The Secret Garden of Eden

I just wrote a paper for my Humanities class on the Garden of Eden. I have always been fascinated by the story. It is layers deep and whether coming at it from a Christian perspective or not, it is deep and resonates to some very sacred spaces. First, God is omnipotent, present, scient, and creates Man in His image and then Woman from Man. He gives them a beautiful Garden and bids them reign freely, eat, multiply: LIVE! One thing, the are instructed NOT to do. Do not eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. But along comes the Serpent. He is clever and speaks smoothly. Tells them they will become as God and their eyes will be opened if they do eat of this strange fruit. If Man is created in his image, how will the fruit make them become as God? God later blocks of the garden with Angels and a sword of fire to keep the fruit from being eaten. To keep man from living forever. After eating the fruit, Adam and Eve see they are naked. They see and are ashamed of their transgression. They are sent from the garden and the serpent, the woman and the man are given the weight of curses they must now bear. Christians see this as the Original Sin. They see now that all humans are born into sin. Jews however see that we are all born of ONE. That we are all brothers and sisters (Rabbi Talushkin's: Jewish Literacy, pg 6-7; 250) They see that Man is allowed to argue with God. I am wondering, where is the Garden of Eden. Is it a state of consciousness that allows us the freedom to live rather than work to live? Is it an awareness that gives us the potential to live forever? Is the Garden of Eden a place that awaits us in the center vibration of each individual moment? Is it a choice?

I would love feedback as my mind is interpreting and resonating on the multiple layers the intensity of the meat of this Beautiful Story.

Namaste~
Lady Rain.

Divinity Won

 Forbid them not to come unto me/only the truth will set us free/i reverberate deep on these things meant to be/i see Auset growing strong inside of me/watch me please/careful not to slip and fall/head held high as I'm growing tall/stand tall beside me we don't bend or break/and i remind myself sometimes its okay to sob and shake/i'm never fake/i quake but never crumble/get up after I stumble/walk when i cannot run/will never quit/here till the race is done/victory won/we the rising Sun/Phoenix to a broken people/new temple/new steeple/we reaching past all things yet understood/we know what's good/we propegating freedom to all who are actively seeking/preaching the good doctrine/never mocking or too cocky/we rocking the shores with waves/a new Dawn rising/constantly surmising/we enterprising/time to rise and shine/Here we are/in active search of the Divine

Zarathustra, a Humble Hero

Hymns of Zarathustra, Yasna 30

“Now I will speak to those who will hear

Of the things which the initiate should remember:

The praises and prayer of the Good Mind to the Lord

And the joy which he shall see in the light who has remembered them well.

Hear with your ears that which is sovereign good;

With a clear mind look upon the two sides

Between which each man must choose himself,

Watchful beforehand that the great test may be accomplished in our favour.

 *                     *                        *

Now at the beginning the twin spirits have declared their nature,

The better and the evil, In thought and word and deed.

And between the two the wise ones choose well, not so the foolish.

And when these two spirits came together,

In the beginning they established life and non-life.

And that at the last the worst experience should be for the wicked,

But for the righteous or the Best Mind.

Of these two spirits, the evil one chose to do the worst things;

But the Most Holy Spirit, clothed in the most steadfast heavens,

Joined himself unto Righteousness;

And thus did all those those who delight to please the Wise Lord by honest deeds.

Between the two, the false gods also did not choose rightly,

For while they pondered they were best by error,

So that they chose the Worst Mind.

Then did they hasten to join themselves unto Fury,

That they might by it deprave the existence of man.

And to him came Devotion, together with Dominion, Good Mind and Righteousness:

She gave endurance of body and the breath of life,

That he may be thine apart from them,

As the first by the retributions through the metal.

And when their punishment shall come to these sinners,

Then, O Wise One, shall thy Dominion, with the Good Mind,

Be granted to those who have delivered Evil into the hands of

Righteousness, O Lord!

And may we be those that renew this existence!

O Wise One, and you other Lords, and Righteousness, bring your alliance,

That thoughts may gather where wisdom is faint.

Then shall Evil cease to flourish,

While those who have acquired good fame shall reap the promised reward

In the blessed dwelling of the Good Mind, of the Wise One, and of Righteousness.

If you, O men understand the commandments which the Wise One has given,

Well-being and suffering-long torment for the wicked and salvation for the righteous-

All shall hereafter be for the best.”

In a world, where agriculture was key, and plants were considered sacred, the prophet, Zarathustra was born. We find ourselves in the geographic realm later to become Iran, six centuries before the name Christ ever came into play. In the story of Zarathustra, his existence came to pass because of a very sacred transfer as the essence of Ahura-Mazda (the One God) passed into a plant, and further into a priest. The priest then mates with a woman of noble birth and they bear a son, Zarathustra.

Zarathustra is neither wealthy nor a great ruler; he is a humble man earnest in his endeavor to gather followers for Ahura-Mazda and lead his fellow man toward the Good Mind. Zarathustra understands himself to be a prophet. He speaks to Ahura-Mazda with respect but as a friend. It is said they exchange covenant, honoring the existence of one another with commitment. “Each declared himself to the other. They exchanged promises, doctrines, and commands.”1

As Zarathustra begins to write the Avesta (the Sacred Scripture for Zarathustrianism) he radiates throughout, the spirit that all who actively honor the Good Mind are Redeemers to their people. “The future redeemers of the peoples are they who through the Good Mind strive in their deeds to carry out…Righteousness.”1 However, his prophecy is not readily accepted by his own people and his aim as he leaves his pastoral society is to find a Prince that will propagate his sacred truths. Thus begins his Road of Trials.

At this time, pantheistic, polytheistic, or aesthetic views are recognized. Zarathustra eliminates all other gods but Ahura-Mazda by negating the practices of blood sacrifices and liquor offerings, thus “starving” the gods. The aspects of these once “fed” gods augment into shadow layers of Ahura-Mazda.

As one reads the Gathas, the pervading spirit aligns itself to man’s choice between the better and evil, truth and the lie, the Best Mind and the Worst Mind. “He who first by the mind filled the blessed spaces with light, He created Righteousness by his will, by which he upholds the Best Mind.”1

The Gathas are believed to have survived well due to their poetic cadence which when framed in the primitive time-set when they were written, allowed for ease of memorization. The Gathas inspire all who read it to follow Asha (the Spirit of Truth) and be blessed with perfection and immortality. Those who do not would be met with the consequence of eternal misery.

Unlike the turn-the-other-cheek philosophy that pervaded proscribed Christian nature, in Zarathustrianism, evil is met with evil. Ahura-Mazda is a god of justice, not mercy. The urvan (soul) is accompanied in this life by a guardian spirit (fravashi). On the Bridge of the Separator, Ahura-Mazda ultimately judges the urvan that is passing to the other side. Those urvans that have chosen to actively participate in the battle between truth and falsehood and have honored the Best Mind, will continue on into perfection and immortality. However, those who have chosen to follow the Lie, will be met with an Abyss (relate to the Christian Hell).

Zarathustra was pronounced a “saoshyant” (savior) due to his urgent need to speak the truth, gather followers, and warn of the coming Apocalypse. However, he pleaded, “May we be those who make existence brilliant.”3

He certainly had attained his status as Master of the Worlds. He translated fluidly speaking for the people to Ahura-Mazda and for Ahura-Mazda to the people. His humility perpetuated an aura that many feel around his name still today.

There are less than 200,000 Zarathustrians recognized as practicing in the World today. However, after a recent trip to Iran, Paul Kriwaczek stated, “…nobody could have helped noticing an undercurrent of something else…the Spirit of Zarathustra still powerful after thirteen hundred years of Islam.”2 That is one powerful Ren (Egyptian name that lived on long after the bearer had crossed over).

The dualism represented in Zarathustrianism and the moment by moment conscious belief that our free will offers man a choice to either follow the Best Mind or the Worst Mind; to either be blessed with perfection and immortality or suffer eternal misery really excites my sense of spirituality.

As I look at my reflection in the face of Zarathustra, I see a prophet(ess) ready to rise in order to honor the Best Mind. I see a woman who is in turn able to inspire that all beings rise to the occasion of being the best version of themselves they are capable of reaching.

In the words of Zarathustra, “May we be those who make existence brilliant.” May we all find the Freedom to Live and become heroes unto ourselves. May we inspire others to their greatness. It is our time to rise!

                       

1.    The Hymns of Zarathustra by Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin. Beacon Press. Boston 1952.

2.    In Search of Zarathustra by Paul Kriwaczek. Alfred A. Knopf. New York. 2003

3.    Zoroastrianism: World Religions. Updated Edition. Paula R. Hartz. Facts on File, INC. 2004

The Hymns of Zarathustra: Yasna 30

Now I will speak to those who will hear
Of the things which the initiate should remember:
The praises and prayer of the Good Mind to the Lord
And the joy which he shall see in the light who has remembered them well.

Hear with your ears that which is sovereign good;
With a clear mind look upon the two sides
Between which each man must choose himself,
Watchful beforehand that the great test may be accomplished
in our favour.

       *                   *                         *

Now at the beginning the twin spirits have declared their nature,
The better and the evil,
In thought and word and deed. And between the two
The wise ones choose well, not so the foolish.

And when these two spirits came together,
In the beginning they established life and non-life.
And that at the last the worst experience should be for the wicked,
But for the righteous on the Best Mind.

Of these two spirits, the evil one chose to do the worst things;
But the Most Holy Spirit, clothed in the most steadfast heavens,
Joined himself unto Righteousness;
And thus did all those those who delight to please the Wise Lord
by honest deeds.

Between the two, the false gods also did not choose rightly,
For while they pondered they were best by error,
So that they chose the Worst Mind.
Then did they hasten to join themselves unto Fury,
That they might by it deprave the existence of man.

And to him came Devotion, together with Dominion, Good Mind and Righteousness:
She gave endurance of body and the breath of life,
That he may be thine apart from them,
As the first by the retributions through the metal.

And when their punishment shall come to these sinners,
Then, O Wise One, shall thy Dominion, with the Good Mind,
Be granted to those who have delivered Evil into the hands of
Righteousness, O Lord!

And may we be those that renew this existence!
O Wise One, and you other Lords, and Righteousness, bring your alliance,
That thoughts may gather where wisdom is faint.

Then shall Evil cease to flourish,
While those who have acquired good fame
Shall reap the promised reward
In the blessed dwelling of the Good Mind, of the Wise One, and of Righteousness.

If you, O men understand the commandments which the Wise One has given,
Well-being and suffering-long torment for the wicked and salvation for the righteous-
All shall hereafter be for the best.

Reconfigure

I wade my weight through Dawn's early rising
Constantly surmising what is and what is not surely meant to be.
Freedom seeks and tethers me
Hard pressed against her star-shaped cosmogony
I am trying to see what is this burning Phoenix rising from inside of me.
This heart shaped box is the propensity of my Destiny
I am letting go of the flesh of me and offering up the ghost of Yesterme
I am setting free all the parts no longer meant to be
I consider all I am prepared to see
And realize the focus meant is the breath in me
I am reckoning to the stars we all were born of
Walking through the waters as my location is getting warmer
And I remember not regret all things former
Because I realize they are all a part of who I am
Standing at the brink of eternal salvation
And the Universere prepares me with her conflagration
I am reminded by deep soul penetration
This sensation running down my spine is no longer explained by Father Time
I am serpentine, coiled and shedding my skin
Drink me in and the rest will flow
Nature is the Wu Wei to my soul
I fall out of control and simply float
A message in a bottle encapsulated and flowing out of time
Rhyme over reason
Change of the season
Some will accuse me of treason
But I remember why I came
Hard pressed to find a body
And please let go of all your mocking
We are a temple in the making
There is no more time for idle faking
Shaking of the fist or anger at the sky
It is our time to rise

Among the Stars

First, I have to say I am sorry for Whitney Houston's family, loved ones, friends and fans. Her voice carried us through many of life's beautiful endeavours and I am saddened by her tragic end. May we all remember, we never know when it is our time. We all suffer vices, addictions, fears, & afflictions. May we rise above & become the stars we are.

And made of stars we are. Our physical must learn to carry our divinity far. "Cars pass by on Dawn's Highway Bleeding." (Jim Morrison). I am the ghost of yesterday past when I do not allow yesterday to remain in the past. Of course all we have accomplished and every limitation we have faced is a part of our positive tomorrow. Yet, there are many choices we can make that will allow us the freedom to build a brighter tomorrow, sooner rather than later.

Right now, in my personal life, I am being tried by the Universe with cosmic fire. I am building the necessary breaths to become the right words at the right time to the right people. I am a constant walking work in progress. Evolution of soul. That is my purpose. My inspiration. My perpetuation. I hunger and thirst for righteous knowledge.


The thing about myself I am most seeking to augment is my natural tendency for worry, anxiety, nervous circular patterns in my mind. I am a perpetually positive person, yet, I seem to fret my way through the beginning stages of any unfortunate event. All the while, my spirit overstands that what is happening is for a reason yet the season still causes me fear. Fear and love, being our two base emotions, this become more readily understandable when digesting my human mind. However, I desire to rise above. Nirvana awaits in every breath. Who knows what moment will be our last of this present incarnation.

My truck, (a.k.a. Lady Blue, a.k.a. Blue Beast, or simply Beast)  was repossessed by people that have much less claim on it than I do if we were to look at it outside of this broken system. I had almost rebuilt my credit to a high level. I had consolidated through a debt management company. Blah~blah~blah! I cried. I will be honest, it has not been easy. I have played by their rules. I am hard working. Passionate. Intelligent. I feel like I failed. I feel like I lost the match. I know that material things are nothing in the spiritual realm. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not rapped up in them or hard to please. A Saturday walk in the park and a nap in the Sun on a blanket is worth more than a million dollars in my Universe. However, I lost my house, my dog, my grandparents, my man, my truck all in just over a year's time. Why? Now, that, my darlings is the question.

So, I began writing a song that I am very much looking forward to finishing. You can take everything, everything I own. But you can't take this music out of my soul. Come on, let them take it all away. I ain't gonna change. This point of view, well it ain't that new. We an ancient people with ancient truth. So, come on baby take it all away. I ain't gonna change.

Within this time of Cosmic Augmentation, I have also lost a few of the people who housed my Inner Sanctum. I ask myself, why? Well, the answer has come to me on multiple levels in multiple harmonic resonances. I am grateful for all Wu Wei is guiding me to. I am becoming stronger, and more ready for my Destiny. Painful, though it certainly is. I am utterly grateful.

I walk on lighter, more focused, and with renewed spiritual charge. They can take me down to my backpack and my Sneakers, and I will still walk across this globe, fresh music spilling over the top of my soul. They cannot control my Destiny, and it rests great with me. I may falter, fall or sometimes feel failure. But, I will never quit, I will never cease to exist. I am eternal filled with Divine Essence of holy unadulterated life. I am all that I was meant to be. And by the time this is done with me, I will be all that I need to be at exactly that moment in time.

Stars we are, and to the stars shall we return. Burn the brightest your soul can be, and all will open before you in due time. In due season. It is treason to doubt. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. May we all remember what it is to breathe. To truly believe. To leave the guesswork for the forces that guide our lives.

Thank you to all who have offered support. Thank you for the waves of love and healing that have come to me from all parts of the globe. I love you all.

      ~bless~
Live. Love. Laugh.
  ~~*RAin*~~

Toddler

Wild storms/she warns/i falter/i offer an explanation on the most holiest of altars/my soul dives deeper to mediate the purpose/i have never let myself wonder if it's worth it/i swim through the choppiest of waters/down on my knees and I remember i'm her daughter/she grants me a solution/if this time I will listen/pivot point/i turn to go/but fall on my knees instead/i am struggling to write these words/my tired brain escapes me/i linger on the purpose/ and realize that is what always saves me/like so many years ago/i taught cali to change her mistakes to something useful/my artwork is just a series of such layers/we players/i think not/this is a serious business/we reminisce and find bliss when we least expect it/i have been neglected/the time to take care of myself has come/i honor all i proffer/call myself down upon the altar/i am the sacrifice they've needed/if only to my own words i had heeded/i breed insanity sometimes/but only once in a distant while/we mesmerize the universe with the stupidity we do not intend/we mend our fences/drop pretenses/backspace our mistakes/until the words seem to somehow make sense/we flow like rivers down valleys and over canyons/we are not abandoned/only learning to stand on our own

Number One

Night blindness. We suffer from the winding of roads we cannot see. I am not a black and white, traditional, organized anything. But, a little faith is a good thing. Truth spoken. We wonder. We worry. We gain anxiety in our chest, and leave no room for proper breath. We fill our bodies with things that are not made of health. We are temples. People say, "You are what you eat." Well, what have we learned in this digitally advanced, imagery ridden, technological age? Did we cure cancer? Have we done away with waning eyesight? Did we figure out how not to contract HIV, STD's? Have we learned how to respect other nationalities, cultures, religions? Where are we headed? As America suffered a lapse in economy, what kind of thoughts have gone through our minds? Are we ready to take steps forward to create a new model? Can we bring the jobs home? Can we all learn to do what we love and return to an age of Craft, Trade, Calling? If Happiness is a choice and positive thought can breed forward momentum, then I suggest the motion to the floor that we get up now, together! I am ready. So many of us are. We cannot stay seated and continue to complain about what is wrong in our society. We must be passionate, believe we CAN. Commit that we WILL. And get up and make it happen. Are we listening to the slogans, commercials, the propaganda we allow our brains to radiate? All I am trying to say, is now is the time. Now is the hour. Ours is the light. Ours is the power. We are the ones here to make a difference. May we stand up now and remember. Remember why we approached life on this planet. Remember how we became lazy and stagnant. Realize we are able to change it. Then, get up and make it so.

Latest Version

We are a society at war with ourselves. We tell ourselves things we know are bad for us will make us happy. We spend hours in front of one screen or another (yes, I see the irony) wasting time on momentary satisfaction of television, pornography, video games, etc. Later we complain that we have not time to do the things we "really would like to do". Where are we aiming our ascension? What type of society would we like to bridge to? We sit around moaning about what is wrong with the world while we make mediocre attempts to affect change all the while telling ourselves that we "tried". I am just as guilty as any other human being. I am aware of my vices. Aware of my fault lines. I am ready for change. Great and cosmic, mountain moving, inexorable change. I am ready to move mountains. I am ready to walk across the Ocean. I will build a bridge across races, religions, cultures, sexual preferences. We must alter our course or all these Armageddon (and similar) prophecies will become our reality. I believe we have a choice. I know that I do. I intend to make the best version of me that is Divinely and Humanly possible. I am back in school. I am engaging in fasting, prayer, meditation, building effective mantras, writing my emotions into unison with the cosmic forces around me. I am studying the life and Spirit of Doctor Martin Luther King, JR. I am gleaning in from so many sources right now. I am steadfast in my direction. I am realizing the full light of my potential. The only thing I could hope is that all of us will become the best version of ourselves that we can possibly be. Forward momentum. Perpetual groove. People on the move. One person can affect world change.

No Other

Rain from the skies/this world cries/as we just sigh/kick our feet up and say goodnight/we have the rest of our lives/but that could be just this night/we should offer up the best of our might/and make it right/she has struggled long and hard by all the waste matter we'd rather not have in our own back yard/and all of us are guilty/every single last shard/of the one divine essence some call GOD/we marinate this sod with our lies and our facades/our feaux finish and silent nods/we are no longer a mirage/we have got to turn it up/the heat in our souls will tear things up/if we accentuate the negative/we refuse our right/commit to live/we are the ones with opportunity to give/a brand new day to the dawning of the ascended age/we wage wars with ourselves and no one else/we pretend not to notice the mistakes we make as we motion for the ref to call the shots/we'd rather focus on the have nots/instead of what we have to offer to make the mile marker shine brighter/ignite this fire/and may our individual flames burn higher/so those lost in the darkness/realize they can do what they do like no other/some call me the Rain/some call me the mother goddess/Hathor my name/just remember when we honest/reflecting on our instincts/reverberating our feelings/remembering why we came here/ready to rise above the din/one voice can affect change