Playshop Preview – Richard’s Commentary

This week I am commenting on Rosemary’s video for the week rather than her “Exploration” article. I have several reasons to make this adjustment to the blog.

We are, as I write and as I post, under the influence of the “dying Moon.” What I mean by this is the Moon is nearly conjunct with the Sun in Gemini. We are in that period when the Moon loses her race with the Sun falling farther and farther behind until she falls right into his light. She is exactly conjunct with the Sun at 2:43 PM Eastern time today, Wednesday, May 28, 2014. I know this because I looked it up in my Playbook that I created during Rosemary’s Possibilities Playshop last January.

I follow the Moon cycles very closely. I know the Moon influences me and I need to correlate those influences I feel with the Moon and where she is in her travels. This careful tracking is a way for me to be both grounded in my body and to understand the effects of the Heavenly bodies, the Moon being the closest, on my physical being.

And after I created my Playbook during Rosemary’s January Playshop I now have a tool to help me with my tracking. Here’s how I use my Playbook:

First it is a guide to the Moon cycles. We laid out 13 “moonths” – this is the number of New Moons in a year. The New Moon marks the beginning of each moonth. In the Playbook the New Moons are designated with pages of pictures and words pulled from magazines chosen intuitively and glued onto notebook pages. Other intuitive tools are used to create a “map” to the year. This map then provides a loose guide on what to expect as the year unfolds.

Second it is a journal in which I record key events, feelings, thoughts and how these correlate to the pictures and words mapped out for the year. There is always meaning and this correlation activity provides deep insight into the passing moonth.

Third I record the I Ching Gua I cast for each moonth in the playbook. I have been using the ancient Chinese method of divination, the I Ching, as a means to receive an intuitive understanding of the energies I can expect for each moonth. I cast a six line hexagram just after each new Moon asking the question: “what does this next moonth have in-store for us?” it is always insightful. And now with my Playbook it always correlates in some fun and surprising ways with the pictures and words I chose for the moonth back in January!

Fourth I very much enjoy the surprises planted in the Playbook. This is especially true as I move through the year and get farther away from when I created the Playbook. The “play” involved in the process is becoming much more evident as the year spins out and the “predictive” nature of the Playbook becomes ever more clear. While predicting the future is not the intent of this process it nevertheless does have that quality. The correlations between the words and pictures (and other surprises placed into the book) and events as they unfold each moonth are both exciting and even a little uncanny.

And there is a fifth use for the Playbook: it actually becomes a means to manifest the year. It is similar to a “vision board” but more fun. As in creating a vision board attractive pictures and words are pulled from magazines. But then for the specific moonths the pictures and words are selected blindly, intuitively, from a large envelop. Intention rather than conscious choice guides this process of aligning the pictures/words with the calendar.

Rosemary’s Possibilities Playshop is a fun process, but even more importantly the resulting Playbook becomes a highly useful tool for the next year. We all had such a good and productive time during the January Playshop that Rosemary is offering a mid-year Playshop for those who missed out on the first one.

The next Possibilities Playshop is scheduled for Saturday, June 14, 2014, from 10:00 to 2:00 pm Eastern time. If you are in the Annapolis, MD, Washington, DC area you can attend in person. We are also recording the event so if you can’t attend a video course will be available shortly after the live event.

Rosemary’s website has all the details and a way to register. The early bird pricing for the event ends on May 31. Check it out soon!

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MUSE-INGS: Dreams and Visions and Goals, Oh My!

Where do you stand in the realization of your dreams? Do you create visions and goals for yourself? Are you a New Year’s Resolution fan, but have you abandoned them by February?

There is not much in our culture that supports our desire to live our dreams. Kids are taught ‘It’s just a dream’ when they come to Mommy or Daddy after their night visions. But many indigenous cultures believe that Dreamtime is Reality and what we call reality is a collective illusion. If that is true, then we can dream a new reality into existence.

Do you take time to dream? Back when I was a programmer, in the ancient days of room sized computers, there was a designer who used to sit at his desk with nothing on it except his feet while he stared off into space. Everyone knew not to disturb Bob when he was sitting this way because he was thinking through the program he was working on, essentially dreaming it into existence. The boss would just walk by his office, not bothering to stop in but also not judging Bob as not working just because he wasn’t writing or typing. Eventually, Bob would whip out the program in record time and it was always almost perfect the first time it ran. He created it first in his mind and then he manifested it in the computer. It was a very elegant programming style!

I often find myself so ‘busy’ that I don’t take time to just dream. I have to program that time into my calendar so that I can be as creative as possible. If I am constantly focusing on fixing problems I am energizing problems. If I am always looking at the details I am missing the information available about the big picture. And, conversely, if I create the dreams but do not take any action to realize them then they are not energized and dissipate like vapor in the wind.

Have you ever done a vision board? You cut out pictures and words from magazines and glue them to posterboard, then post this in front of your desk so that you can energize what you have desired and created as a vision for your life. Many people have realized exactly what is on their vision board. My friend is doing a workshop wherein he will help people to create a digital vision board so that it can be their computer wallpaper or screensaver they can keep it in front of themselves while modifying it as circumstances warrant. There are many ways, such as, video, to create a vision for your life.

Why not try one this week for yourself? Take some time alone [you don’t want anyone else’s energy or dreams or visions to influence you] and let yourself dream your future. What would you love to see in your life in the next year? Picture yourself a year from now [or 6 months or 3 years, whatever feels right for you] looking back and describing what has come into your life. Speak to yourself in the present tense of already having this in your life. Feel the energy of having your dreams come true. Welcome with gratitude those dreams.

You don’t have to create the vision board but it’s a powerful tool. The important thing to do is to create the vision! Even if you are not a visual person, create the feeling of having that dream in your life and allow yourself to be emotionally and mentally in that place of acceptance of your dream come true.

Let’s all support each other in realizing our dreams. Next time you meet someone, instead of asking them, ‘What do you do?’ ask instead, ‘What do you dream for yourself?’ You might be surprised by the answers you receive!

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