stone skipping over stream
sinks into deep mysteries
magical inner sight
instincts intuition
magnificent sun
fire blazing wisdom
center earth rising
in shimmering waves
“Sink into Your Knowing”, revised an old post, 05/08/2020
©Barbara Harris Leonhard@extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog
Image “Center Earth Rising”: ©Martha Harris, Martha’s Artistic Flarings, artisticflarings.blog
https://meelosmom.podbean.com/e/the-shape-of-our-light-1585860479/
In this episode, I explore the shape of our light. Emotions can affect the shapes of water crystals, according to experiments done by Dr. Masuru Emoto, who wrote The Hidden Messages in Water (2001). He demonstrated that the shapes of water crystals are determined by the vibrations emitted by negative and positive emotional thoughts feelings, and words. Lynne McTaggart reported on a double-blind exercise conducted by Dean Radin with the Institute of Noetic Sciences in which they were able to replicate Dr. Emoto’s experiments and findings (The Intention Experiment, 2007, 184-185). Given these findings on the relationship between emotions and water, what is the shape of our water, and thus our light, especially as we face the current pandemic?
Emoto, M. The Hidden Messages in Water (New York, Atria, 2001).
A full documentary on studies done on water with mention of Dr. Emoto’s discoveries in his lab. This documentary is fascinating. Water has not only a chemical composition but also an underlying structure which records and holds memories. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O8LPnlh_sM
McTaggart, L. The Intention Experiment (New York, Free Press, 2007).
You can find my poetry on my WordPress site, https://www.extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog.
I read my poems, “Refugees”, “Mosaic”, and “A Prayer: Calm within the Storm”.
Image “Making Choices ” ©Martha Harris, Martha’s Artistic Flarings, https://artisticflarings.blog
If you would like to contribute poetry to this podcast, you may submit it to me in a Word document attached in an email to me at meelosmom@gmail.com. On the subject line, indicate it is a submission to this podcast. I can fit it into a theme. In the email, include any pertinent information on yourself and publications you want me to promote, especially for the work submitted.
© 2020 Barbara Harris Leonhard
Unless otherwise stated, all published works are the original works of the author and are copyrighted. Contents of this podcast may be re-used either for personal or commercial purposes, in part or whole only with permission and the author duly acknowledged with links to the podcast embedded.
A new episode of my poetry podcast, Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul, is up.
https://meelosmom.podbean.com/e/magical-mystical-nature/
In this episode, I take a poetic look at messages from our magical mystical nature that can help us to emotionally navigate the challenges of COVID-19. Trees, fireflies, dolphins, bees, the moon, the sun, and bats are guiding us at this uncertain and dangerous time. Bats!? Really!? Wasn’t a bat responsible for the virus? Tune in to find out why bats also have magical and mystical messages for us in the face of COVID-19. May we all be safe and healthy.
You can find my poetry on WordPress at https://extraordinarysunshineweaver.blogI shared my poems “Tree of Life”, “Fireflies” and “Dolphins”.
My featured image, “New Dimensions”, is one of my sister Martha Harris’ pieces. Her work can be found at Martha’s Artistic Flarings, artisticflarings.blog on WordPress.
Sharon Singing Moon, “Sometimes It’s a Song” in A Random Seed (2018). You can find her book at local bookstores, such as Skylark Bookshop and Yellow Dog Bookshop in Columbia, Missouri, at Dunaway Books in St. Louis, Missouri, and Prospero’s Books in Kansas City, Missouri.
Mitch Teemley, “The Lives of Trees”, found on WordPress, https://mitchteemley.com/2020/02/21/the-lives-of-trees/
Joyce Kilmer, “Trees” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/12744/trees
Yaskhan, “Firefly Gumbo”, https://yassy66.wordpress.com/ From Mumbai, poetry has always been her utmost passion. Her haiku and other poems have been published in several on line journals. She enjoys the challenges of writing in various poetic form and believes this creative discipline helps her to overcome several challenges.
Emily Dickinson, https://discoverpoetry.com/poems/bee-poems/
Mary Oliver, “Honey at the Table” American Primitive (1983) winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
Kristiana Reed, “The Meadow” from her book, Between the Trees: Poetry and Prose (2019), which is available on amazon.com and signed copies can be purchased on etsy, https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/760618337/between-the-trees-poetry-and-prose. Her websites, https://myscreamingtwenties.com/ and https://freeverserevolution.wordpress.com/
William Henry Davies, “The Moon” http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/william_henry_davies/poems/3088.html
Phillip Larkin, “Solar”, http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/philip_larkin/poems/14593
Other Sources
“Fireflies”, https://www.sunsigns.org/firefly-animal-totem-symbolism-meanings/
Orion, http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/orion.htm
Pleiades, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pleiades-Greek-mythology
https://mollylarkin.com/we-come-from-the-stars/
Dolphins, https://medium.com/@totemlovecom/the-characteristics-of-the-dolphin-as-a-spirit-animal-ba303364bbba;
https://www.livescience.com/15150-dolphin-recovery-human-healing.html; https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/wisdom-of-the-wild-dolphin-healing/859/
Royal Jelly, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/royal-jelly
Bees, https://sciencing.com/advantages-disadvantages-honeybees-8592788.html
The Moon, https://www.sunsigns.org/moon-symbol-meanings/
If you would like to contribute poetry to this podcast, you may submit it to me in a Word document attached in an email to me at meelosmom@gmail.com. On the subject line, indicate it is a submission to this podcast. I can fit it into a theme. In the email, include any pertinent information on yourself and publications you want me to promote, especially for the work submitted.
© 2020 Barbara Harris Leonhard
Unless otherwise stated, all published works are the original works of the author and are copyrighted. Contents of this podcast may be re-used either for personal or commercial purposes, in part or whole only with permission and the author duly acknowledged with links to the podcast embedded.
Enjoy this exploration of the sacral way of water. Our steady and constant companion in various forms throughout the year, water reflects our creativity as well as our turmoil. Our emotional states are revealed in the many faces of water.
https://meelosmom.podbean.com/e/water-the-sacral-way/
I share my poems “Listen to the Prayers of Snow”, “Be as Water”, and “This a River”.
Enjoy a poem by Walter Bargen: “Why the World Stops”, which is from his volume of poetry The Body of Water: Poetry by Walter Bargen (2003). You can find used copies of this book on Amazon, Better World Books, and other used book sites.
I’m grateful to Sharon Singing Moon for her poem “Autumn Grace” in A Random Seed (2018). You can find her book at local bookstores, such as Skylark Bookshop and Yellow Dog Bookshop in Columbia, Missouri, at Dunaway Books in St. Louis, Missouri, and Prospero’s Books in Kansas City, Missouri.
My featured image, “Sacred Waters”, is one of my sister Martha Harris’ pieces. Her work can be found at Martha’s Artistic Flarings, artisticflarings.blog on WordPress.
You will hear “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost (http://poetryfoundation.org); “Very Early Spring” by Katherine Mansfield (http://famouspoetsandpoems.com); “Tempest”, by Emily Dickinson (http://yourdailypoem.com)
I found an interesting article on the symbolism of water in literature. https://eduzaurus.com/blog/water-symbolism-in-literature
For more information on chakras, see Anatomy of the Spirit (1996) and Sacred Contracts (2003) by Caroline Myss, PhD. Also, A Handbook of Chakra Healing: Spiritual Practice for Health, Harmony, and Healing (2004) by Kalashatra Govinda.
Wikipedia has a good summary of the Great Flood of 1993. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Flood_of_1993
Please like, follow, and share this podcast. Thank you for listening!
If you would like to contribute poetry to this podcast, you may submit it to me in a Word document attached in an email to me at meelosmom@gmail.com. On the subject line, indicate it is a submission to this podcast. I can fit it into a theme. In the email, include any pertinent information on yourself and publications you want me to promote, especially for the work submitted.
©Barbara Harris Leonhard, extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog, meelosmom.podbean.com
Image “Sacred Waters” ©Martha Harris, Martha’s Artistic Flarings, artisticflarings.blog
This poem has been republished on hereticsloversmadmen.com. Check out the “seething brains” that “shape fantasies there”.
In a nest of owls,
I awaken bare, bleeding.
Talons pierce flesh.
Stabbing beaks shear old skin,
mincing fat and bone.
I am released into cloud.
Glossy wings unfurl.
I chase stars
and alight onto rays
of petrified time.
I scan marvel
as Moon eats the dark.
I feast on corolla
of sunflowers that sway in breeze
as Owl eats the light.
Image ‘Owl Eats Light’ by Barbara Leonhard
Barbara Leonhard publishes poetry on her WordPress blog, Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver. She is a regular contributor to FREE VERSE REVOLUTION and Go Dog Go Café. She started a poetry podcast on Podbean called Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul.
I have a poetry podcast on Podbean called “Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul“. Let me know what you think!
The post is called ‘We Are Entwined Spirits’. When we feel isolated and lost, Poetry is our medicine.
This podcast has a new poem in it.
Memoirs
Poems are memoirs
Of our human journey
Our life stories
And spiritual quests
In images woven by craft
The history of life in one poem
Comprised of many poems
Each of which is a cell in our ‘bio’
Our biography, graphs
Pictures of words
Poems are lines
Connecting the dots
Bridges to specks of self
From other selves
Poets are space holders
In a matrix
The Tree of Life
The Tree of All
If you would like to contribute poetry to this podcast, you may submit it to me in a Word document attached in an email to me at meelosmom@gmail.com. On the subject line, indicate it is a submission to this podcast. I can fit it into a theme. In the email, include any pertinent information on yourself and publications you want me to promote, especially for the work submitted.
Poems: ©Barbara Leonhard, extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog
Image: ©Martha Harris, marthaflares.blog
Let’s go! It’s time!
Now!?
I’m still in my floral blue knit night
gown, plum-colored sweatshirt, &
baby doll slippers from Walmart!
No one will see you or care.
Not important.
An uncharged phone?
A half-packed purse?
Uncompleted morning duties?
I gather myself,
an imperfect bride,
for the trip.
I view trees in autumn attire ablaze
against a sky the color of my blue on white china
left unwashed in the sink.
The creeks & river have risen again,
meeting us along the road.
Muddy currents obscure clarity.
Mesmerized by the mystery,
I arrive at the bank
with dry lips the color of pallor.
In the stillness,
an ancient sycamore disrobes.
©Barbara Harris Leonhard, extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog
Image: Pixabay.com and free wallpaper image on Google
Bloom
as I take root on this plane
may I receive the healing light of
all that is divine
may heaven meet earth
through me to transmute
the crusted fear that traps me
in brambles
may I grow my destiny
without ego mind
may I fully trust the divine order
that teaches only love
may I grow in love
may I be love
may the divine light
unfurl my blossoming heart
in this splendid garden
the Gardener knows the art and seasons
how to plant
how to nourish
how to harvest
I am but one glorious bloom
with no skills in tending the soil
my place in this garden is small
my view is limited to
my small leaves
reaching for the sun
yet I trust in the Gardener and Gaia
to bloom my bouquet
to bloom my love
©2018 Barbara Harris Leonhard @extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog
Image: “Bloom” digital art ©2018 Martha Harris See Martha’s Artistic Flarings @artisticflarings.blog
Image Wording: Shannon Hensley
Pain, the Poet
Those who forgive,
Can they be poets,
For where is the poetry but
In released pain?
Pain, the fire breathing mist
Rising to rain.
Pain, the reddening blood
filling the veins,
The river of the soul.
Pain, the rooting to the sacral tree,
Birthing stories and songs,
Creating new souls out of barren wombs.
Pain, the cries from scattered tribes
Reaching for limbs and branches,
Anything to hold onto until dawn’s light.
Pain, the songs of ancestral curses
Clinging to the cells like webs
To be cleared in spring.
Pain, the dead rooting of loss
Blocking the secret chamber of the heart,
Where peace resides.
Pain, the tenant evading eviction,
Holding truth hostage
From inner sight
And auric brilliance.
Pain, the dirges and the hymns,
The shadows, dislodged and
Transmuted but not forgotten
In the poetry of forgiveness
And the forgiveness of poetry.
©2017/11/07 Barbara Harris Leonhard @extraordinarysunshineweaver.wordpress.com
Image: Digital art “Out of Darkness, Light” ©Martha Harris See Martha’s Artistic Flarings @artisticflarings.blog
This is an older poem but a more descriptive image of and by my sister Martha suffering her Multiple Sclerosis pain. Many suffer from this horrible disease, and I pray a cure can be found.
No Escape
It slithers in as
Snakes mating pain,
Pain entwined,
Breeding this labyrinth of
No escape.
No way out of this writhing mass,
This mass, secreting away Light.
This pain, eating the Light,
Our stars of many colors,
Forced as lanterns for
The rising heads of the serpents, or
Our souls, are they in formation
To defeat the onslaught?
Pain, this confused muddle
In the line of the Fire of the stars,
Blazing through the delirium,
The Light in the void,
The Fire in the pit,
Consuming the venom.
For pain,
No escape.
Copyright © 2017/10/10 Barbara Harris Leonhard @extraordinarysunshineweaver.wordpress.com
Image: “Living in ‘It’” ©Martha Harris (my sister) See Martha’s Artistic Flarings @artisticflarings.blog
Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver 