Time with a Rainbow

The rainbow.

This became my personal practice some years ago. I was looking for an easy way to feel good and love God. The material world was deep in its lululemons doing agitated yoga, the indios began to surface from trees and wombs with earth based practices gaining respect (or appropriation, depending on how you see it) from the masses… Jesus was/is still King, even in my own conflicting, hypocritical, potpourri of a spiritual practice He is my lord and savior. My heart though was open to the kind of love that included all people, all practices. How could it be that most of the faithful agrees that there is only one God but disagrees completely on who God belongs to?

My need for love and religion that doesn't reproach, reject or withhold found the rainbow.

The rainbow speaks to lineages that were forced into religion but could not deny the magic of blessings and curses at play over many generations. This is true on both my paternal and maternal lines. We have some ugly family patterns that keep us separate and secretive. So how can you learn about ancestry if no one is willing to talk about it? How can I ever know if my paternal great grandmother, served cacao if none of us speak to each other? There is no one left to ask. What were her secret remedy’s and recipes? No one I want to know knows. My maternal grandmother was secretive too but at least she gave clues. She reminded me to turn my pillow over so as not to forget my dreams. She fed us well and encouraged us to pay attention because by keeping quiet and watching you could learn a lot. She spoke in anecdotes and it may not have been a direct line into her spiritual practice but it came with some basic training. Light candles every week on a Monday for your ancestors who watch out for what you can’t see and be much more afraid of the living than the dead. In a family where these themes echo from both sides of the mountain I learned to have other allies.

My practice with the rainbow connects my body with trust knowing there is an intricate internal energy system that links my own well being to my own thoughts and feelings. That system works in my favor and I am not separate from it. It is Self generating. There is usually little to do about others and everything to do about myself. So I sat inside of colors and sang the seed sounds in search of unshakeable joy. I cared less about others and more about myself so that ultimately I could care more for others but without abandoning myself.

I began to believe that if something is true then it’s always true, otherwise its not. This process helped me open my own eye. My ear of discernment developed. It helped me understand why secrets are important.  The seven energy centers we call chakras begin at the base of the spine and follow a line up to the crown of the head. They talk to one another, bring vitality and can easily be tapped into by imagining their corresponding colors. Just like a rainbow. I would not have found it without the storm.

You can try it with me now, imagine red at the base of the spine, orange then yellow just near the navel, green for the heart, indigo at the throat, violet between the eyebrows and a beautiful iridescence shooting through the crown into the heavens. It is so simple and effective, just remember we are created by a benevolent power that gives us everything we ever need. An entire kingdom within. 

Don’t forget to breathe

Talk of the kingdom reminds me of God’s promise to Noah, that He would never again wipe away the living beings of the earth and that every time they saw the rainbow they should be reminded of this promise. You can find this in the book of Genesis and in Revelations there is talk of Him seated at His throne enveloped in an emerald light, the color of the heart. Come to class next week so you can hear me talk about it with more detail. The rainbow reminds me of death and heaven, the place our dead travel to for ultimate rest and joy.  Rainbow medicine and Cacao, a known vasodilator, is served in ceremony to open the pathway to the heart. I wonder how much of my family line loves chocolate like I do. For now I enjoy my mashed up ideas and let them tell a story slowly as I learn.

Much is revealed in divine time and secrets have their importance. I have learned that anything meant for me will surely be revealed but there’s no need to wait on it. In the waiting I have had to face my own defeat. I accept. I think the key is to do the best with what you’ve got while you’ve got it. This can be a challenge but when everything falls apart and we continue to wage war on each other we are often brought to this conclusion. Just stop. Quit it. Put space between you and it. In the meantime I can turn to something that always feels true. If caught in a loop of my own self loathing I can surrender to a beautiful bridge that appears mostly after terrible storms. A rainbow system within me. An entire kingdom.

I know I am just an ordinary person but deep in me is a voice that tells me I am meant for extraordinary things. We will all die one day. All of us. Everything that is alive will cycle through death. The anguish and suffering that is alive one moment will cycle through and die to the inevitable freedom and joy promised in a moment with a sunrise, a sunset, a baby laughing, the honest gaze of true love. The sun dies for the moon, the moon dies for the sun and each brings wonderful gifts. The old me dies to the new me. One day this body will die for this everlasting soul. So why not let this thing die too? Let go of the family that isn’t. Surrender to the love that won’t.

While here as a bridge between the mundane and the mysteries and before it is too late I will move in silence more often, stay home, let go of everything. Move forward lightly. I let live those extraordinary things in me asking for their cycle.

Thank you for subscribing and reading my words. I hope this newsletter has touched your heart over the years.  I promise I am getting over all of this. I am so over it.

Next week class is in the kitchen. If you’re subscribed to the newsletter then you’ll get the invite for class and the recipe.