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April 1 – A Thousand-Mile Journey
April 1st ended up becoming very special to me. I was approved to begin formal Daoist Priestess training – and it began yesterday. A thousand-mile journey begins with a single step… and a 1000-day training commitment began with a single day. This New and Full Pink Moon cycle finds a lotus of a beginning in a time of muddy chaos and uncertainty…
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Daoist Rabbit (Long)
Much is happening at this point of the cold season. We have moved into the Chinese New Year of the Metal Rat, and I have been proceeding through the second stage of discernment. I am halfway through this portion of the Daoist Priest training, which will last another three months. After that ends, I am hoping to be deemed eligible to begin the final stage of the training, which will last about three years.
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Depth Perception
I am shortly beginning the second of three Daoist training periods. This one will be at least six months long, and will have me journeying out to the West Coast to train under my Shifu for a few days. Upon receiving the syllabus and instructions for this part of the training, I was both excited and admittedly intimidated. I felt as though the first level was kind of a ‘see how this feels / Daoism as a casual philosophy or hobby’. This second level is quite a bit more intensive.
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Full Huntress / Blood Moon 2019
I love Autumn so much. And this week, we had some of our first real, fall weather for the year. I also recently celebrated a birthday with friends and family, and in the past month, completed the first section of my Daoist training.
The Huntress / Blood Moon is traditionally the time when one hunts game and culls the herds, storing meat for the upcoming Winter. It has found me working at culling some bad habits, and storing their healthier counterparts for the introspective season.
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New Huntress Moon 2019
Past the Equinox, truly into Autumn. Fall is my favorite season, without question, and it begins what I consider to be the ‘seasonal slide’ – the four ‘Ber’ months that go by so quickly, the year seems to be on the last 1/8th of a tank: down to nothing in the blink of an eye.
Autumn is a season of reflection. And there is much of that happening in my spiritual life. With the New Moon, I have started the next series of Qigoing exercises. And I have resumed reading a book that advises mindfulness techniques to combat rumination and intrusive thoughts.
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Full Grain Moon 2019
It has been six weeks since I began to studying Daoism under the guidance of my Shifu, a Daoist Priest. I have also started Qigong training with him, as of this full moon (Thursday morning). There is a tremendous amount to learn, and an equal amount to practice. It has become a part of my daily life.
Along this new, first section of the journey, I have already gained some insight into my own patterns and behaviors. I am learning so much about desires, habits, and the mindlessness that makes being present such a struggle.
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On: “A Daoist Practice Journal (1)…”
A book reflection on: “A Daoist Practice Journal: Come Laugh With Me”, by Michael Rinaldini
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A Lesson of Spilled Tea – Day 1
I was excitedly anticipating my first day of tea and meditation, in the format I am attempting to practice. This is a part of the spiritual training I am undergoing. I set things into motion on the New Thunder Moon / Solar Eclipse, but also had incoming, beloved family members I hadn’t seen in years. I decided to begin some of my study and meditation today.
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Saner & Healthier
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Eremitical Vocation
“Vocation to Solitude. To deliver oneself up, to hand oneself over, entrust oneself completely to the silence of a wide landscape of woods and hills, or sea, or desert, to sit still while the sun comes up over the land and fills its silences with light… This is a true and special vocation. There are few who are willing to belong completely to such silence, to let it soak into their bones, to breathe nothing but silence, to feed on silence, and to turn the very substance of their life into a living and vigilant silence.”
– Thomas Merton, “Thoughts in Solitude”
