaginings and smallness of mind. Yes, your heart is too big for your mind and it will break it open, but that is okay. Do you think you only serve love and are not also served by love? The helpers are always helped; this is loves way. Do you feel as though you are a foreigner in this land? Ah, Angel Razbar shall show you the way then, for she knows you from a long, long time ago, though you might have temporarily forgotten the acquaintance. She is a great hostess and guide in this terrain of divine love and she remembers you; you, who are great of heart and capable of contribution； you, who are
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now signing up for service in the great work of love. Yes, there is work for you to do. Your purpose is bestowed. Serve, assist 一 do not hold back for any reason. Not one reason you could imagine is worthy of you. So then, aliveness; so then, service; so then, joy. Help and be helped - that is the way for you now.
This oracle comes to you with guidance. You are being guided deeper into your life purpose and divine destiny. Like a maturing adult who is ready to take on the mantle of a greater responsibility, your soul is stepping up. Tbu are going through a process of assuming more spiritual responsibility for the honest and empowered expression of your own essence, and through that, your healing presence in the world is increasing. You are stepping up and forward on to your path. This is appropriate now. It will make you more visible, but that is as it should be. It is not about being worth more than another. It is about the utterly sensible use of a light, that it not be dampened down by a shade, but instead be placed where it can cast its fullness so that others, still in darkness, may find their way more easily. This is efficient, intelligent and sensible. Your success and growth is drenched in compassion and brings joy to the heart of the master, as another and another find their way, benefitting from the light of your being. So shine true; be humble but not dismissive of your gifts. Allow others to find their way more easily because you choose to honour the power of the great silence that emanates through you evermore as you trust and surrender.
This oracle brings special messages of reassurance that you are making progress and are indeed on the right path. Although it may not unfold exactly as you anticipate, it will indeed unfold! You are making a positive impact in the world 一 more than you consciously realise 一 and you are asked therefore to continue. Do not give up. Do not turn back, just continue. Take your steps, your journey, and know that the Great Master is aware of you, and is sending the holy ones, including that wise ancient mother, Angel Razbar, to bring you the blessing of the true silence, now. Let it clear and soothe your mind and heart, and help you remember the peace that dwells within you. All is well.
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SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Say aloud: "I am blessed to serve the great, all-loving silence through the presence of divine joy, grace and radiant compassion, through the master that loves me without condition, and the blessed assistance of Angel Razbar who loves me unconditionally. I accept all help and I offer myself completely in service to life, to being, and to assist humanity in a practical way, according to the graces and talents I have been given. So be it!"
If you can comfortably place your forehead on the floor, bowing to the earth, do so.
Rest there for several moments. Then, you have finished your hon¬ouring ritual.
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28. ENTERTHE GARDEN OF DELIGHTS
Are you aware that sweetness isfound everywhere in town?
Are you. aware that winter is gone and spring has come around?
Are you aware that sweet basil and the carnation are whispering in the garden and laughing about how simply everything is und?
Are you aware the nightingale
has come back from its t singing out messages of love
to spread delight with every sound?
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Everything in the garden is granted the right from the Divine Court to appear for our delight.
Everything is here to make the earth green and alive as a haven far our life.
What remains buried in the soil will always endeavor to reach out. No one truly alive can ever be pawned to a prison or a tomb.
-RUMI
There is a sweet spot when entering the Garden of Delights, a moment where the senses have gorged themselves upon beauty and become heavy with their fullness, slowing the mind so that it can perceive the Divine Beloved dancing behind the veils of nature. But first comes the sensual feasting! Blooming orchids arrest the gaze with their startling and strange beauty. Nectar jrom the ripest fruits of the garden drips, luscious and sweet, upon a savouring tongue. Hungry for gossip, the ears shamelessly eavesdrop upon the birds in melodic conversation. They sing of greatest, most passionate love and boundless living joy! The ears open wide to take it all in. The craving for touch is sated by rough-textured bark falling from the ancient trees, soft dewy grasses, cool in the shade, the crunching leaves making their sounds under the hot sun and dancing feet, and the caress of that sunlight upon bare shoulders, with weight of its own like a silken wrap placed, just so, by a caring lovers hand. The breeze, the very breath of the beloved Earth Mother, is sweet ivith scent of lavender and jasmine warmed by the Sun Father.
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Oh drink it in until your arms raise themselves to heaven, your head tilts, eyes rolling back in your head, and your sacred animal body is mindless and in love. The Garden of Delights. Narcotic in effect. Lulling the senses from tension into sacred languor that love may be experienced. Let us rest here, in the midst ofso much life. Where the goodness of life is felt and the heart isfreefrom any prison of pain or doubt. Come, be in the garden with me now. Let us befree and feast to our heart's content.
You have been granted entry into sacred space, a mihrab, a sanctuary for worship. When the soul is well-acquainted with love, life becomes a temple of love 一 the sacred space in which the soul can grow powerful through expansive worship of love. You are being invited by your spiritual brother, Rumi, to enter into life, to commit to coming alive, even if at times this feels deeply challenging. Sometimes a part of you may rather stay locked in an illusion of security for a time, perhaps expressed through the preference for what is known over what is unknown, what is familiar and comfortable, compared to that which is unfamiliar or uncomfortable. Tb tussle with the parts of us that would deny aliveness is a natural part of growth. It can seem so risky, with such potential for heartache, and yet what could be more heart-wrenching than the slow death of a precious human soul, suffocated by fear and inertia? That is the greatest risk, of never really and fully being born into this world of wonders.
So Rumi is your midwife, there to ensure full spiritual birth. He is standing at the threshold with you now. You are being asked to cross this threshold from the life you have been living into the aliveness that is flickering and glowing at your feet. It is loves wild, hot embers at your sacred feet. They will erupt at any moment into a holy inferno, taking hold of you and igniting you from within, transforming you into living fire.
Tb come alive requires shedding of so much adherence to the fear of death. The great brother whispers wisdom into your heart. You have heard it, felt it, already. The fear of death is so much more terrible than
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death itself Nothing is dying in you but fear so the heart can live more freely. Death and Life are twin angels, dancing together in communion with the sacred. They are not opposed, they bring the soul aliveness and make the Garden of Delights possible. They bring the seasons of the soul that foster growth, and take the appearance of dying away which is actually part of the cycle of life, again and again and again.
You have been through much death, dear one - around you, within you. You have known this dark angel. That is why you are so full of life. Your attempts to stay as you have been 一 to render something in your life immobile or impervious to change - have failed. Let us celebrate! There is no delight in frozen moments long since past. Why try to feast upon such food? It will not nourish you anywhere near as deeply and fully as fresh-from-the-oven morsels of life. Come let us taste all that is on offer. Well drink headily and sate our deepest thirst. Let us enjoy the richness of the meal in gratitude for its preparation, and awe at the skill involved in such masterful creation. Do not let the memory of death starve you of your participation in life. Do you hold on still to that which is past? I will soothe you with a loving touch upon your back, and yet gently, I will turn your head to the right and urge you to see the rising sun. Your life is blessed, you see. I want you to know this now. I want you to accept this now. Let those horrors of the past be gone. They are no more than phantoms. The garden is here now, to be touched, tasted, seen, heard, felt, inhaled 一 and loved.
This oracle comes to you with a message. A new day is dawning for you. This is a time when the past will very soon cease to have any hold over you. Celebration is imminent! You are invited into the golden light of divine plenty. Put your worries behind you now and step into your divine inheritance, where all is sorted according to kindness and grace.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Say aloud: "I accept the gift of golden grace and healing now, to leave behind all prisons and tombs 一 conscious and unconscious - of heart and of mind. I open up to life and assistance through unconditional love,
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in being present to the miraculous beauty that seeks to live through me, as me, and in benefit to all humanity now. I know myself to be worthy of this grace, to be this grace. So be it."
Place your hands gently on your heart and rest for however long feels good. When you are finished, you have completed your ritual.
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29. THE RIGHT CHOICE
Stay close to those who know about the heart. Choose the shade of a tree that is in constant bloom.
Dont meander aimlessly among the herb sellers and potion venders. Go directly to the shop that sells nothing but sweets!
Dont sit waiting by every boiling pot to haveyourplatefilled!
Not every boiling pot is cooking what you want.
Not every sugar cane is filled with sugar.
Not every down has an up.
Not every eye has vision. Not every sea contains pearls.
-RUMI
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Within you, I recognise my most trusted friend. Ah, we go back a long way to before that moment when time began. We knew each other then, even before time was born.
So I say, uHello my old and dearfriend, so lovely for us to meet again!" And Ifeel howyour heart responds with a wave of love, for it is that love that is you, my most trusted friend.
On the path of love there is not so much wrong and right in the moral sense, so much as what is wrong or right for you. The mind cannot help so much here. Only the heart can speak such truths. The mind may reject it, recoil, analyse and find all the reasons why the simple truth - the right choice of the heart - cannot possibly work and only lead to pain. That is what the mind does rather well, actually. But it doesnt mean the right choice 一 the heart choice - becomes incorrect. It means rather, that the heart has outsmarted the mind, and the mind will need to bow to the heart, even without understanding its sometimes impenetrable mysteries. Or one can choose to stay in inner conflict, fighting against the right choice, but eventually love will prevail and the way forward must be taken.
So can you give up what you have planned, believed or decided. Let the heart wisdom, that silently and constantly broadcasts its pure and true intention into the fertile womb of the universe, lead the way instead. It will lead you along the right path, to the right house where sits the right master for you. He grabs you in a bear hug and gently whispers into your ear, “What took you so long ? I've been waiting for you since the day you were born. Now we are together, it is time for us to play!"
It is said that one mans meat is another mans poison. Tb base your choices on what others have chosen for themselves may end up killing you. Better to take your risks on the angel of your own heart, wise as that being is, and dance to your own heart rhythm instead. There may be fear if others seem to be dancing different steps; but beloved, you know that is just because every heart has its own unique rhythm, and yours doesnt want to waltz, so much as to tango. So why not allow it to be thus
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without fear or doubt ?
This oracle comes with a message for you. In your heart you know what holds meaning for you. You may or may not have a grand vision to go along with that meaning as yet, but deep within, you know what is without value and what holds value 一 for you. You were born with those values intact, in your heart, and whatever confusion has arisen for you along the way is just where the values of others have transfused into your own blood. It is time for a transfusion of holy light into that blood, to be cleansed and purified, restored to its integrity and filled with passion for what is rightfully yours 一 your unique passion and purpose.
If you have been concerned about your path and what steps to take next, this oracle comes as an omen of good things headed your way: clarity, reassurance, truth and revelation. Dont hold onto a belief system or vision if it appears to be tossed on its head. Let things go the way they will and good fortune will prevail for you. That vision might actually have been upside down all this time, and suddenly able to right itself and be born for you if allowed to topple. Or perhaps there is a more fulfilling version of your vision lurking in its remnants, to be scooped up by your soul with its hawk-vision and eagle-deftness. Trust that if you are being drawn away from a tantalising sweet shop, there is a more delicious array of confection just around the corner for you. So yes, have your tantrum if you must, but you will be sheepish soon when you realise the hand of the Great Beloved that removes is the same hand that bestows even greater gifts.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Turn the palms of your hands down towards the earth.
Say aloud: "With gratitude and trust, I release that which is not rightfully mine.”
Open your hands upwards towards the sky.
Say aloud: "I give thanks for the grace that is bestowed upon me now as I accept my rightful divine inheritance."
Stand with your hands in prayer at your heart and say aloud: “I
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honour my heart wisdom. May my heart always be my leading light, showing me the way of grace. So be it."
You have completed your honouring ritual.
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30. WHIRLING GODDESS
Lose your head!
Not a single thread that has a. head can go through the eye of the needle.
-RUMI
Come, my love, are you dizzy yet? If you can still find yourfeet then that is okay with me, but if you can stillfindyour head then I will take issue! There is a great dance, but it cannot be danced with choreographed steps. No, this great dance demands a response rather than an initiation, a reaction rather than a direction. So let us dissemble and lose our heads to the great music, the rhythm held steady in our beating hearts. Our feet shall be moving whilst our minds, inadequate to the task, take the night off
There is somewhere you are meant to be. It is here, now, in this moment. There is a gift right under your nose, and fragrant wine in your glass, gleaming red as the most precious rubies. To be here, now, you must pass through the keyhole. But your head will tell you this is not possible
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unless the door is unlocked, even though your body is passing through the keyhole of that locked door into the endless world beyond. Leave your mind to be in its struggles for a moment. Without you laying witness to it, your mind will become like the dog howling for his masters return, even as he steps out the front door. Frustrated temporarily, he will chew on some shoes, then fall asleep peacefully until his master returns. So leave your mind trusting, chewing a little, until you are truly through the keyhole when it can rest. Leave it be; instead, come dance with me.
This oracle brings you a message. You are at the point of growth where your mind can hold you back rather than urge you forward. If you have, like so many, used your mind to support you, to sure up your sense of self in the world and to gain a sense of certainty about how the world works, then this is no easy leap! It will seem as though you are being asked to pass through the keyhole. Of course, your mind will stop and argue for all the reasons why the door should be opened instead of remaining closed, making the task seem so much harder than it needs to be, but this is the mind in resistance. Dont place too much stock in the claims that life should be other than it is. You are being asked to dance, rather than understand, to lay the thoughts to rest and to come alive. It is the bravest, most trusting soul that dares put the mind to one side and say, aTonight we dance, my heart and I, in the great rousing music of the beloveds beating heart 一 and I will not miss one step." And to awaken the next day and do that all over again - and again, and again.
You are ready, you see, sweet soul dancer. You are ready to live beyond what you know, to have it not matter if you dont understand how life can work itself out, or how it could be that someone so normal and ordinary as you and I could also be so magnificent, wild and divine. The need for answers and plans, assurances and explanations, is passing out of your world now. You are not to wait for permission, for explanation, or even for another dance partner, for I am already inviting you on to the great dance floor. You are to let go of any stigma around not knowing. When someone asks you what you are going to do next, or how you are going to manage, you are given this divine mandate - with relish, reveal
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the truth: "I do not know!”
Know nothing and dance sweet soul, for all will unveil itself to you in perfect harmony and timing. Your heart shall create the steps in response to the music of the spheres, happening now, alive and spontaneous, and free.
This oracle brings you a special message. If there is an issue, apparently unsolvable or unknowable, in your life now, the Divine is handling it. The Divine is in the middle of it, working through the knot and unravelling it. Fear not; do the sacred ritual, and give yourself permission to take the night off from worry. Repeat this heavenly prescription daily, as needed.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Say aloud: "I give my heart permission to lead this dance. I give my mind some time off - no more worry or doubt, planning or resisting. Instead, I surrender. Instead, I open. Instead, I allow, I allow, I allow. And all unfolds with perfection, divine timing and the miracle of grace. With Rumi as my soul witness, so be it."
You have completed your honouring ritual.
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31. COMMITMENT
The awakened heart is like a lantern.
Keep it sheltered jrom the turbulence ofthe winds ofdesire.
-RUMI
We are candles, lit by the one great flame. The breath of life does not extinguish us; on the contrary, it only serves our flame to blaze brighter. Here, in the temple ofone love, there is no flickering or smoke to ourflame. We are natural in our purpose, simply to bring the warmth and light of Iove to life. We dance, though we are stillness. We are on fire, though we do not burn.
There is a flame that must be safeguarded. In truth, it can never be extinguished. It is the light that never goes out. Even with such enduring power, our recognition and respect of this flame is essential to human development. This flame is holy and lies within each human heart.
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When the flame is recognised for its worth, it ceases to flicker and smoke becoming very still. In the stillness, the light can fulfil its destiny to shine brightly so as to reveal every path, absolutely clear and without wavering in the fluctuations of fear and attachment.
Desire does not have to be a hindrance on the path. It can show us our passions and help us find our purpose. However, the attachment that can come with desire, the belief that it can be sated only with one particular person, one set of circumstances, can cause us to stop looking at what the light is revealing to us - the way forward on our path in the here and now - and instead try to forcibly conjure the shadows to become what we imagine they should be.
When we stop seeing life as it is, showing up for us every moment and engaging with it as it is, we can become careless with the light of the heart. Our huffing and puffing to force what does not need to be forced can cause the heart light to flicker and waver. This can make our way seem uncertain, and doubts can crowd in upon us as the light is compromised in its purpose. We forget to trust in what is because we get caught up in attachment and fear surrounding our desires. Rather than letting life move us, we try to move life.
There is a way forward on your life path that needs to be seen by you now. It will be helpful for you to have that clarity and that certainty. You might have already caught a glimpse of it but be doubting your vision or yourself This oracle comes as a reminder to you - don't doubt! What you are feeling, deep within the passionate love of your heart light, is true. It is real. You are being led into it by the progress of life itself You must trust in this, even if it seems at times as though you are being led away from the vision.
Life operates according to a genius that is beyond a linear approach. It is to be trusted rather than understood. There is enough challenge in the personal transformation being asked of you to simply take the steps. That is more than enough! You do not have to also create or control the terrain, nor determine the map for the journey. You simply need to take each step that presents itself to you in each moment.
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Don't let fear that your desire won't manifest cause you to try to bend life to your will. It is an unnecessary battle, and one that will not serve your soul here. Instead, just show up; be present. Attend to what is before you in each moment, and trust yourself Let the light of your heart take you into serenity that will bring you the balm of a solid core of comfort, even whilst the world shifts and changes according to the workings of divine will. As you move along your life j ourney, step by step, that divine will is moving you too, shining one, into fulfilment of your destiny. Life is not working at cross purposes with you - far from it! It is a co-conspirator with your heart. Come back to the stillness of the love within and know your heart light to be what it is - reliable and true - showing you the way even now, in peace and stillness.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
If you can light a candle, please do so. If that is not practical, simply visualise or imagine a flame in your minds eye. If you cannot do that easily, then simply say: "I call upon the sacred flame of divine love now."
Then say aloud: "The light of my heart does not waver. It is fixed by the will of the Divine, and lit by the greatest flame, forever alight in the temple of one love. Rumi, who safeguards the sacred flame of love, together may we bear serene witness to the revelations of the light within, that the way always be shown pure and true, and the courage to act when needed and the patience to best serve love is found within our hearts. So be it.”
You have finished your sacred honouring ritual. If you did light a candle, you may like to leave it burning for a time (under supervision), or simply, with reverence, extinguish it.
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3? SACRIO WWt SiibillNk:
32. SHE OFFERS THE SACRED WINE, SO DRINK!
0 wine giver ofenlightened hearts!
Offer me the wine of your kindness, for this is the reason you have brought me here from the desert ofoblivion!
0 beautiful wine giver!
Pour me the wine that gives me insight.
Offer me the winefrom the Sea of Love andfill my heart with pearls.
Pour it into my heart,
until I shred the veil and go beyond reason.
My spirit is consumed by judgment^ and my lift is reduced by thoughts.
Pour that precious wine
over thefrozen cries of skeptics, until their words become warm, and their nays become yeas!
-RUMI
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Will you say yes to me? 1 want to take you with me on a wild adventure! There we shall be, tripping, stumbling, falling like fools, laughing our most unconstrained laughter, as we drink the sweetest of offerings. Raucous and silly shall we be, though undoubtedly we arefrom the noblest and most royal lineage. Nonetheless, standing inside the tavern, warm and illumined by the golden hearth fires, we will hold onto each other, barely able to stand up straight, crying with so much laughter, sweet wine coursing through our blood.
Beloved, you are being offered a gift that is beyond your understanding. This gift is from the hand of the Divine Beloved, an offering to you that will lift you beyond what you have known into the next opening of your inner eye, of your heart, of your soul, so that it may caress the earth with the light of heaven.
This may sound wonderful. Indeed it is! Yet welcome though this gift may be, there is a trick to receiving it, you see. When the sweet wine is offered, you must drink, but also, be willing to become drunk! You must be willing to let go of your control. You must trust in what will happen, trust that you will be cared for, or that you may appear to be the fool. YDU must be willing to not have all the answers (or indeed any answers at all, my wise soul mate), and trust that this is according to the higher plan and not some inadequacy or error.
So will you accept the gift that is coming to you, the offering that the sacred feminine brings to you now ? It is sweet wine she offers. It shall be an enjoyable journey receiving this gift, a wearing away of resistance and restraints towards life through the sheer pleasure of aliveness without thought. Oh what a journey this is to be for you! So much that is truly wonderful and incredible, sacred and extraordinary awaits you, you who are asked to drink from the generous cup the Great Beloved is bringing towards your lips. So what if your speech becomes incoherent and you have no words to describe what you feel, or if the world around you ceases to understand you! Could any of that compare to the great bliss of being fully alive and dancing with the divine ones in dazed splendour
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at the beauty of life ? This is a party you want to attend, trust me, even though no one will be much interested in talking because they will be too busy dancing.
Everyone will envy you, though if you open your heart to invite them too, many will say, “Oh no, I have to wash my hair, and I have to sort through my accounts, and count my fingers and my toes. It will take me too long, and I simply won't be ready to attend. But YOU go, of course. You enjoy yourself whilst I am working long and hard at things so very important?
And you may hang your head and wonder if you too should stay at home to wash your hair, and tend to your accounts, and count your fingers and toes, many times over perhaps, to make sure you get it right. But then you'll hear the distant sounds of clinking glasses, of music, of stomping and dancing and laughter, and youll think a wise thought 一 so wise indeed, that you'll stop thinking immediately after thinking it! That thought will be, Forget this to-do list, I am going to have some fitn!
This oracle comes with guidance for you. Are you having fun yet ? Well you may need to wash your hair and tend to your accounts - that is fine. You may even need to count your fingers and toes. But over and over again, beloved? Surely you can find some time, in between the endless to-dos of your to-do list, to throw a tantrum and come dancing with me instead ? Your honour and commitment, discipline and focus, are certainly to be rewarded - with some uninhibited nonsense, hopefully. Come, put aside that seriousness for a moment or more, and allow the wild child in you to take your body and soul for a spin. Together, let s go and paint the town the colour of love.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
If you can have a glass with some drinkable liquid 一 water is fine, or juice, or wine if appropriate and you prefer this option - then have it ready for your ritual.
Place your hands over the filled glass and say the following: ^All things emanate from the Divine Beloved, and the Divine Beloved lives in
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all things. In this sacred nectar, I receive the gift of love from the Divine Beloved. I sip, I drink, I partake of the sacred gift offered to me now. I place my mind aside and choose instead to bear witness to what is offered now, through the gift of grace. I ask for assistance that I may remember what it is to play and to find the joy of living, the delight of my path, and the humour of life. Bless me with such grace. So be it."
Drink.
You have finished your sacred honouring ritual - unless you feel like dancing around your lounge room, after which, you shall have then completed your sacred honouring ritual.
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33. YOU, WHO SHOW THE WAY
The logical mind runs away from drowning. Lovers accept drowning in the sea as their destiny.
The logical mindfinds consolation in reaching a level of comfort in life.
Lovers arefocused beyond their own cornfbrt.
-RUMI
I have looked to you in my darkest moments, searched for you as though
ficmblingfbr the candle and matches duringan unexpected and interminMe
blackout. I am the ship at sea, seeking you as my guiding light. Nay, I am the sea, rising up to the horizon because I yearn to be closer to you. Then, oh
to my greatest relief you rise like a phoenixfrom the ocean, casting hallowed golden light all around you - this great blazing angel ofholyfire! In a sweet instant, my soul rests in your presence. The sea becomes calm; the darkness abates. Your light reveals truth and, through your living presence, I know my true self again. lam what you are. Even when it appears lam returning
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afier being lost in darkness, as though I could ever be extinguished. I am divine light, I am you. A living sun.
Even in your unquenchable passion for service to humanity, to the world that offers you so much, there is a time when your most powerful offering is actually and most simply that of your presence. You show the way: you, who inspire through how you choose to live and be; you, who sometimes think yourself to be invisible; you, who consider yourself to be of no particular or exceptional worth. Yes, you - you, who through your choice to live your truth, reveal my face, demonstrate my love, embody my presence, heal my beloveds and love my creations.
This oracle comes to you with a special message. YDU are an inspiration. You are helping those around you and even many of whom you are unaware. You are doing this because this is your path, this is your way, this is your gift - to live a life dedicated to the growth of consciousness and, through that dedication, inspire others to receive the loving consciousness of the Great Beloved that can benefit them so greatly, no matter what their situation or circumstances. You are not doing this through any effort or will. You are doing this because this is your nature, your being, your way. Just as the sun breaks through dark¬ness with its own light, shining light with its presence by simply being, so too does your inner sun, your soul. You don't have to understand this or do anything with the information given, although you may find it of comfort or even be shocked by it, pleasantly perhaps. It is just an acknowledgement of who and what you are, given freely because you are ready to receive such an acknowledgement.
You are also being gifted through this oracle with a sign, a portent. This oracle is an omen: an issue too difficult for you to understand, no matter how hard you have been working on it, is about to be resolved. You have no need to hold onto it or become more worthy，of that resolution. It is going to happen according to the grace of the Great Beloved, and your job is to allow it to happen, to simply bear witness to the resolution, even if you have no idea what is going on in the process. You may find
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that whilst you are letting go, the resolution happens without you being aware of it until after the fact. Then, apparently all of a sudden, what was an issue is no longer so.
You, who help others, are a worthy recipient of the help of the Great Beloved. Be prepared to surrender all plans and convictions about what can and cannot be, about what you think you know and what you think you need. Allow the benevolent grace of the beloved to take you through the great waves, as the seas become calm and serene under the living divine light.
This oracle brings the message that if you have a situation in your midst that feels impossible to resolve, the Divine has it covered. Do the sacred honouring ritual and let it be sorted out by a power greater than your own. It shall be sorted out, and your sun shall rise. Just as day follows night, again and again, so too shall your sun rise after any issue or struggle. Have faith and hope, and know that this is a sensible approach to any dilemma, no matter how serious it may seem. For what use is it to bemoan the absence of day, even on the longest night, when you know, in every moment, dawn is ever closer to breaking once again? Your hope then is not foolish, but wise.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place your hands on your heart and say: "The Divine, who loves me unconditionally, blesses me now with such grace that my life aligns with divine order and all becomes golden, blessed and mercifully held in the compassionate consciousness of the Creator. I thank you for the courage and faith I have needed to endure the night, and I now celebrate the coming dawn. I see it breaking; I see its light, and I thank you for this mercy. With Rumi, who loves me unconditionally, I am now shown the way to the dawn. It is at my feet, and together we step into the gift of a new day. So be it."
If you have a specific issue you would like addressed, hand it over to the Divine Beloved now by talking about it - just as if you were having a conversation with your oldest and dearest friend (for that is exactly what
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34. LAYLA
Put aside your clever schemes! O lover, be mindless! Become mad! Dive into the heart of theftame! Become fearless! Be like a moth!
Turn away from the self and tear down the house!
Then, come and dwell in the house oflo ve! Be a. lover! Live with lovers!
Clean your chest from all hostility.
Wash it seven times.
Then, fill it with the wine of love!
Be a chalice far love! Be a chalice!
You must be all love to be worthy of the beloved.
When going to the gathering of drunks,
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will be taking place). Then, when you have explained your feelings, your doubts or fears, let it go and know that the situation is held in the grace of the Great Beloved.
You have completed your sacred honouring ritual.
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be a drunk! Become drunk!
Your thought takes a course draggingyou in its wake. Move beyond thought!
Let your heart lead! Be the leader!
When the grace oflo ve is revealed, be a mirror to reflect it.
When the beloved's hair is loosened, brush it like a. comb! Be a, comb!
-RUMI
Howllongfor my thoughts to no longer make any sense to me! Then lean be rid of them, like noisy house guests who have overstayed their welcome. Oh the peace when theyfinally go! Their incessant chatter brings me no comfort. I crave the silence of you. Willyou let me hear it? Willyou run through the noisy house of my mind with your great muddy feet, so that I can focus on something other than my mind for a whiled Maybe you can make such a. mess that I shall give up my plans and attempts at order completely. Just give in for a. change. It's time for that. To give up my ridiculous fantasies of perfiction - useless, noisy, irritating, demanding, and yet deadening perfiction. I'd rather just be alive. I want to plant my head in the earth, in the same mud that sticks to your feet, and breathe in her rich soil smell.
I want to fiel her heart beating in the quiet movements of the roots of the plants as they stretch and grab and stop my ears with her fertile dirt, finally gaining peace om the constant infernal racket ofthoughts no longer wanted.
Oh beloved, how you are to be envied. You are being given the gift of no self no noise, no sense. The Great Beloved truly wants you to be closer than ever to the wild universal heart. In that field of love, every
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electronic device goes haywire, systems collapse, worlds collide, and great stars are born from the chaos. But the real you will sense none of this. Youll be staring at your beloved, so intoxicated by love, your tongue will loll out of your mouth and youll drool like a bloodhound - and you wont care a hoot, neither will the Great Beloved. Such will the passion of your reunion be, that the only thing to matter will be the one great love exploding inside your being. So who cares if you have no idea what day it is (What was your job supposed to be again?), or how to make conversation 一 let alone intelligent conversation - at the dinner table. Ah well, you shall not be yourself anymore. You shall not be so appropriate or sociable.
Who understands crazy words that fall out of your mouth, unchecked by logic or rationality? I do! I know the beloved too; I am under that same loving spell. I, like you, have no T anymore. I, like you, am so crazy with love that I care not for things making sense anymore. I, like you, long for my night of love with the Great Beloved, that ends me forever and renders me only and ever the lover of the Great Beloved. I call that night forward from my love-crazed heart, as do you - that Laylat al-Qadr, the Night of Destiny. Let us run together and pound on the bedroom door of the Great Beloved! There is no shame; there is nothing else worth holding onto. Let us go now, and throw ourselves upon the good will of the Creator. Our hair shall be messy and mingle with the curving galaxy, and the planets shall grow rings around them, becoming the many eyes of the Great Beloved, delightfully bearing witness to our loving, passionate surrender.
This oracle brings you a message. You are moving through a period of not knowing, of time in the great void or womb of the Divine Mother. It is in this place the seed can crack open and take root. This cannot happen in the light, where all is seen and recognised. It must happen under the cover of darkness, where only trust can assure one of success. This is the way of nature, the way oflife, and it must be honoured.
This oracle brings you ancient wisdom. It guides you, not to fear the darkness, but to enter into it willingly. It is not for you to become lost,
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but to find your way. This oracle is saying that in the darkness, there is the path - da tariki, tariqat.
Do not turn away from it; let it be. Be with the lack of knowing. When people ask of you so many questions and demand sensible answers to support their notion of reality, do not bow to such unworthiness and fear. Know that their minds may be fearful for your safety - and their own, lest your divine madness be contagious - but that their fear is nothing to you, nothing at all. It is not even anything to them - but they just dont know that yet.
Under the sacred black cloak of night, the Divine Mother, the Goddess, she who transfigures from darkness into the light, has invited you into her chamber. In that place you shall experience annihilation - but only that of which is untrue, that of which would hold you back, dampen your spirit, or prevent you from bursting into full aliveness.
For that which is true is already seeded deep in her womb, and is preparing to be born - strong, and with good, powerful legs. So when it is time, it will leap like a wild creature, all instinct and intuition, into the morning light.
For this moment, however, there is darkness. And that is essential for the appearance, so imminent, beloved, of the light on its way.
This oracle brings you guidance. If you find yourself to be sad, to be grieving, whether you know for what or not, or even depressed or struggling, feeling as though you are being pulled down - do not fight, bear witness instead. Allow what is taking place to take place. Allow what is happening to happen. You shall find a joy in allowing the interplay of darkness and the light to take place according to a greater unfolding rhythm of your own divine growth process.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Sit in a dark and quiet space, if possible.
Say aloud: "I honour the darkness that serves the all-loving light. Through the grace of Rumi, and the Divine Mother, I am blessed with growth of my soul into life. Even within the darkest of dark places, the
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Divine Beloved dwells with unfailing generosity and compassion. In my surrender I am held, and in my darkness, the seed of new life takes root. So be it.”
Rest for as long as feels good.
You have completed your honouring ritual.
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35. THE LOVE RAND THE BELOVED
When you move beyond consciousness^ you caress the beloved.
When you move into the unknown, beyond everything, the beloved caresses you.
-RUMI
It is not enough to love me. I want you to allow me to love you. It is not enough to desire me, to want to be closer to me. I want to reach out to you and grab a hold of you, drawingyou into me, and never lettingyou be apart from me again. There is so much more for us to experience, you and me, than simply gazing - even with love - at each other from a distance. Let me take you into my arms. Let me holdyou until we cease to know or care where you and I once wereyou and I, for instead we will be one. Willyou allow it? Will you allow me? Willyou allow us to be?
Oh sweet beloved, the Divine, the Great Beloved has a passionate desire for you - to love you, to touch you, to make the divine presence known to
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you - so that you will cease to fear the darkness, take delight in all oflife, and become mesmerised by the beauty of love in its endless emanations.
But how we resist love at first. Oh yes, we have been burned before, have we not? Abandoned, betrayed, so painfully disappointed, cast aside, and have suffered at the hands of some unworthy lover. Can this great divine love affair be tarred with the same brush, with the same bitter expectations that keep the heart closed? You are too beautiful to be hidden away behind a bitter and gated heart. That is unworthy of you!
So then, can you allow the Great Beloved to reach for you, to receive that sacred touch every day, to be spoken to with words of love, to receive ? You who give of yourself can you recognise the beloved wishes to give to you too? These need not be mutually exclusive happenings! Come now, deep down, you know the genius of the Divine is such that in being received, much is given. You shall not be selfish in letting yourself be seen and loved. Allow it； rejoice in it. Take delight in allowing yourself to receive life, and let the world soak up the ardent glow of your sensual surrender into the Great Beloveds embrace.
This oracle brings you a message. Something has to change in your physical world. You are in need of more sustenance, more love, more connection, and more nourishment that touches your body and soul, and brings them into deeper oneness with each other, with life, with love. Dare you open up and allow that love in? The Great Beloved has desired that this be so. Will you heed that holy desire? Will you allow love in?
Say yes!
If you find this difficult, now is the time to gently, carefully, tend to the walls you once placed between yourself and life 一 walls of tentativeness, excessive caution, fear of abandonment and betrayal, doubt of your own lovableness, and doubts based on past pain without substance. You are so much greater than these crumbling walls. They are the stuff that is designed for demolition, not devotion and honouring. Can you begin to unpack the bricks you mistakenly believed were essential to your safety and wellbeing ? You are too vast a sea for that small puddle of thought now. The oceanic world of love is your true home and the sun is beating
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down upon you. It is too hot to gaze at the ocean longingly from afar, or even stand by its edge. Strip off your layers. Run to the ocean and dive in!
This oracle brings you special guidance. An offer or opportunity is on its way to you, or has recently been presented. It may be an idea you have been nurturing, or one presented to you by another person. Sit with it. Do you feel exhilaration? Do you feel energy at the thought of saying yes?
Then say YES! Allow yourself to receive! There is divine encouragement in taking risks that feel wild and alive to your heart.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place your hands in prayer, and say: "May the almighty divine love, and my most beloved brother, Rumi, bless me with the ability to truly receive, in all ways, divine abundance and prosperity, being delivered to me now by the grace and mercy of the heavens. May I clear and heal any resistance to receiving life truly, that I may attain my divine destiny and know and receive love truly, in all its majesty. So be it."
You can rest for as long as feels good. Then, you have finished your honouring ritual.
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36. PASSION OF THE WILD RED MOTHER
Don t ask the conscious ones about the wine.
Behold the glowing effect of it in the eyes ofdrunks.
-RUMI
Bring me your unreasonableness, your insanity^ your love without reason and your passion 一 the passion that makes you crazy and shoos all logical restraint Jrom your mind. Leave your ordered thoughts, sensible plans and appropriate attire at my door. Put on your a,nima.l far and sing to me in gibberish. When my beautiful goats die, I make drums from their skins and their spirits live on in my passionate play. When my birds drop their feathers, leather them and put them in my hair. Come drum with me, as I place feathers inyour hair and we honour the spirits of my animals 一 ofyour animal nature too, wild and free as you are in truth. Stick your tongue out and growl at those who try to tame you with guilty shame andfear. Do you think I give a damn for any oftheir silly games f Those games of reason and logic. a0f course, you should do it this way!' they say,(tit makes sense!”But I care not for what makes sense; I carefor what brings you alive.
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You, oh blazing angel, are being invited by the Wild Red Mother to participate in a dance of divine passion. You may be an activist, a poet, an advocate for justice, or a writer, content in your own world of dreams; or perhaps you are a healer, devoted to the liberation of the suffering of others and hungry to commune with ancient wisdom. Perhaps you are all of these, or some other exquisite amalgam of holy energy in form. Whatever your nature, there is passion in your heart; a fire for something more powerful than fear that can become the fuel for your life journey 一 if you accept the invitation of the Wild Red Mother of course!
This is the invitation to lay aside despair, to lay aside doubt in the capacity of the human heart - even your frustration and impatience. It is time to quit whipping yourself and others, no matter how noble the intention behind the whip may be, and start dancing instead.
Will you join her, the Wild Red Mother, in her exuberant play? You can choose to lead through joy, to heal through love, to transform suffering into what it is meant to be: the crucible through which ecstasy reveals itself You do not have to analyse, to stay in the throes of process and ordered stages. You can just choose this passionate path now, if you wish. You are ready. It is open to you. Will you accept ?
It takes a great spirit, one with much practice of studied rebellion, to be ready to cast ofF the shackles of society from a place of loving defiance rather than fearful anger. And to playfully say to the world, U1 have tasted your stale bread and underdeveloped wine, and have had quite enough now. I decline your offer to gorge upon such lesser fruits. I prefer to feast upon bread, hot and fresh, and wine that is mouth-filling and unctuous. Join me if you like. It is an abundant feast and there is plenty for all."
Even in the spiritually-minded there can be a driving fear, thinly veiled as devotion to the most arduous path. Perhaps for a while that serves as a truth of sorts, but eventually there will come a time when smaller truths must give way to larger ones, so the soul can truly be free to grow.
Passion is the bridge that leads you from a smaller truth that suffering is necessary in order to heal, towards a larger and more luscious
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experience oflife as a divine embrace. Yes, sometimes the divine lover, in all enthusiasm for the sport, bites you too hard or grabs you with so much desire that a bruise remains. However, the passion behind such fervent embrace can leave you begging for more life, for more of that boundless love, even when it knocks you on the head whilst grabbing for you. This is possible when you give up on judgment of what is good and what is bad, on what is apparently spiritual and what is not, and when you just realise everything in your life is leading to love. Whether through caress or a slap, the divine lover is seducing you. If you can accept this, you can certainly give yourself permission to love what you love, to live how you wish to live, and to forget about holding yourself back because some choices make sense and others, supposedly, do not.
If you are able to rise to the passion that is possible for you, youll let the Wild Red Mother consume your philosophies and doctrines. She'll feast on your religion and your plans, and devour your doubts and certainties. She'll tear away your need for maps and directions. Just when you think theres nothing left, she'll grab your hands and spin with you. Youll tilt back your head and laugh so wildly with her, spinning together, along with the earth upon her axis.
With a daring and bold love for life that will not be quashed, that Wild Mother speaks to you now. You can choose passion over fear, time and time again. So I invite you to paint the whole world red with me with passionate nature. Let us laugh and change the world!
This oracle comes to you with a message. It is a big cosmic yes. It is also an invitation to let go of suffering and struggle; not with regret or shame, but with gentle acknowledgement that it has had its purpose. It now has a bigger purpose - that of passion - which calls you to engage in the embrace of life with more abandon than ever before. Now is the time to let go ofbeliefsystems and 'needing to know' anything. It is time to trust in the beating of your own heart and in the people, places and experiences that truly move you, whether it makes sense or appears to be logical or not.
The Wild Red Mother comes to you when you are ready for her at a
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soul level. Your mind may think she is a thief in the night, ready to pilfer all you hold near and dear 一 and be utterly in terror at the prospect - but your soul will be gurgling with such anticipation of freedom it will fill your heart with sweet love and urge you to let go. Let her have her way with you 一 even if it means she crashes into you in the dark as she fumbles and drags you, half asleep, to go out dancing with her under the full moon, wearing nothing but your animal skin and a smile. She'll soothe any bumps and bruises you receive in opening up to life with the most tender and effective of ministrations, for she is just as tender a nurse as she is a wild, raging dance partner.
This oracle also brings you guidance. You have divine permission to do something ridiculous 一 be it ridiculous in your own mind for your age or career path, or some identity or version of yourself you or another hold. The more ridiculous or inappropriate it seems 一 the more it moves you from your heart, without rhyme or reason 一 the better. This is not about hurting people or behaving without moral code. It is not about childish indulgence and questionable justification for letting the ego misbehave. It is not about the ego at all; the Wild Red Mother eats ego for breakfast. This guidance is about listening to the truth of your heart and allowing your soul to throb with aliveness, making that more important than any restriction, opinion, judgment or fear the mind 一 yours or that of others 一 could summon.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place your hands open before you, and say aloud: "I call on the passionate Wild Red Mother, who loves me without condition, and the brother of my soul, Rumi. I ask for your guardianship on to the path of divine passion now. May I lead with my heart, dance in life without fear, and surrender into truth, singing with my soul, becoming a leader of the new way of love upon this sacred earth. It is safe for me to be in my wild divinity. It is the only safe and true way for me to thrive! I am blessed now and in the Wild Red Mothers unconditionally loving protection and grace. So be it." You have finished your sacred ritual.
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37. SACRED SOUL SISTER
When you are conscious^ a. cloud of sadness surrounds you.
When you are beyond consciousness, the moon rests in your arms.
When you are conscious, the beloved moves out of your reach. When you are beyond consciousness, the ecstasy oflove moves your way.
When you are conscious, you are depressed like fall.
When you are beyond consciousness, the winter coldfeels like spring.
Allyour wavering is due to your longing to be stable!
Lookfor instability, untilyou become stable.
-RUMI
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I love you; I am your other self. lam with you always^ your partner on this soul journey. I am the you that you do not see. I am the you that speaks through intuition and instinct. I whisper and sing and shout my crazed truth-telling to you, through your dreams, through your body. lam the you that is wise, that trusts in life, that knows. I am the you that sees reality rather than appearance. lam the you that knows how to be happy andfree.
There is a valid point of view that we travel this path of our life journey alone. Our deepest descents into the psyche happen alone, we meet death alone, and come into the world alone. And yet there is a vaster perspective that we are never alone, that it would be impossible to really be alone. We are connected to all of life and there is no such thing as being alone in reality, only in limited and temporary perception.
As if such community were not enough, there is a partner, an ally who journeys with you from birth to death and beyond, again and again. You have a sacred sister, a sister of your soul. She weaves the stories of truth through dreams and insights that come upon you as if from nowhere. Perhaps they drop into your mind or seem to erupt from within you； but, that is her talking to you, demanding or reassuring, depending on what the occasion best calls for at that moment.
Her truths may seem overly dramatic so you may discount them as workings of an overactive imagination, or perhaps her truth-tales are so subtle you dismiss them as meaningless, fleeting fancy. The wise ones know, however, that the truths of the Sacred Soul Sister are powerful, relevant and worthy of time and attention. They know her oftentimes strange and startling offerings hold the keys to unlock entire worlds, to open up new realities, and to transform the nature of our existence, firom the deepest and most esoteric spiritual levels, to the most palpable, practical, daily realities of our living bodies in the physical world.
Your Sacred Soul Sister is your partner in consciousness. Make no mistake, she is you; she is just the part of you so great, you cannot always see her from your conscious mind. It is sort of like the eye of the dog trying to see its whole self which is a bit tricky, for as it moves to see
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its rear, so the rear is moved along too! So rather than through direct perception, the Sacred Soul Sister is met through reflection. She can be received in those moments of rest where great ideas are born (she is a genius, you see, vastly creative and inspired). Her worlds are those we access in sleep and meditation, or absorbing engagement in activity, where the mind can relax and drop into realities far more vast than those of daily life and be replenished.
To tap into her wisdom, to distil a teaching from the fragmented memory of a dream, or a subtle feeling experienced in meditation, requires that you walk with her gait, and not the fast-paced, forward¬moving canter of your conscious and intellectual mind. Her gait is meandering and apparently unstudied. Yet she is in deep concentration, tofeel for truth of movement, to allow for what is emerging to express itself through her, and she is listening rather than demanding to know, to force, to speak and to direct. To receive her genius and benefit most fully from it requires a willingness to surrender logic, and open up to inspiration, to become empty, to let the mind soften and become receptive, open and permeable. She delivers questions that lead to answers, but not according to demands issued by an insecure and fearful mind. She offers what is genuinely needed, and answers the deepest questions of the heart. She is trustworthy, this sister, she cannot betray truth; therefore, she can be relied upon as a faithful way-shower for the heart.
So to commune with her 一 wise as that impulse is - requires that you learn the ways of her world and the strange symbolic language she speaks. She will never tell you what you already know. Why be so inefficient ? No, she prefers to educate, elucidate, intrigue and beguile as you are drawn into far more beautiful, powerful and helpful truths. So in her world, and in her language, you must suspend your need to immediately understand. Let yourself absorb the imagery, the feelings, and the possibilities, to dwell, ponder and be permeated by the wisdom. The appearance of a horse may signify your own spiritual being, and the appearance of you may signify a false sense of identity, and not the real 'you' at all. You may see desert landscapes and moonlit nights in your
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dreams 一 when so much inner growth is happening you will soon bloom like the springtime. You may dream of charging up hills with great energy, when in your physical world you can barely muster enough strength to get out of bed in the morning.
What does this all mean, this apparent contrary, world-upside-down, nothing-is-as-it-seems symbolism? The meaning is the communication, and the communication is received in repose, in reflection, in quietness and rest. And you must trust 一 trust her and trust yourself When something needs to be known, so it shall be. This is necessary, so much less than what we expect. Your lack of knowing is not ignorance; your unknowingness is your bowing to life with trust.
She has come to you through this oracle to remind you that everything is all right, that she 'has your back； no matter what appearances may seem to be to your more limited, dogs eye consciousness in the light of day. She is guiding you with her wider knowledge through circumstances and situations that are ultimately going to free you into a greater love than you have ever known 一 no matter whether you feel like a rat in a maze, or a bewildered drunk stumbling through labyrinthine back alleyways, trying to find your way home again! No matter how out of control life may seem, shes letting you know all is proceeding just as it should and that her will shall manifest.
Her will is your wholeness, your completion. Her will must manifest and shall, because her will is nature. It is growth. It is God. She is God, in you, now. Remember that and you'll realise (if you don't mind the ending being told before the last chapter) that everythings going to be okay.
This oracle comes with particular guidance also. You know something ； deep in your bones, without knowing how or why, or without particular reason, you just know. It doesnt make sense, but you know. It may be joy that you know. It may be that you know to avoid a certain situation. It may be that something is going to work out beautifully, despite appearances to the contrary, at a particular moment. It may be that you are meant to take a certain path. You just know.
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This oracle comes as confirmation that your knowing, mysterious as it is, is your Sacred Soul Sister talking through you. Trust it and act, or not, accordingly.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Kneel or sit comfortably, preferably on the ground, or somewhere you feel grounded and anchored to the earth - that could be on the floor, if practical.
Rest your hands on the ground, or on your legs.
Say aloud: "I call upon the sacred sister of my soul, the shadow priestess of wisdom in the temple of love. You guide me to love, and under the merciful grace and protection of Rumi, who loves me unconditionally, our relationship is one of respect, care and divine guidance. May I be blessed with receptivity to your genius and capacity for the grace of growth. So be it."
Rest for a few moments. You have finished your ritual.
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38. THE COURAGE OF YOUR LOVE
Love is without reason; rationality is like a cane. Judgment needs a cane, because it is blind.
When love arrives, thought dies in its shadow. Love is the sunrise, while thought is only a flashing light.
-RUMI
I do not bleat at you like a sheep, for to startle you from your slumber I need to roar like a. lion! You must awake my beloved; there is no time to waste for the wolves a.re circling, hungryfor sacred flesh. So I shall roar mightily, and although at rstyou recoil in fear, soon enough you will see the wolves. You become aware and gratefid to have been thus awoken. Ah yes, you remember that you have a precious human life to protect. You fiar me no more. You thank me. You jump on my back as if you were a warrior astride a. wild mount. You roar then, along with me, awakening the others as we cause the ground to rumble, disturbing those even in their deepest slumber. You, like me, are a fierce lion, not a lamb to be led to so many slaughters, the variety of a.nd opportunity for which is available in terrible abundance in our world.
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There is a Sufi story about a mother with her breast-leaking milk. She loses her child, and once she finds him again, instantly lets him suckle for as long as he needs.
A Sufi master nearby, says to his students, "Do you think she would throw her baby into the fire ?”
And the students all say, “No! Of course not!"
And the master replies, "Allah loves his children more than she, with enough tenderness to throw them into the fire.M
So it is with love. At first, as a young heart, you want only comfort for your beloved. You cannot bear the thought of pain within them, even for a moment. Your own suffering is easier than bearing the suffering of your beloved. That young heart grows wise through experience. It becomes an elder, an ancient heart tempered by grace and rendered strong with compassion. This is the great heart that can hold the suffering of the world within it, and yet still find space for peace, for sweetness, for tenderness and for rapture.
This is the heart that shines with courageous love. It is willing to feel and bear all suffering without judgement, whilst gently holding it in the truth of what that suffering really is - the drying out of the mind addicted to suffering. This drying out is necessary so that love can ignite itself and transform deadwood into living fire. The drying out is a challenging and enduring process.
The path of freeing the heart from the effects of a fearful mind is an initiation into great power. So many lapses will happen before the heart grows strong enough to overpower old patterns and surrender without condition or equivocation. When it is ready to surrender in such a way, the heart is free and allowed to simply be. Even the mind then, finally freed from shackles and joyfully submitting to love, declares, “Let love be, in whatever way it shall be. I can bear it. I shall take refuge in it. I shall not turn away from it. I am that love!”
You are an ancient one with a heart older than the mountains. You are being asked to free yourself from the too-small loves of the youthful heart and come to understand and accept the wisdom of your mature
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heart. Your mature heart is not cursed with hardness or detachment, but with compassion and tenacious devotion to the cause that is most real and matters most - the quest for life of the human soul.
Your ancient heart loves the soul and will roar like the lion of love at the wolves that would casually devour it. So trust in the courage of your heart. You are not cruel. You are not hard. You are not careless. You are passion personified. You are the lion of love. So allow yourself to be the lion, not the lamb. Stand true in your own heart. Cause trouble, make noise, be proud and be mighty. Then rest, after all that savage divinity, rest and restore, for day after day you shall claim your holy lands and refuse to give them up to less noble creatures. Though you survey their manipulations and attempts to claim power with compassion, you do not underestimate them or relax your vigilance. You shall not allow, for even a moment, that falsehood be accepted as truth in your heart.
This oracle comes with particular guidance for you. You are not to give into less than you are worth, or to the shaming stories of others of our culture that would cast your regal lion nature into the falsehood of beliefs that you have no choice or power. You are not to give into the idea that you are victim and cannot free yourself from your suffering, or that you are less than any other. These are lies. These are petty deceptions so unworthy of you. Do not believe them. Roar at them until the weak glue holding them together melts under the fire of your holy breath, and they lie dismembered and powerless at your feet. Then intend that those bits and pieces in decay are lovingly returned to the Earth Mother through whom they can be used to fertilise new life.
This oracle comes with another message for you. You have a challenge before you (or that you are now moving through), but you have what is necessary to succeed and overcome it. No matter how long it has endured, or how big you have built that challenge up to be in your mind, no matter how unsolvable the issue appears to be, there is and shall be a victory beyond it, and it is imminent. This oracle has come to you to let you know you are empowered to succeed, you have what is required within to do it, and that the time for your victory is drawing near.
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So do not give up. Instead, do the sacred honouring ritual as needed, and when you feel so inclined, open your mouth and roar love from the very depths of your being. Create a sound of truth for yourself In that sound you will hear the mightiest one of all roaring along with you, saying, aYes love, I am with you, and together we claim divine victory! So we roar! How we roar!"
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Say aloud: "I call on Rumi, lion of love, and my own wise higher self I now choose to assert the dignity of my soul and the power of my heart. I release all lesser bonds based in fear and deception. I no longer need to hold onto these. I am ready for truth and, with unconditional love, I am supported, protected and guided on my path to victory, held in guardianship by the unending power of love. So be it."
If you feel the need to get down on all fours and roar a bit, do it - with relish. Then, you have finished your honouring ritual.
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39. BLESSING OF ZAHRA
Let go of thought! Dont take it into your heart!
You are naked, and thought is like ice.
You use thought to seek releasefrom suffering and pain, while thought is the cause of your suffering and pain.
The realm ofcreation is outside the scope of thought.
0 foolish one, see the opus, and behold the beauty!
Look in the direction from which the imagesflow.
See the brook that causes the wheel to turn.
-RUMI
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I wish to pull that false confection from your mouth. Oh, I know you will open your mouth even wider to scream, like the terrible cry of a toddler denied. But the moment you open your mouth wide and draw breath to bemoan the outrageous travesty of your loss, I shall shove my divine finger, dripping with nectar, into your gaping mouth. I'll let you suckle then, surprised and contented by the sweetness that surpasses all other sweets.
When we are hungry, we reach for what food is available. If we are starving, we may gorge upon what is before us only to find ourselves overfed, undernourished and in a most uncomfortable and dissatisfied state!
Your soul needs better quality food. It has been detoxing. You have been shedding old thoughts, feelings, pains and struggles. Memories of the past have been flooding out of your soul, like parasites being expunged. And now, your soul thus cleansed is in need of genuine nourishment to restore it to full radiance and vitality.
Love will feed your hungry soul. Nothing less shall suffice. No sweet¬talking charmer hell-bent on seducing and moving on will make the grade. No, it has to be nothing less than genuine romancing by the Great Beloved to feed, comfort and nurse you into radiance. Only that divine finger, dipped in the heavenly honey, can be taken in by your soul now. All else will seem as empty junk by comparison. But can we summon the strength to overcome habitual and mindless attempts at feeding on lesser substances? Oh yes! The Great Beloved shall storm through the kitchen, and with military precision clear out the cupboards, for only the best and finest, most decadent and delicious, shall do for you.
This oracle comes with special guidance for you. You are being given a blessing of Zahra, of radiance, ofbrightness. This blessing has a purpose. It is to clear out that which would obstruct your full unfbldment to support the divine jewel of your soul in shining. You are being given an opportunity supported by life, by the earth, by the grace of the Divine Beloved, to shed toxins from your being. These may be physical and they may equally be of emotional, psychic or psychological origin. They may
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come from this or another lifetime. You may understand consciously what is being released or you may not. If you are sensitive you may feel symptoms of detoxification at a physical level, even if what you are releasing is emotional or psychological in nature.
You are encouraged to complete the sacred honouring ritual, to stay adequately hydrated, and to be moderate rather than excessive in your approach. Give your body and mind time to rest and replenish so that blessing can be fully received.
If you have been unwell or struggling to let go of an issue, this oracle comes as a portent of imminent healing back to good health, and or release of the issue into resolution and divine radiance. It is only a matter of timing, and that timing is imminent.
This oracle also brings you the message that if something appears to be leaving your life - even something painful to release 一 it is because it is no longer healthy for you, or no longer supporting of life for you. There is something more loving and beautiful awaiting. Do not try to feast upon scraps. Stop scraping in the dirt for stale breadcrumbs. Rise up and move towards the seat at the heavenly table gleaming before you, for a greater feast awaits your attendance.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Say aloud: "I call upon al-Zahra, the merciful divine one shining with grace, and Rumi, who loves me without condition. I call upon the healing angels and I say the following declaration： with grace I accept the shedding of that which is no longer worthy of me. I allow myself to release, with merciful grace, what no longer feeds my soul with the truest of nourishment. I open to receive, through unconditional love, healing, support, intervention and protection, that I may shine with the divine radiance bestowed upon me in this blessing. I surrender my attachment to scraps and open my mind, body and soul to the great feast. In profound gratitude I bow to the compassion that leads me to the banquet of love now. So be it.”
Lie down and rest for however long you need. Healing will happen
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during this time, so try to rest for at least five to twenty-five minutes - more if possible.
Following your rest, you may also like to have a shower or bath using a handful of regular salt as a gentle body scrub to support your psychic and physical cleansing process. Enjoy this as an act of self-love.
You have finished your sacred honouring ritual.
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40. BLESSING OF AL-HAKIM
Sellyour cleverness and buy bewilderment! Cleverness is opinion; bewilderment is vision.
-RUMI
The gift of wisdom, the blessing of al-Hakim, gurgles up from your heart. Her blessing is evoked by life, like the laughter of a babe, joyfully responding to the playful tickle ofthe mother's hand. Wisdom can make divine sense of
anything, especially ofthat where logic is blinded. How I revere the blessing of al-Hakim, of wisdom, for she is precious and welcome to me now and always - the dear Jrlend who brings me such peace.
A blessing of divine wisdom, of al-Hakim, is being ministered to your soul, watched over by Rumi himself This is soul medicine. It is a spiritual gift of healing, prophecy, insight and the capacity to surrender any impatient claim for what you cannot yet have. As you receive this gift, this blessing which happens at a soul level, your attitude to life becomes more curious, open, still and receptive. You no longer have to drive the
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unfoldment of your desires into form. You rest in assurance that your daily application and effort is enough, and so is your surrender. Mental anguish is soothed and you are able to accept the unfathomable nature of divinity in its expression of itself as life. You become comfortable with the reality that the price of being closer to the Divine is the giving up of your need to always understand.
From this place of increasing stillness, great activity will flow. You shall become capable of being the surrendered vessel to the guiding divine hand, and truly great contributions to the human soul evolving can occur through you. So much will simply emerge, erupt, pulsate and emanate out of you, and yet you will feel within as though you are doing nothing at all, even whilst so much is happening through you. Such holy paradox shall become your daily experience.
You may feel, unexpectedly perhaps, that in some ways your vision for your life and purpose, your divine passion, is clearer than ever before, and in other ways completely unknown to you, a discovery yet to be made. That is as it should be. Wisdom bestows upon us the sane capacity to work with the opportunities that are right before us, to release situations and circumstances that have passed, and to allow the future to take its shape according to the ineffable timing of life itself
This oracle comes with special guidance for you. If you are uncertain about an issue in your life, be at peace. There is divine healing that can occur most readily in the unknowing. Follow the sacred honouring ritual and know that all is indeed well, beloved soul. Perhaps you are journeying very deep indeed, and your allegiance to your intellectual mind is softening in favour of allegiance to your heart-knowing.
You may find yourself craving different company with different interests, or finding the world of opinions and debate rather less to your liking, and the worlds of creative expression more nurturing and nourishing to your essence. If this is the case, this oracle comes as confirmation to trust in the changes you feel within, in any and all ways, no matter how insignificant or dramatic they may seem. Know that they are seedlings of a new way that shall grow from one step into an entirely
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new and more sacred orientation in your life.
You will not necessarily have any idea how that will happen or what it will look like. This matters not. The acorn becomes the oak because that is its innate destiny. It happens without any active participation apart from a willingness to grow through life. So it is with the precious blooming now happening within your soul. To know less can bring the greatest gift and blessing of all: to be able to love, and therefore live more freely.
This oracle also comes with special guidance to bring you peace. Look to the old ways, to the ancient wisdom teachings that run as one vein of life giving love through all traditions. The old wisdoms teach of cycles, of timing, of letting go to allow for new life to happen, and of the greater intelligence and scheme of life to which we must surrender if we are ever to know even a moments peace.
The fire in your belly is a beautiful aspect of you. Just let it be the breath that swirls around and through the heart that ignites it, not the passing huffing and puffing of the impatient mind. For when the fire in the belly is fanned by the breath of the heart, you shall have peace and dynamic movement, restful stillness and soul-inspired action, all at once. You shall become one with the living holy paradox, and the healing power of your love shall know no bounds.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Say aloud: "I call on the divine presence that loves me unconditionally, and I surrender into your wisdom. Bless me now with the ability to accept your grace, your bounty and your gift of my life in all its mystery. Help me learn and grow that I may realise the love that lies within all, including my own being. May I dwell in the loving mystery of sacred compassion. I call upon the wisdom of the ancient ones, those who love me unconditionally and know truth. May your power and knowledge calm my mind and ignite my spirit, so that I may be one with love, empowered in peace and purpose. So be it."
Rest. You have completed your sacred honouring ritual.
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41. VICTORY OF MARYAM
If you are longing to caress the moon, dont turn away from it!
If you are not ill, why do you crawl under a blanket to hide?
You are in a quarry of sweets.
Why do you look so sour?
You live in the spring of lift.
Why areyou withered inside f
Dontfight against yourself!
Dontfleefrom what could beyour glory!
Like a, fearless moth, dive into theflame.
Why be linked to your obsessions?
Burn out in the flames,
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untilyour heart and soul are enlightened.
Get out ofthe old carcass and form yourselfa new body.
Why are you afraid of a fax when you descendfrom lions?
Why be a lame ass when you have the strength of stallions?
The belovedyou seek will arrive to open the door to your fortune, far love is the key that opens allyour locks,
-RUMI
You feel you are a mortal and I know you are divine. You feel you are not ready for the task and I know that triumph is only moments away. You reach to mefor protection but you are me, and the protection that you seek is already with you. We are not apart. lam living through all that you are and all that you love, all that you have lost and all that you offer to me in surrender. I am in you as your courage and magnificence, and any task I send to you is simply one of the tasks for which you were born. You are an eagle with wings, ready to soar. So I push you from the clifftop that you may know yourself
This oracle brings you a message of affirmation and success. Your victory is already assured. You are being led into it now. No matter if you believe it is not possible, and you are placing more faith in the appearance of distraction or obstacle than in utter success. No matter if you have forgotten for a moment that the divine lives in you, as you, and that apparent failure is only a part of the process, the plan through which learning happens, serving the ultimate holy victory. Yes, your victory is inevitable.
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So you are being given this reminder from the Holy Mother, Mary, also called Maryam, and the beloved divine presence of love that she serves. It is that presence that is real, it is the Holy Mother that is real, it is the Divine in you that is real, and all else swirls around you so your soul can play.
Every challenge and adventure is an opportunity for you to test your mettle and to be what you are in truth. The eagle that flies requires space and open sky. The tigress that hunts requires hunger to drive her to fulfil her being and live her nature. You need what you need to realise your divine nature as a living holy expression of the greatest love. So life is providing for you that your needs be met.
Whatever may be troubling you, or is soon to present itself is not a situation or a circumstance meant to bring you trouble. You just need to allow yourself to become more eagle-eyed, beloved wild one. It is not what appears to be that is the source of challenge for you, not at all! It is only how you are viewing the situation. Can you allow yourself to shift perspective ? Yes, you know this is truth. It is only in forgetfulness that fear creeps in； oh yes, to forget for a moment that you are divinity and to lapse into erroneous belief that the challenges are more real than the love they veil. No, the real challenge is in the attitude, not in any circumstance or situation.
Will you remember that all is divinity manifesting and nothing exists outside of it ? All is perfectly designed to help you fulfil your being, live your truth, experience your power and reside in the perfection of your divine loving heart. Be curious rather than afraid. What is loving seeking to draw out of you now ? It is always love in interaction with you, even if sometimes you feel like you are hauling a massive rock on your back, up the steepest of all hills to build a temple at its apex. Yet when that temple is built, overlooking the ocean, and a startling burst of golden orange sunset explodes across the water turning it gold, you'll forget about climbing that hill. Youll just drink in the view instead. Youll forget what you were supposed to worry about. Oh dont you hate it when that happens ? Ydu，ll just have to love in that moment and be
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peaceful instead. It makes more sense to notice the sunset than to turn your back upon its glory and grumble about how heavy those rocks were! Then, in your inspiration and your forgetfulness, youll dream of another temple and the process of creation, perhaps with more lugging about of great heavy rocks, and it will begin again. But then so too will another captivating sunset be granted, best witnessed in your newly built temple, that renders you speechless and spellbound.
This oracle brings you guidance and comfort. Whatever is going on in your life right now - whether it brings you joy or deepest struggle 一 is the Divine in you, as you, breaking through into your life. Do not hesitate to trust in it; embrace it fully and let it have its way. There is nothing there that needs to be resisted. You are safe to be wild, to be alive. Live it with love and let it unfold. The promise of success is yours, so allow yourself to be brought to it through the guiding wisdom of life, the life that serves love.
There is also a part of you that is daring to love, to live and to trust more so than before. You are even daring to quit the traumatic tendency to relive so many past hurts and aches. You no longer want to taunt yourself with failure and critique. You are less frightened of yourself so you do not need to sabotage yourself anymore. You are learning loves way and claiming it as your own. That is your path to victory assured.
This oracle asks you to trust in your growing optimism, to let the war be over now and put it behind you, even if it means weeping with sweet sorrow and relief for a while. The sunset is golden. The struggle is behind you. Now, just rest and enjoy the golden glow as you rest with love a long, long while.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
With your hands in prayer at your forehead, breathe in and out, and if you can, allow your mind to become still.
Then say aloud: "I call on Maryam, who loves me without condition, to bring me faith; and Rumi, who loves me unconditionally, to bring me oneness with the Great Beloved. I call upon the unconditional loving
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wisdom of life and my own divine essence, and I give thanks for all that is. I give thanks for the light that will be born from the darkness, and I give thanks for the fullness of my being coming into expression now. I give thanks for the grace and mercy that guides my way, and I surrender into the love that is leading me into my divine destiny now. So be it."
Close your eyes and bow your head to your hands in prayer again, and still your mind, if you can, for several moments.
When you feel ready, simply open your eyes, and you have completed your honouring ritual.
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42. DANCE OF THE DIVINE FEMININE
If a tree could move from one place to another, it would not suffer the pain ofthe saw or the oppressive wounds.
If the Sun and the Moon stood still like the rocks, they could not offer brilliance.
How bitter the taste of water would be, if the river stopped its flow remaining still like seawater.
When the seawater rises
to become a, cloud, it loses its bitterness and pours the rain of sweetness.
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I have given you only a fiw examples.
You can figure out the rest.
Break away from the self and enter the Kingdom of Love,
-RUMI
How can yourfiet bear to be still, when the music is so lush and inviting^ How canyou hold yourself back from the tide of love, when the horizon looms so vast and exciting^ How can you not arch your back and respond with ecstasy to the lovers touchy say ingin absolute submission, aYes! More You were ma.de to move a.nd grow, to love and flow. Even mountains change. Surrender the stodgy ways of the mind and become willing to dance to the great orchestrations of.love.
You may feel unsettled, beloved, as though the ground beneath you is not so solid. You may touch it to see. Is it moving? Of course! It is hurtling through the skies, spinning, tilted on its axis. Its amazing you aren't passed out on the floor in utter dizziness. Yet you stand there, imagining you have a choice of not moving. What funny foolishness! Let us laugh about it together. How can you even imagine it, only through some misplaced fear. It is such a small craziness, really. ^You can cast it off that small crazy fear; let it return to the Earth Mother to become fertiliser for the far grander and more exciting insanity of divine love instead. Give up that tiny insanity in favour of the greater craziness of love. You cannot be unmoved by it. The rhythm of life will get you shaking your hips eventually. How could you not become entranced by the gleaming dance floor, shimmering with possibility and invitation?
This oracle comes to you with guidance. Your life may feel as though it is being tipped upside down. Perhaps you feel as though the Great Beloved, in a feisty mood, has grabbed your ankles, is holding you upside down and shaking you wildly until your skirt is over your head, or the pockets of your pants become freed of their contents, keys and wallet
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much they drain life away from your heart centre.
This oracle brings you this message also. There is something you are holding onto 一 a person, a place, a thing, a belief a vision - and you need to let it go because it wants to grow. It may grow and change into something utterly different, or it may grow into exactly what you are imagining. Whichever outcome, growth is happening and youll find you enjoy the way much more with greater flow and support and less bashing of your head against the proverbial brick wall, if you can let it happen.
Dont worry if it seems as though your world is coming to an end, or you are losing something you once loved. This is just the shaking about of the Great Beloved to lead you into a deeper, sweeter dance of divine being and becoming. Put your focus into your heart and realise you are more ready than you think. Now shake those hips, stamp those feet, close your eyes and clap your hands. There, thats better already!
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Say the following aloud: "What the caterpillar calls the end, the master calls the butterfly.w
Repeat it three times, or however many times feels necessary for you at some deeper part of your being to really 'believe' in what you are saying. Youll know when that happens because you will feel more peace and presence within.
And then you will have completed your sacred honouring ritual.
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dropping to the floor in disarray. Your hair is messy, your bottom is in the air and your sense of orientation is nowhere to be found. Blood is rushing to your head and goodness knows, you just want to be put down to have a moment to come to your senses.
So the beloved will give you that gift. But dont imagine it will last for too long. The Great Beloved esteems you capable of so much more than being sure-footed and sensible. You are capable of more whirling and stumbling, whilst inspired by the music of the spheres.
If you just accept the great invitation to dance, there wont be so much roughhousing going on. It wont be needed because your hair will already be in a mess, your blood will already be pumping and you'll be sweating, laughing, smiling and dancing. The Great Beloved will be alive in you, which is all that grand seducer ever wanted in the first place, even with all the jokes and horseplay.
Disarrayed and dishevelled by the Divine Beloved, you are able to break out of a too-ordinary world. %u will explore the delightful consequences of rocked boats and upset applecarts being swept away by love as you dare to dream bolder and wilder dreams for yourself and the world. There is bigger magic for you to weave this lifetime. Prosaic priorities inherited from the world are stuff and nonsense. It is the priorities of the heart that matter to you. If you are ever to right yourself whilst the beloved is tipping you upside down 一 like a soaring bird in most impressive aerial dynamics 一 it will be through establishing right priorities, the priorities of your own heart. So ask your heart what matters most and attend to that.
Soon youll be able to find your orientation even if everything you have once held onto appears to be shimmering and insubstantial, a mere dance of light rather than solid ground. This will become so easy for you because your orientation will flow from within, from the heart, and no matter what shifts and changes take place around you, your centre will remain strong. This is what the beloved wants for you. Such peace and relief it shall bring to you! But perhaps some shaking about is required first in case you are reluctant to give up some mainstays, unaware of how
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43. HAND OF FATIMAH
I can never leaveyou, not far a moment, not for a.n hour.
You are in everything I do.
You are my everything.
My drink isyour sweetness.
I move to your command.
I am a, surrendered prey in your hands, andyou are my consuming lion.
Your soul and my soul are truly One Soul.
I swear to our One Soul,
I long for no one but you.
In the garden of your grace, lam only a germinating sprout.
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The crown of my blooming is the desire to be in your arms.
-RUMI
My hand watches over you. It brings you blessings and comfort, protection and grace. Radiant with divinity-am I, and you are my child, my beloved, my angel and my body too. I shall never leave you. Turn your inner eye to me and see the light of my grace in your heart. You cannot be harmed. You cannot be defiled. You can only ever be what you are - me, alive, radiant with love.
You are giving birth to more spirit than you have ever held before. During such times, a divine midwife can be helpful and supportive. This is Fatimah, Radiant Daughter of the Great Beloved, who reaches from the skies, who reaches up from within your body from deep within the earth, and brings you the gift of protection, grace and love. You are safe. You are held and you are bound within her warmth. She has received your prayers and she honours your devotion to life, to love and to growth.
She will help you. Ask for her blessing daily. You can use the simple sacred honouring ritual to do so if you need guidance on how to pray to her, but any words from your heart spoken in authenticity will suffice, no matter how simple or ornate they may be. She responds to the feeling behind the words and she responds instantly, beyond time and space； in fact, she has responded even now, perhaps before you even knew she was needed.
This oracle brings you the guidance that what is being born in your life right now, in your own consciousness as a seed 一 perhaps of a new way of being, a new idea, belief system, philosophy or sense of self - is going to come to maturity under the loving protection of the Divine Mother.
You are also being asked to heed your intuition and instincts. Have some discernment about who you involve yourself with and how you
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choose to use your time and energy. Allow yourself to feel Fatimahs guidance and comfort in you by giving yourself permission to be nurtured - through your own choices and the people or situations you say yes or no to in your life. This is a way to honour her presence and allow her to help you, which she wishes to do in all ways possible. Love is all things you see, dearest angel, and that means saying no can mean saying yes to something greater. So give yourself permission to say your no and yes as dictated by your heart.
This oracle also brings you the message that your body is sacred and worth your attention. You do not have to become obsessed, you do not have to push or judge your body, but you can honour him or her as a sacred animal through which your spirit creates soul and expresses itself in the world. This is a truly wonderful and amazing gift, extraordinary and yet fraught with challenge. The spirit can be powerful - sometimes it can be hesitant too - enough to really engage with the body and come to li 住：
There is a story that the angels sang music to lure the spirit into the body, but used to its freedom, it was reluctant to experience itself in what looked like rather confining matter! The spirit did not know that Fatimah would be initiating the spirit into her mysteries through the body. She was going to be sharing the sensuality of life, the sacredness of love, the deep mystery of life, death and rebirth, and the wonders of nature. She was going to show the Divine could live not only in light but also in flesh.
Fatimah holds the wildness of divine feminine wisdom and the sanctity of life. She has great gifts of ecstatic presence only able to be experienced through the spirit living in the body. She will share this if you allow her to guide you. Once the spirit recognises this, even just gets a whiff of Fatimahs glorious fragrance, the enthusiasm for life ignites, and the wonders of the world experienced through the body become a way to revere the Great Beloved, and turn all of life into the temple of love.
This oracle also comes with guidance. Giving your body rest and
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healing is most beneficial at this time. There are symptoms you are experiencing - anything from fiizzy-headedness to tiredness and aches and pains, as well as shifts in body temperature that seem unbalanced -and these are directly related, if not solely, to the interaction of your spiritual essence with your sacred animal body. These will even out under Fatimahs grace and protection, like two housemates learning to live together and enhance each other, rather than distract and annoy each other with their quirks and differences. This settling in process will happen all the more easily when you ask for Fatimahs help.
This oracle also advises that if you ask for help and protection in any matter, it will be granted. There is no exception to this rule. There is nothing you have done that has made you unworthy of divine intervention, grace and love. Not one thing, ever. Ask, trust and receive.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
Place one hand on your heart and one on your belly, and say the following aloud:
"Fatimah, who loves me unconditionally, bless me with your hand of protection and your radiant grace. May I love my body and live my divinity in totality.
My spirit is my body. My body is my spirit.
Arwahuna,
ajsaduna
wa-ajsaduna
arwahuna.n
Repeat, slowly and carefully, three times, then rest if you wish to. When you are ready, you have completed your sacred honouring ritual.
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44. MERCIFUL MOTHER JAMAL
O sudden resurrection!
O countless blessings!
O blazingfire in the jungle ofthoughts!
Today, you arrive with laughter to break open thejail.
-RUMI
You, blazing angel, capable of so much, you evoke the testing hand of life. Why not, when you cannot fail? Yet in your sweet surrender how can the Great Beloved not respond 切 kind, and offer you solace, comfort and mercy, for not all success must be hard~won. Can you imagine this? The sweetfiice ofthe all-powerficl? It shines upon you as the love emanatingfrom the Holy Mother's eyes, the golden radiance of her body and the gentleness of her touch. This is your birthright now, your divine inheritance. The mercy of the all-merciful. Let it soften the hard edges of your life andyour being, and bring to you the grace that is deserved.
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This oracle brings you a message. There is a shift taking place now in a matter of great importance to you - from Jalal to Jamal, from justice to mercy. This is your path, your destiny and your blessing, now opening up before you. It may be a particular matter; however, it likely includes your entire life orientation. You are being granted refuge, respite, and shelter from the storms of struggle and doubt, and being given a divine sanctuary of safe harbour. You shall find that the unravelling of the struggle and pain now happens through tenderness, a gentler approach.
You are also being asked to take stock of your own thoughts and attitudes. Having to be tough and play hardball in the past has served its purpose, yet this oracle comes to you with guidance to become softer in your way and your attitude. Can you gently, but firmly, place to one side the judge within, the one who keeps score and demands retribution, an eye for an eye, the exponent of absolute justice? Can you invite instead, the one who gentles the aggressive lord within and allows him to bow before the great lady who loves, is wise, and who steadies the workings of the world with the softest of touches ?
Don't fear that if you suddenly give yourself a break, all your discipline, hardness, toughness and suffering will go to waste. No, all things provide learning and serve divine purpose. But now there is no reason to continue in that way. It is time to learn another way. You are strong enough now to become gentle.
If there is a foe or fight in your life, ask for the Mother of Mercy to bless it into resolution. If you have also drawn the Hand of Fatimah, you are being told that this resolution is already on its way. You are being told now that you can stand your ground and remain in your strength without having to become aggressive or hard. You have more power than you realise and it is in your being. It is not in your ability to control others or manipulate situations, for such actions are unworthy of a being of your magnitude and are unnecessary for your success.
You are also being given the message that your prayers are powerful. Although action in the world is a part of your soul purpose and plan, when you pray, have conviction that your prayers are real, are heard
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and are responded to by the great universal heart. So pray carefully and thoughtfully. Be present and speak as if you were speaking to your dearest, oldest and most influential and powerful friend - because of course, that is exactly what you are doing. Pray from the heart and trust in the power of your prayers. There is no limit to what you can pray about, nothing too unspiritual or unworthy 一 nothing 一 so pray.
This oracle brings you the message that the great power of compassion is reaching for you, that it wants to help you but is waiting for you to ask. So ask, then you shall receive.
SACRED HONOURING RITUAL
With your hand on your heart, say: "I call upon Jamal, Mother of Mercy, upon Rumi, who loves me unconditionally, and ask for your grace, intervention and blessing now, in all matters of my life. I accept the help of the great universal compassion seeking to bestow itself upon me now. Thank you."
If there is a particular issue with which you are struggling, you may also like to speak of that specifically for a few moments in your prayer.
When you are ready, rest with both hands at your heart for as long as feels good.
You have completed your sacred honouring ritual.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALANA FAIRCHILD is a spiritual teacher surrendered in passionate service to the divine presence. She lives in communion with shakti, the awakened kundalini energy, to channel faces of the Divine Mother, including the compassion of Kuan Yin and Mother Mary, the fierce grace of the dark goddesses Kali and Sekhmet, and the rapture of sacred relationship between the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine.
Alana writes and lectures, and uses music, singing and dance, as well as guided healing meditations and energy transmissions from the Divine Mother, to stimulate divine alchemy - the stirring of your soul to remember its spiritual power and live to its full potential in this world, and to blossom into vibrancy and fullness.
Explore her bestselling work, including Kuan Yin Oracle, Isis Oracle and the beautiful Journey of Love Oracle, featuring further artwork by Rassouli, and join in her vivid in-person appearances and private consultations at www.alanafairchild.com.
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ABOUT THE ARTIST
RASSOULI is known in the art world for his stunning and insightful artworks. He is an artist of life, one who lives and expresses whatever he does from his heart. He describes himself as an ogler and a libertine, as one who sees beneath the surface, one who is free to express what he sees and feels and imagines! Whoever you thought he was yesterday, you can be sure he will bring something fresh and new to today, and he will surely come up with something fun for tomorrow.
Rassouli has inspired, invited, and encouraged creativity around the world through a process he calls Fusionart, which activates the creative power of the heart, expressing the wonder and the sensual beauty of the soul. He speaks about creativity in person, in his retreats, through articles and books and talks to groups, on the radio, in videos, and in films, and nowhere does he do it more magically than through his paintings.
Rassouli throws rules to the wind and dives into the moment and savours it, and his excitement for the process affects and stimulates everyone around him to do the same! He paints with rags, with his hands, and uses his favourite brushes when he feels moved to enhance what is happening on the canvas. He usually begins with a canvas primed with black paint and brings the light of vision to it, developing a relationship with the emerging image as he progresses.
Rassouli is presently living in Southern California to paint beauty,
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create inventive and original architectural designs, write books and articles and offer retreats to develop creativity in people of all ages and abilities around the world. Rassouli is dedicated to this vision and greatly excited about the value of creativity in changing lives. He is always searching for new ways to express this and invite every heart to discover their own unique ways of sharing.
You can visit his websites below to find out more about the seminars and retreats he runs on creativity and other topics, as well as his artwork.
www.herodaughter.com