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<Susanrose>
Welcome to the 2nd year Anniversary of )Gaia*Friends( !
*Sept. 21, 1997*
We come together from across the Planet,
forming a Group mind
all seeking the unity of Spiritual Growth.
As we prepare to listen to others.
Breathe in.......Deep
Feeling our connection to the air, the wind,
the water, the oceans,
the fire and molten lava,
the earth, the soil,
and the pulse and hummmm of all Life
in the web of GAIA, our mother, our Earth.
From the source of Light.
Let the love stream forth!
From the deep well of the collective human spirit,
let divine WILL bring empowerment to EVERY soul!
WE ARE READY
WE ARE ONE
WE WILL START.
Tonight's Topic is "Sharing Our Epiphany Moments".
First I will explain the topic, and why it was chosen.
Living a single life-style, one of the
questions I ask a person I am trying to get to know is:
Where were you in the time span of the late 60's, early 70's?
As a 1972 High School Graduate, it always seems fun to compare
what happened to the flower child generation, then and now.
Last July, my friend, Rosco answered me with,
"Oh, that was right around my Epiphany experience."
Very Curious, I asked what he meant by the
Epiphany experience. He said around that time he had a long summer
that he was able to do some introspection. During that summer, he
borrowed a tiny sail boat and went out onto a small lake.
While out in the middle
of this small lake, by himself, he started to think about bringing the
boat back to shore since it was getting late. Then, looking around the
lake at all the shore lines, he saw the tree lines and beautiful illumination
of the shore and lake in the light of the setting sun.
The colors deepened and the everything had a same quality of light,
an indigo blue.
Somehow time slipped away,
the natural beauty of the setting dissolved. For the next
several minutes(?) he was in a world between worlds.
Somehow the singular stillness and beauty of
the scene opened a doorway to a world between world, a parallel place
of wonder and ecstasy. In wordless, sightless, indescribable bliss, he savored
the divinity of the place he was experiencing.
Gradually, he came back to the physical, with just enough time to get the
boat back to the shore.
It was hard for Rosco to share this with me, an emotional experience he has
seldom shared due to the difficulty of how to describe the event in words.
He called it the Epiphany Moment, and it was a snapshot in time that he
can relive every time he recalls it, and somehow it touched him in a way to
enrich his life.
Epiphany is the name for a Christian holiday falling 12 days after
the Birth of Christ. A time when wise ones bring gifts to the Christ.
Not a Big Holiday like Easter or Christmas,
but a smaller stepping stone of joy and gratitude.
Our lives may have many of these such moments,
stepping stones that increase our hope and faith. A fan for the embers
of our souls to feel and ignite that presence of all that is.
While I enjoyed hearing Rosco's story, the idea of calling it
an "Epiphany" moment did not especially strike me as especially meaningful
until synchronisticly, the exact same definition and similar story showed up in my lap.
The Week of July 13, 1997, the NAACP (An African-American Organization)
held a National Convention here in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. There was a
story starting on the front pate about the leader of the NAACP, Kweisi Mfume.
This was in the Largest paper in Pittsburgh, the July 13, 1997 Post Gazettte.
The headline read: "Mfume's soul healed after life of crime"
Mfume is now a dynamic person, a leader of strength and potential.
His 5 terms in Congress gives him the experience of moving in white
society while being a Black American Leader.
He was at one time though,
a high school drop out from a poor home. Mfume, 48, now describes
himself as an eternal optimist who doesn't feel bound by expectations.
A smaller headline further into the story was : "AN EPIPHANY".
At this point, I nearly lost my breath with the incredible coincidence of the
title, and knew that this meant it must be shared with others.
Here I am paraphrasing what came next in the newspaper:
Mfume... points to a mysterious even in the summer of 1972
that 'ultimately became my miracle'.
He was hanging out at a corner dice game, as usual.
Suddenly, waves of spiritual emotion came over him. The sharp
talking hustlers around him faded from sound and view memories of his late,
loving Mother overwhelmed him. And then his life changed.
"I knelt and cried on the floor of my room that night,
I made a very real promise to God and myself that I would never go back
to the life I had known." He then obtained a GED, went to College,
entered politics in the Baltimore City Council.
Some of our Epiphany Moments may not be as dramatic as this one,
but like stepping stones, they serve to take us across to the desired
shore, providing moments of awakening and wordless understanding
of Spiritual Truths.
Any Comments?
<ori^> epiphany.. a moment of realization of where one is... and
that one can never return to the time before that moment
<Susanrose> great definition ori
<Melissa> well, I have noticed moments of "Breakthrough" in my
own life on a spiritual level after dark time...especially if I have lost faith
or felt self absorption and self pity
and then I HAVE to do something...and its at this time...
I feel the presence of something greater..and a merge with that Love...
...like...its just...YOU and GOD and then you MERGE
and realize you Aliveness and Awakened Consciousness
<tjmac> it often seems so, we need to venture into the dark
tunnel to find the other side
<Melissa> yeah...the aha place...the merge place...the awakened
consciousness place...is at the end of darkness alot
<daysi> Sometimes we don't realize until much later it was an
Epiphany moment
<faunus> it's when I found wicca
<Ebony> for me its a favorite song
<Susanrose> sometimes I forget just how powerful beautiful
inspirational music is... I must play it more and dance before
work, like Sunshine does (smile)
<Sunshine-> :)
<Susanrose> some are big and some are small, subtle
<Sunshine-> I have epiphany moments when I watch
"Touched by an Angel", SusanRose & I had an
epiphany experience when we saw the movie "Contact"
<Susanrose> Wow, Sunshine, I am so glad you reminded me of that...
<Ebony> That movie really 'moved' me
<Susanrose> We sat there and cried with joy, can could hardly
stand up at the end of the movie... we were the last ones out
of the theater
<tjmac> Contact was very ....deep
<Sunshine-> and inspiring
<Susanrose>
Looking back on my Epiphany Moments, several come to mind.
One was a dream that transported me interdimensionally to a feeling
place of bliss and a dejavous of our spirit home.
Another was a feeling
of power that surged through me when praying for union with Divine Will.
The one I want to share with you now however, is a sweet simple moment
in time that deepened my communion will the experience of all animal life on Earth.
My pregnancy of my only child was a difficult time. My marriage was unhappy,
finances worrisome, and my pregnancy uncomfortable. The night before my delivery contained an argument with my child's father.
The reason I am sharing this with you is that I was definitely not headed into
a place of bliss when I entered the hospital to have my baby. Sometimes
divine moments occur through prayer, meditation, chanting etc.
But other times they sweep over you almost unexpectedly. This was one of
those unexpected times.
The morning after my delivery, the nurse brought me my baby from the nursery
at the crack of dawn. (This was in 1979, when you were able to stay several days in the hospital after giving birth.) There were no visitors, and as the nurse left, there was
stillness in the room. While my milk was not quite in yet, I breast fed my daughter
and it soothed her.
While infants are mostly curled up in a fetal position, with
arms and legs bent and fists clenched, after feeding she relaxed, and all her joints
loosened in total relaxation. Her trust brought me joy. I laid her skin to skin on my belly and we became one again, as were when she was in the womb.
Looking out the nearby window,
the dawn was majestically arriving, the birds chirping.
A new November day, Indian Summer. There would be warm blue skies
as the last few birds flew south for the winter.
Somehow the peace of this moment in time reached my soul, and I was filled with
wordless happiness. All of my worries prior to that moment dropped away,
lost in insignificance. All was right with the world.
I thought of the birds nest, of the
bear's cave, whales, dolphins and felt a union with all animal parents and their offspring.
So this is why they do it... not that the pleasure of mating caught them into a hard life
of providing, protecting from predators, gathering, nurturing.
It was the joy of the flesh arising the flesh of
your bones, and sharing the wonderment of life together. That is why they birth
and raise their young, an emotion shared by humans as well. The birth is a completion of a cycle, life renewing, and being part of that miracle is awe-filling.
That is my moment to share. One I will never forget.
Comments?
<Melissa> I remember when giving birth to both my children that
I "Connected" to all the other birthing mothers of this world
past present and future as well....it was staggering
<Susanrose> yes, I connected to birthing mothers of animal life
as well as human
<Melissa> I connected to this incredible miracle consciousness
and it was psychedelic, it was like being on LSD, only better
<Susanrose> was it after the labor pains Melissa?
<Melissa> I didn't have pain...I did it quick and in
awareness...spiritual birthing both times...
<Susanrose> Wow Melissa!
<Melissa> yeah, I had read the book "Spiritual Midwifery in 1979
from a commune in Tennessee about spiritual consciousness in motherhood
and birthing and I did everything they talked about in the book
May Gaskins Book
<Susanrose> Melissa, my daughter was born 11-19-1979... :)
<Melissa> yeah, I bet
<Melissa> my son Jan 7, 1979
* tjmac graduated in 79
<Melissa> I think looking into the eyes of my children when
they were born was a moment of importance ..an AHA place
<Sunshine-> when I held my first grandchild !!!!
<Susanrose> :) Sunshine
<Sunshine-> One time, after a meditation, I felt a part of the
walls, the floor, the ceiling, connected to all.
It was as if I was everything and everything was me.
it was about 12 years ago
It was a peace that I had never experienced
<Susanrose>Reminds me of when I heard music like wind chimes
when I crossed over into to the heart/feeling bliss/love place...
<Avadhuta> Melissa you know the meditation that Gurumayi teaches
where you watch your thoughts?
well a few times I got to the place between thoughts
<Melissa> yes, Avadhuta, you know I am long time devotee in
Siddha Yoga and Gurumayi
yes, watching the origination of the thoughts ...
yes, that is where god is...that is the merge space...the space between breaths,
...the space between the mantra...that is a sacred place...
<Melissa>
Avadhuta, it is a blessing to feel this in-between space
<Avadhuta> Melissa I become everything
I somehow was creator of the universe
but it wasn't me, I never could figure it out
<Melissa> avad...becoming god...becoming alive...Ever read Baba
Muktanandas Book..."I Have Become Alive"??? That is the
in-between place...Awareness Consciousness...the experience of
gods presence and the merge...becoming god
<Susanrose> It is the part of you that is united with the divine
plan or consciousness
<ori^> however I see the merge experience to be different than
an epiphany
<Susanrose> yes, ori, I agree... we can have many stepping
stones of epiphany
<Sunshine-> an epiphany is an awakening experience, being in
the presence of oneness is different
I had an awareness of "direction" years ago when I saw the movie
"Star Wars", where Yoda was teaching Luke to use the force
<tjmac> :D
<Ebony> yes yes yes
<tjmac> I had an odd feeling of tuning in after seeing that movie
<Ebony> I still do
<daysi> That movie made me think about where I was in life.
It made me think a change was about to come for me.
<tjmac> and while walking home from it, I saw a Toyota car with
a broken nameplate...the To was missing....seemed an amazing
coincidence at the time...I laughed for quite some time
the cars name was ....yota
<Sunshine-> lol :)
<Sunshine-> how about the movie "Cocoon"?
It had some very good messages
<Ebony> when they were touching the beings of light
<Sunshine-> yes :)
<Susanrose>
Here are 4 submissions to the group that were in response
to the request in the group e-mail for us to send in our
Epiphany Moments to share.
(Pasting in the e-mail now)
I'll take this opportunity to introduce myself.
I'm Humphrey Cox 25 single male, living in Hong Kong.
I read almost all the discussion logs.
My Epiphany Moment
It was August 1994 I was 22 and part of self development group in
Wellington New Zealand. At this period of time my experience of life
began to speed up.
At the same time every event became ever more
connected as part of a process, that I was to pass through.
I felt like I was caught in a spiral but one of which I had chosen.
The spiral shape became visual as I let my thoughts and actions follow
my intuition. I was approaching the epicenter of the spiral I had been
in for some days It was as if I was passing(or ascending) a dimensional
doorway which had been opened or in the process of opening above the
night skies of Wellington.
I had also been shown the stars related to
this doorway. (This was all seemed a bit strange to me at the time)
That night I became very hot then very cold I felt I had to wash my
feet, many strange things happened. But I could see the end of the
spiral then at one point as I was sitting on floor I became very very
light, as if I was weightless, passing through the vortex of what
seemed like my spiral.
Then almost suddenly the most extreme weight came
down on me from above like nothing I've felt before.
That point of weightlessness was my "Epiphany Moment" and indeed the
whole process has changed my life.
Thank you all for giving me the opportunity to share these experiences.
I look forward to hearing about yours.
Humphrey (Hong Kong)
<Susanrose> This vortex thing seems to be a recurrent thing...
both in the near death experience as well as in mediation.
The second Moment that was shared in e-mail to me
came from Wayne and Sharon, in the state of Virginia. I will paste it here now.
Several years ago, shortly after we moved to Virginia, we attended a
workshop on how to work with "Nature", the Devic Kingdom.
It was in this workshop that we learned to perform a battle energy release on
parcels of land and how to work with Nature in designing an "Energy
Garden".
Shortly after that experience, we attended another workshop
which taught us how to communicate with Spirit. One of the tools which
was given us was the art of dowsing. When we learned that we could ask
questions of our higher selves, or others' higher selves, and get a
definitive physical response, my emotions were so heightened that I
could hardly contain myself.
This experience of learning dowsing
techniques validated all that I had learned over the previous years.
With this tool in "hand", Sharon and I took the liberty of doing a
"battle energy release" with the help of the Angels who work with us
here at Light Expression Farm. We had merged our tools with actual
physical and spiritual work to cause positive change with our land on
all levels.
The next major paradigm experience was the design of our first "Energy
Garden" here at the farm where the Devic Kingdom worked with us to
conceptualize a very interesting design and balance for this first
special garden.
It was in this garden that the Devic Kingdom offered
the first gemstones (we thought for balance initially) which we later
learned was the beginning of the gifting of the Light Expression Mineral
Essences.
Thank you for the privilege to contribute.
Wayne and Sharon McEachern
http://www.lightexpression.com
The next Epiphany Moment was sent to me from Rene Mueller in Switzerland :
There was such a moment of "Epiphany", where I was in Spain, and I was
walking through a city, with thousands of people, I started to feel a
light-presence, but in the same moment I knew, it was a human, in the
near of me, I was stopping to walk, a rushing energy went through me,
and time froze, I was watching to hundreds of faces in the streets, and
about several hundred meters (1/4 mile) away, I saw a woman, whose face
was radiating light, it was a human, but a spirit I deeply knew. I saw
her for less than one second, couldn't even see the facial expression,
but yet this was lasting forever. I didn't tried to find her, there was
no way to run for her, too many people, too far away about 2-3 blocks,
and it was not meant to be. It was a gift within linear time ... years
later I realized what I was seeing, some call it a parallel life, I was
encountering myself, in another body, even when I write this, it puts my
belief-systems up-side-down of what
I think I am ... in this sense, let
me add a quote from Pat Ard:
If you can understand the concept that our
souls are fragmented and existing on several
planes, then you are ready to consider this:
Our souls are indeed immense enough to exist
in many realities at once. A small seed of our
soul is all that is necessary to manifest in each
reality. This allows our soul to manifest many
times in each reality, plane, etc. In fact, we
run into ourselves everyday. The person sitting
next to you might, in fact, be a manifestation
of your soul seed. Once you grasp this concept,
consider that we are all, indeed, one.
Many sign their emails "We are one", but when you really really (!!) start
to experience it, you are never the same, and something in you knows
that you are in everybody ...
Peace,
Rene
<Susanrose> for the record :
Rene K. Mueller is
Webmaster of Spirit-WWW - The largest spiritual
web-site on the Internet. 1800 webpages, mailing-lists, chat-rooms and much more.
<Susanrose>
The last Epiphany Moment that was e-mailed to me
came from Thomas, From Tucson Arizona.
It is pasted here now:
In regards to tonight's topic I will share a short,
recent experience with you.
when I first received this computer I was quite daunted by the newness
of the media and my unfamiliarity with it and all things technological.
I am at heart a gardener and work with energy in a
physical, tactile way. so you might be able to imagine my reservations.
as I sat down the first night and time and time again tried to
(unsuccessfully) hook up to the net I felt that this was nothing more
than the mind sucking media I had heard about. but most interestingly,
when I walked outside to watch the sunset
I could see the clouds, the
light and the plants and trees around me in a way that was so refreshing
and I felt as if I was in a new world. everything seemed so real. I was
sensing the things themselves.
I feel this was because I had been so
absorbed in the computer experience that when I allowed myself to go
outside I left all preconceived notions inside. This is the basic
premise of so many mystic and spiritual systems, and
this is something I struggle with all the time.
To know things as they are, not as I am.
What a wonderful reminder, that
the part that likes to think, to exercise my brain is
a part that is just as important in my process as
the no-mind of meditation.
Again I feel I encountered a very basic
lesson of spiritual growth, to incorporate all parts of our being
without becoming a slave to any one, and to balance or harmonize all of
our aspects of self.
So that was my experience... if there is anything I can
do to help with the web site, or any other tasks relating to it (including a
ear to listen) please feel free to get a hold of me.
Namaste, Thomas
<Susanrose> any more Moments to share from the "live" gathering?
<Avadhuta> I have one don't know if its what you talking about
<Melissa8> cool Avadhuta...listening
<Susanrose> go ahead Avadhuta
<Avadhuta> I am a recovered drug addict
when I started drugs made me feel whole
next month I will be sober 10 years
<faunus> congratulations!
<Susanrose> good work!
<daysi> Way to go, Avadhuta
<Avadhuta> Then about 4 years ago I had an operation
well I was given the drugs I was high but something was different
I felt different, I said hey this is a free high so enjoy
<Melissa8> what was different?
<Susanrose> how so?
<Avadhuta> drugs no longer make me feel whole
when I got home, I cried and I laughed and I got down on my knees
and gave thanks and I said
free at last free at last, thank god I am free at last
<Susanrose>{I am getting goose bumps listening to this}
<Melissa> great!!!
<Avadhuta> and I cried and I laughed more
* tjmac *smiles*
<Avadhuta> I am free, and I cry now remembering
<Susanrose> I cry with you...joy
<Avadhuta> yes, that's all, don't know if that is what ya were talking
about. That was special moment in my life
<Melissa8> yeah it is...
<tjmac> thank you Avad, my friend for sharing this
<faunus> we should call "this breakfast at epiphany's"
<Susanrose> Thank you for attending this 2 year mark
of the gathering on irc called )Gaia*Friends(.
As birds of a feather flock together, may light workers
unite, encourage and inspire each other to the brightest
glow possible. With the increase in our vibrations
we tell Gaia we have not forgotten our shared Divine destiny.
Good night to all!
<Melissa8> wow SR farout
love and light bye people...its been great
<Avadhuta> later all, sweet dreams
<Summer> thank you everyone. It was a fascinating discussion.
<faunus> thanks, this is by far the best irc room.
<Sunshine-> We thank you for your dedication to this awakening
channel, Susanrose, for your time and energy
<Susanrose> Thanks Sunshine!!!
<faunus> may it last to the 200th anniversary!