Dangerous Prayers

Copyright 2011, Salvation Mountain photo by Jaime Lyerly

I heard this poem last night at the Temple Priestess Samhain ritual.  Thank you to Kaliani Devinne for sharing.

It struck me as one of the most delicious poetic concepts that I have ever heard. 

Decide for yourself if this kind of prayer is what you are seeking.  I know I am.

Dangerous Prayers

 by Regina Sara Ryan, from "Woman Prayers: Prayers by Women from Through History and Around the World" by Mary Ford-Grabowsky (HarperSanFrancisco: 2003):

Deliver us, O God, O Truth, O Love, from quiet prayer
from polite and politically correct language,
from appropriate gesture and form
and whatever else we think we must put forth to invoke
or to praise You.

Let us instead pray dangerously--
wantonly, lustily, passionately.
Let us demand with every ounce of our strength,
let us storm the gates of heaven, let us shake up ourselves
and our plaster saints from the sleep of years.

Let us pray dangerously.
Let us throw ourselves from the top of the tower,
let us risk a descent to the darkest region of the abyss,
let us put our head into the lion's mouth
and direct our feet to the entrance of the dragon's cave.

Let us pray dangerously.
Let us not hold back a little portion,
dealing out our lives--our precious minutes and our
energies--like some efficient accountant.
Let us rather pray dangerously--unsafe, profligate, wasteful!

Let us ask for nothing less than the Infinite to ravage us.
Let us ask for nothing less than annihilation in the
Fires of Love.

Let us not pray in holy half-measures nor walk
the middle path
for too long,
but pray madly, foolishly.
Let us be too ecstatic,
let us be too overwhelmed with sorrow and remorse,
let us be undone, and dismembered....and gladly.

Left to our own devices, ah what structures of deceit
we have created;
what battlements erected, what labyrinths woven,
what traps set for ourselves, and then
fallen into. Enough.

Let us pray dangerously--hot prayer, wet prayer, fierce prayer, fiery prayer, improper prayer,
exuberant prayer, drunken and completely unrealistic prayer.

Let us say Yes, again and again and again.
and Yes some more.
Let us pray dangerously.

the most dangerous prayer is YES.

Are you ready to be ravaged by the Infinite? I know I am. Share in the comments below if this kinda prayer is what you need. 

Too Ecstatic ~ Jaime Lyerly 

Top 10 reasons why Spiritual Practice makes you a better Artist

Praying Hands by Albrecht Durer

Spiritual practice has become an important part of my life. And I want to encourage you to make the connection in your own. 

Whether you pray, meditate, practice yoga, do rituals, walk in nature, chant, sweat out your prayers via dance, or just sit and breathe, it all helps you feel connected to the Divine. 


But can it make you a better Artist or more creative?


I say YES! 

Read on and see what resonates for you: 

Top 10 reasons why Spiritual Practice makes you a better Artist. 

1. Spiritual practice keeps you CONNECTED to the Divine
Connection to the Divine is one of the top reasons why you a daily spiritual practice can be crucial to being creative. 

When you pray, what do you feel? How about when you dance? Or sing? Or Meditate? Each time you tap into the power inside of you, a connection is made to the divinity inside of you. 

Even if it feels like a faint whisper of spirit, it is there. Breathe. Listen. And know it is there for you always. The Divine is waiting for you to tap. Once you tap into the connection inside of you, the ideas for your artistic practice just flow out. It is a channel that you open each day with your breath. And that channel gets clearer the more you open it.    


2. You are more AWARE

The "devil" is not in the details - God is! By slowing down, you see details you miss when you rushing.

Do you know the softness of your cat's fur? How about the texture of rose hips? The sound of a hummingbird's flutter? The smell of eucalyptus bark? The curve of your beloved's hips? The color of your mother's dress in a faded photograph? These details can translate into inspiration or textural details in your art. Even if your art work is abstract, it will be influenced by the details you observe. These details ARE the magic of life.


3. You are more IN YOUR BODY
 The spiritual practices of dance and yoga move you more fiercely into your body that you may even expect. And healing emotional blocks makes you want to STAY in your body more. When you are in your body, you can move and create with more freedom. 

Some people say that it takes your whole body to draw. If you are fully in your body you can create with a freedom that you never knew. 

4. Time EXPANDS

Have you ever gotten so lost in the moment that time slowed down to accommodate it? That is the magic of "Shamanic Time." 

This happens frequently for me during Shamanic Journey. Shamanic Journey uses a monotonous drum to get the brain and body into a trance state so you can can do deep healing and talk to your spiritual guides. In a typical 15 minute journey, you can have an entire movie; a revelation; or just a great healing nap. 

By getting yourself into a trance state, you can also expand time while making art or creating. Crocheting naturally invokes this trance state to me, but so can drawing or anything else that is repetitive. Get lost in time. See what happens. 
 

5. Your IMAGINATION SOARS

Shamanic Journey can create a state that is similar to daydreaming or lucid dreaming. You know that you are in a dreamlike state but you have full control over the situation. However when you surrender to the magic of the experience, you see things that you never would have thought of on your own. 

Maybe it is a raccoon where a top hat and smoking a cigar. Or a tulip that protects your safe space. How about a star being with a penchant for rubies, and talks in a British accent? Whatever it is that comes to you in journey space can spark an idea for a drawing, painting, sculpture or creative writing.  You can't make this stuff up. It is too bizarre somethings.

Other forms of spiritual practice such as meditation, or dance may invoke images that you would have never been open to before.  Once you connect your third eye of intuition, it will give you amazing insights and be fodder for your creative expression.

This fodder is a wave of new information, but not like the images we digest each day from the Internet. It is new, fresh and uniquely you! This imagination is what MAKES YOU AN ARTIST. 


6. You TRUST YOURSELF more
Do you trust yourself? Because it takes a lot of trust to walk a spiritual path or an artistic path. 

Both require a dedication to growth that is almost supernatural. Stagnation is the antithesis of growing. Which do you want to do?


By connecting with a spiritual path, you begin to trust the messages given to you in daily life. Messages can be more than just a fortune cookie phrase. They can be seen in the animals that cross your path, or the repetition of a number, or many other signs that resonate for you. 

When you trust your own intuition, that trust flows into trusting the colors in a painting or any other creative endeavor that you can imagine. 

Decisions made from your own gut about life and art are the most powerful. If you trust yourself, you can do these things no matter if the people around you think you have lost your marbles. 


7. You feel more SUPPORTED
Spirituality thrives in COMMUNITY! Sure, you can do any of these practices alone, but why not gather a few like-minded people together? My Apache teacher talked about the power of prayer in a group, and how the energy was measurably raised when 3 people connected hands to pray.

There are also things like rituals which are so much fun to have more than one person join in. It becomes a community event. A connection that is made with not only you connecting to the Divine, but connecting to your sisters or brothers and feeling THEIR connection. The connections I feel after doing something magical with other people is so profound. 

Feeling supported as an artist is so important. We artists tend to work alone, in our studios, without a lot of collaboration with others. It can be lonely but it is also where the work gets done. So by building a community of like-minded people, you have a place to feel completely loved even if your art isn't moving the direction you want it to. Building a community as an artist is a different subject, but it has its roots in gathering 3 or more people together to support you in all your awesomeness.



8. You take BIGGER RISKS
Now you are all juiced up with support! What does that do to your self-confidence? Right! It goes shooting through the roof. And that makes you bolder. 


It takes courage to have a spiritual practice. To come everyday to a meditation and look deeply into yourself. To feel when your breath just won't loosen up. To see the days when it doesn't work. To BE in the space of NOT getting it right. Of struggling. Of not knowing when it will get better. The fear that all of the good shit has already happened in your life. The wanting of something better. To completely SURRENDER to divine will to take care of you anyways. To give up all trying and TRUST it will happen because you are protected and loved. That is a space of great courage. 


That same courage is what you will need to sustain a creative practice too. It is about showing up. And showing up with a curious and experimental nature that cannot be satisfied. It takes courage to be an artist. To show your creations to the world. To try new ways of making and know that they are leading you to path you cannot even imagine.  Take a breath. And LEAP.



9. You know it is a PRACTICE
Practice. Practice. Practice. Just show up. That is all you have to do in life. In spiritual work. In art. It is all the same. "You must be present to win."




10. You KNOW that Creativity is ENDLESS

Yes, you know this. Think about how many ideas you have when you are sitting quietly? Probably more than you want to admit! Creativity can only slip in if there is space to go into. You cannot pour more into a full cup. 


As you tap into Divine inspiration each day, you know that that source is endless. You can feel it with each breath. Now breathe into your creative ideas? Same breath of inspiration. Inspire = to breath into. 

And know as one idea floats away or is not feasible at the moment, don't worry. Just breathe. Another idea is on its way, along with a hundred of its friends when you are ready to make space in your body to receive them. 

BREATHE TO RECEIVE!

Any bells go off from this list? I would love to hear about it. Share in the comments below.

Breathing my way to a more creative me ~ Jaime Lyerly 

Like magma; like lava

Like Mother Earth, things in my life have been changing rapidly and have shaken me to the core.

Since hitting the Pause button on my blog in May, I have experienced some major life changes: 

1. Graduation with my Bachelor's in Art: Applied Design, with a minor in Psychology
2. Ending of a my romantic relationship that lasted 10.5 years
3. Spiritual awakening to my role as a Energy Healer and Shamanic Temple Priestess 

These changes needed to happen "off-line" as much as possible so that I could process them. But I am being called to share my journey again with you. 

But this journey will be different than before. 

Because this earth sign (I'm a Taurus) has been set on FIRE with my new spiritual connection. 

And through this fiery, creative channel comes new art.   

Like magma, my fiery earth has churned, hidden from view. 

Like lava, it is time to let it out. 

So expect new and exciting directions for this blog.

The old content, especially my tutorials, will still be here. I will still share resources and things involving art.


But my goal now in life is to Start YOUR Creative Fire!

and teach by example so that it can burn bright and keep you warm during the toughest transitions.  

On Fire, 
Jaime Lyerly 

Global Prayer Reqest: Water Blessing for Japan. Today, 3/31/2011 at Noon your local time

Check this out if you are interested. Global Prayer Request for Japan, today!




Masaru Emoto has issued a global prayer invitation for March 31, 2011, Noon your local time. Masaru Emoto's teachings on the consciousness of water has inspired people around the planet, and we are profoundly grateful for his continuing service to Humanity. Please read his entire note below, and join us
at Noon to send Love and Gratitude to the waters of Japan, and to the ALL waters of the world.

In Love and Gratitude

D'Marie


********************



Love and Gratitude water crystal

URGENT: A letter from Dr Masaru Emoto, author of Messages in Water plus other related books.

A letter from Dr Masaru Emoto:

To All People Around the World,

Please send your prayers of love and gratitude to water at the nuclear plants in Fukushima , Japan ! By the massive earthquakes of Magnitude 9 and surreal massive tsunamis, more than 10,000 people are still missing...even now... It has been 16 days already since the disaster happened. What makes it worse is that water at the reactors of Fukushima Nuclear Plants started to leak, and it's contaminating the ocean, air and water molecule of surrounding areas.

Human wisdom has not been able to do much to solve the problem, but we are only trying to cool down the anger of radioactive materials in the reactors by discharging water to them. Is there really nothing else to do? I think there is.

During over twenty year research of dado measuring and water crystal photographic technology, I have been witnessing that water can turn positive when it receives pure vibration of human prayer no matter how far away it is. Energy formula of Albert Einstein, E=MC2 really means that Energy = number of people and the square of people's consciousness.

Now is the time to understand the true meaning. Let us all join the prayer ceremony as fellow citizens of the planet earth. I would like to ask all people, not just in Japan , but all around the world to please help us to find a way out the crisis of this planet!!

The prayer procedure is as follows.

Day and Time: March 31st, 2011 (Thursday)
12:00 noon in each time zone

Please say the following phrase:

"The water of Fukushima Nuclear Plant, we are sorry to make you suffer. Please forgive us. We thank you, and we love you."

Please say it aloud or in your mind. Repeat it three times as you put your hands together in a prayer position.
Please offer your sincere prayer. Thank you very much from my Heart.

With love and gratitude,

Masaru Emoto Messenger of Water



***********************************

Message and water ceremony, via PaLu with the Go Gratitude Community:


Just today I was able to feel trust in the rain, I let go of any fears, I return my perception that the rains are life giving healing waters, sent by the Divine to bring calm, rebirth to accepting all water as the primary source of all Life.

In gratitude to this, my spirit dances with Mother Earth and Divine Mother together; this emerges, please feel free to pass it along, print it out and put it even on your fridge, wherever your Spirit and Will guide you to:



We are going to print, cut and tape this message to litre mason jars, sing to it, play music to it, and tomorrow,
as part of our extended prayer; then at the world timing of the prayer: go to the water's edge, bring our water blessed offerings; repeat the prayer as Emoto sent out loud, while connecting to our heart centre, expanding this energetic to infuse our heart's aura while we hold our containers; then with deep gratitude and trust in the Divine, pour this healing blessed, compassion imbued water into the water body we are located at.

We invite all to partake in this expansion, Sending waves of Loving Compassion; even if you pour your water onto the Earth or where it feels appropriate, holding softly, gently, lovingly our pure prayers intent is to deepen our Trust within, as well as to heal the sorrows of Japan and elsewhere.

May these healing prayers, blessings, gratitudes and water reach the four corners of all existence.

Lots of love, in Gratitude

PaLu

I hope you can join me in this! ~ Jaime Lyerly