Tag: BEAUTY

The Flute

The Flute

Inspired from an autumnal trip to Ireland and Irish music, I ordered an Irish flute from a Dublin music store and anxiously awaited its arrival. I had already secured a bodhran over a year ago and have enjoyed playing it and a brass whistle so the flute felt like the next step in Celtic music appreciation and cultivation.

I’ve played native flutes for many years so didn’t think it would much of an adjustment but the first time I attempted a note on the Irish flute, the wildlife in my home scattered. My dog Buddy ran to the door of the room and begged to go out. (Sigh).

Many things come easy for me so a growing edge in life is to stick with something that challenges me, makes me dig deep. Enter this new aggravation….I mean challenge…the Irish flute.

My musical expressions are a prelude to daily meditation. The first day I played the new flute I took my frustration into the silence. What have I done? Why would I bring something into my life that makes me so frustrated?

A memory surfaced. I was standing at the top of a very high cliff at the Atlantic Ocean in Ireland. A strong wind was blowing and there were free-standing metal pipes with holes drilled in them. I stood between the pipes and listened as the wind danced through them. Otherworldly harmonies sang out the celebration of life.

After the elemental concert, I sat in deep, fluffy, green grass and wrote in my journal. As I walked up the steep hill, to the ancient fortification, all of my walls crumbled and I became an open channel for Spirit to move through–a flute for the Winds of Heaven to play and bring forth beautiful music to the world.

In the stillness of meditation I remembered so clearly the feeling of being a clear instrument through which the Universe can play melodies that heal, delight, make glad. The Irish flute is a teacher to help me remember to be open and receptive to being a clear channel for love and compassion, power and strength. The new flute and other flutes and whistles are to help me bridge the physical realm and the realm of Spirit.

My playing, in just a few days, has very much improved. As I carefully sound the notes and move my fingers, I imagine myself as a living flute. The notes are the voice of Spirit moving through me. It has become not just a prelude, but an important part of my meditative practice.

All of us can be instruments if we open to the possibility. We can create stillness and space within to allow the music of the spheres to arise within and come forth as beauty we share with the world.

Véineas agus an Ghealach

Véineas agus an Ghealach

Pre-dawn in Árainn, Ireland….I’m still dreaming of being there.

I woke at 5am and rushed to put on my cycling clothes along with a Smartwool undershirt. It was the first crisp day to ride of the best riding season of all on the Alabama Gulf Coast….which is ANY time the humidity drops below 80% and the mornings are crisp.

As I pulled onto the highway with my bike loaded on the back of the car, the sliver of the crescent moon hung very low in the eastern sky with venus in perfect alignment beneath it. The crescent was horns up with the dark of the moon creating a perfect circle above it. And there was a red planetary body to the right of the moon. The triangular alignment was spectacular. It made me think of a delicate silver moon necklace with a small chain hanging down dangling a brilliant diamond beneath it.

All the way to the state park I watched the beautiful firmament. Stars twinkled and all seemed to point to the incredible dance of the moon, Venus and Mars.

When I stepped out of the car, the chilly wind caught me by surprise but not nearly as much as the constellations shining so brightly overhead. I attached lights to my bicycle, put on my shoes, helmet and jacket and took off into the darkness.

One of the many, many moments of bliss I discovered within myself in Ireland.

Immediately I recognized the feeling and it was the first time, since returning from Árainn, Ireland, I felt it. Stars, chilly air, darkness, nature…..ah…..laughter erupted as I pedaled. It was awesome to be able to find my bliss again and find home in my skin.

After such a powerful time of travel and adventure, there is often a time when the big energy that built with the experience collapses and life returns back to a place that wasn’t so awesome. But the changes and leaps made in Ireland continue to propel me forward. The energy of change and growth remains strong and the renewal gained there is clear and bright.

Véineas agus an Ghealach….Venus and the Moon reminded me how my wild woman self loves stars whether under pine trees with a humid breeze or on rocky shores of the Atlantic Ocean. May I continue to dance with wild abandon to the untamed heart within me.