3. Flowering in autumn

The path to the unknown.

The touch of the infinite mystery passes over the trivial and the familiar, making it break out into ineffable music…  The trees, the stars, and the blue hills ache with a meaning which can never be uttered in words.

~ Rabindranath Tagore

Leaning in to the light.

Oh my, it is cold today.  Not as cold as some are experiencing, and the only snowflakes I’ve seen around here are this one:

You never know what you might find when you go out for a walk.

It is blustery, and will get colder still as the day goes on and then into tonight and tomorrow.  I was going to write that I like snow with my cold, but I’ve seen what’s happening in upstate New York and know I should be careful about what I wish for, even if I don’t state it in the form of a wish.  (If you haven’t seen how much snow they’re getting up north, there is a slideshow here.)

Time to rest.

The house is currently filled with the scent of freshly baked bread.  M had the dough rising before he left for work (he is the baker around here), and I finished it off by baking it.  Although I have the heat turned down to save energy (and dollars), the yeasty, bread-y aroma somehow makes the house feel warmer.

Sunlight and wind in the woods.

I’m taking my rest day today.  I have always associated Sundays with a day of rest (for obvious reasons, I suppose, or at least obvious to those with a Catholic/Christian upbringing).  I thought it time to change that because Sundays can be a day of work around the Wabi-Sabi Ranch.  Weekends are sometimes set aside for the projects M and I work on together which is how it has to be since M works Elsewhere during the week.  Fridays, on the other hand, I have mostly to myself, making them a good day for resting and pampering.

One leaf.

A couple of weeks ago I treated myself by buying the Osho Zen Tarot: The Transcendental Game Of Zen deck and a book to go with it.  I already have several tarot decks that I bought years and years ago, but the Osho Zen Tarot is different.  The Foreword in the book states that rather than a focus on predicting the future “the Zen approach to tarot aims to bring clarity and insight to the present moment.”  Of course I don’t need tarot cards to accomplish that, but the cards have been adding an interesting twist.

On a side note, before I get to the point:  I’m thinking about giving away some of my tarot decks.  I haven’t unpacked them since we’ve been here, and there are at least a few people I know who would be interested in one or two of those sets of cards.  I have this strange desire lately to start giving a whole bunch of stuff away.  I’d better do it while the desire is upon me because releasing or letting go has never seemed easier than it does right now.

Catching light.

I’ve been drawing one card a day (rather than laying out a reading), and today’s card is called Flowering (the Queen of Rainbows, the Rainbows in this deck replaces the traditional suit of Disks, Coins, or Pentacles). You can see and read about the card here (you’ll have to scroll down).  The separate book I purchased, Tarot in the Spirit of Zen: The Game of Life, appears to describe the cards by excerpting Osho’s talks. (I’m not sure about that because I haven’t found anything that definitively states this to be so, or maybe I missed it, but they sure read like his talks.)

The heart in the woods near sunset.

The quoted talk that goes with the card Flowering is about enjoyment.

If you can enjoy even ordinary things of life, of course you will become capable of enjoying the extraordinary.  And the person who cannot enjoy the ordinary lacks the capacity to enjoy anything.  ~ Tarot in the Spirit of Zen

The greenhouse at sunset, appearing to be lit from within.

Osho talked about how “enjoying something is an art and this life is an opportunity to learn the art,” and this struck a chord with me this morning.  To understand why, you’ll need to read the end of the description of this card:

So you have to enjoy everything possible.  Go on finding ways to enjoy even things which seem on the surface unenjoyable.  If you search you will find some way to enjoy even the unenjoyable things.  And that’s the whole process of inner transformation.  A moment comes when you can enjoy everything.  That is the moment when light descends, when existence penetrates you — you are ready, your heart is ready. ~ Tarot in the Spirit of Zen

Let’s check out the lagoon.

You see, I started out the day trying to be Princess Cranky Pants.  I was awake for a good chunk of the night when I should have been asleep, and insomnia usually leaves me grouchy and ready to don my Princess Cranky Pants tiara, scepter, robe, and of course, the cranky pants, grouchy blouse, and grumpy shoes.  But every time I tried to work up a good head of grumpiness, I’d end up laughing at myself.

I blame it, in part, on the guided meditation I’ve been using for the past two weeks.  It’s on a CD that came with a Caroline Myss book I bought about ten years ago.  I didn’t use it much when I got it.  It dragged up intense emotions I must not have been ready to welcome at the time.  I tucked the CD away where it was forgotten, only to have it surface when I was unpacking some boxes recently.  Timing, they say, is everything, and the timing of finding this CD appears to be perfect because after two weeks of using it, I feel as if a storm blew through me, taking away some of the old hurts, fears, and anger, and now I’m all fresh and clear and sparkling new.  I’m not wording that correctly as I’m not sure how else to put it.  All that baggage didn’t just disappear.  I had to approach it with curiosity and find out all about it and welcome it as a part of me and… well, it’s difficult to explain so I’m giving up now before I make it even more confusing.

All about that light.

Well, I reckon that’s it from the Wabi-Sabi Ranch for today.  Do you have any plans for the weekend?  I’m going to be working around here, and hope to find time to leave the ranch to go on a hike somewhere.  Our roller coaster weather will be bringing warm temperatures again on Sunday and Monday (they’re saying 70’s by Monday!).  Sunday, I think, will be a good day to hike.

Thank you for stopping by and joining me on another ramble.  Have a great weekend!

The hidden Buddha.

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂

Today’s joys:  Lots of laughter; intensely joyful relaxation (sounds contradictory, but it’s not); listening to the wind sing; freshly baked bread; M, for being M.