The Christuman Way

A Community of Souls...exploring the mystery of being human

Filtering by Category: Birth and Rebirth

Daily Signet

In the silence of the night, I belove
and here find alchemical soil for my soul,
the garden bed for vatic seed, 
the deeply rich and eternally worked compost
of cosmogony and theogony, 
of Tep Zepis and Ragnoraks,
of chthonian dolmen and cromlech, 
of Neolithic pillars and gates to the sky
of gods in baskets and in twilight, 
of mysteries Mithraic and Eleusinian.

In the silence of the night, I belove
and here find an atrium,
womb of Credo, manger for the origo,
here is created the connective tissue 
of all that is human and divine,
in the mystery of polarity, 
in seasons of birth and death
in the mysteries of male and female, 
quest and home and in worship
of that which is both without and within.

In the silence of the night, I belove, 
and here find an altar in the darkness
where that which cannot be is made one, 
and that which is one, is made all.
Of that which is both transcendent and immanent,
and I am joined in Spirit, words are made flesh.
I belove, and here find that which is ineffable becomes familial
and that which is Universal, Divine—Father, Mother—becomes akin.
One voice in soma and Eucharist,
hearthfire and baptismal water,
in cave and mountain, 
prophet and savior.                                                                                                     

Teri Martin

On This Day…

Zoroastrian Zarathosht Diso: remembrance of the death of the Prophet Zarathustra

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St. Stephen: stoned for his beliefs, he was the first Christian martyr

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Thomas Gray born 12-26-1716 in London: poet, letter writer, classical scholar and professor at Cambridge best known for his Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard. Died 7-30-1771
Quotes: “Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.” “The paths of glory lead but to the grave.” “Too poor for a bribe, too proud to importune, he had not the method of making a fortune.”

Daily Signet

Christmas in Yellowstone

500 miles from a four-lane highway
Eons from a mall

No Christmas roast beef or little drummer boy
No package-lined tree or Santa in the crèche

No midnight night blue sky

Only pure black

Silent Night rings profoundly true
This space is holy as only a virgin vessel can be

Here, far away from Christmas
I am most connected to the blessed birth
Of the God who rejoins heaven and earth.

Here I feel the heavy solemnity
of a 3000-year tradition’s enormous importance.

Tonight God became man.

And man rejoices.                                                                               

Jamie Ziegler

On This Day…

Christmas Day

Gerard van Nothorst - Adoration of the Shepherds (1622)

Gerard van Nothorst - Adoration of the Shepherds (1622)

Daily Signet

As a child, the Old Testament world was my land of Narnia filled with stories with irresistible plots and characters and adventure—“Why?” was rarely the question…more often it was “What’s next?” In my mind, it was a neverending story that opened in Genesis with “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” and came to a pause with the end of what I knew as the “Old” Testament, paused and then restarted again in the “New” Testament gospel of John, with: “In the beginning was the Word.” For me, the beginning was a bardic, vatic word, the first recitation of sacred history sent rippling along in time, forward and backward, splitting a dawning future and a fading past for all time.

Other histories may tell of socio-economic or political or psychological evolution, and other people may be charged to carry these tales. This story, however, was nothing less than a tale of God and man—the children of Israel are given the Word and through them it must be made flesh, through them God will be made known to man. The word must be kept alive in a human chain of life support until it can burst forth fully incarnate. And, how better to keep the word alive than with a good story, and that’s what the children of Israel did—create a good story—too good not to hear again and again—even the stones strain to hear the story repeated.

…In this season of Advent, may we be as filled with hope and anticipation as would a child  standing tiptoe with nose pressed to icy windows, As time again swells and we are filled with a sense of expectancy and as the nights lengthen, may we ponder and prepare, with thoughts deepening as lights are kindled within. May we renew the story with every telling, bringing it to life in the imagination of the soul where the plot thickens and the Word continues to be made flesh.                                                                                                            

Teri Martin

On This Day…

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Juan Ramon Jimenez born 12-23-1881 in Mogrier, Spain: poet, Nobel Prize winner for his lyrical poetry, known for Diary of a Newlywed Poet, Stories of Life and Death.  His wife, Zenobia Camprubi Aymor translated Tagore’s poetry into Spanish. Died 5-29-1958
Quotes: “If they give you ruled paper, write the other way.”
“Sharp nostalgia, infinite and terrible, for what I already possess.”
“Literature is a state of culture, poetry is a state of grace, before and after culture.”

Daily Signet

WAITING FOR THE CHILD 
(A reading for two voices.)

I can’t wait to go to sleep 
            In my heart – a child
so I can wake up again.
            snuggled deep in a long winter’s night.
I can’t sleep.
            It stirs.
Off with the covers.
            It kicks.
Up on my toes.
            I know its time is near. 
My breath swirls against the frosted patterns of the window. I try to catch a glimpse.
            In my heart – a child struggling against 
a crystallized world. I see 
            the convenience of being modern; 
swaddled in the coldness 
            of the ease of taking more 
of a Christmas Eve snow. He will come
            It is so long in coming. In my heart 
I think, He will never come. 
            A child
Giving up
            A child who knows no fear
I fall back into the covers 
            Who is of the bread and of the wine, Willing to die
And close my eyes, I’m not opening them again.
            To be born again…
What’s that?
            It is the giver of gifts.
It can’t be.
            Yet, it is the gift.
But it must be. Off with the covers! Up on my toes!
            – a legacy of empowered life.
Sure to steal a glance
            I look to you, oh child
Keeping the hope alive.
            as I wait.                                             

Benjamin Martin

On This Day…

Taoist Festival Honoring Wang-Mu, Empress Mother of Compassion, Wisdom, and manifestation of the TAO; the peak of the yin half of the year; the Shen of Earth, North, and Winter

Tohji-Tsisai: Shinto rite honoring Amaterasu, sun goddess

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