Upon the passing of days

On the eve of my 40th birthday, some gentle words sent to me in the mail...

"One should say before sleeping: I have lived many lives. I have been a slave and a prince. Many a beloved has sat upon my knee and I have sat upon the knees of many a beloved. Everything that has been shall be again."

- W.B. Yeats

On The Path

I walk sunwise
around standing stone,
well and sacred tree.
I walk sunwise
around mountain, lake
and wood.
I walk sunwise
on the path of the spiral
on the path of vision
on the path of truth.

~ Dennis King

The simple way

Accept Her.
That is all She requires.

Tokens of homage, sacrifices, vows,
She knows, herself a mistress of disguise,
may merely be evasions, even snares,

but true acceptance
needs no outward signs,
has no expression
other than the way 
you trust her equally
in love and rage,


plucking Her bloodied fingerprints
like flowers.

~ Robin Skelton

A calling to Danu

Danu rolls in the midst of never-ceasing currents flowing without a rest forever onward...

"The Rig-Veda" translated by Ralph T.H. Griffith, 1889

Feeling Like Ulysses

The wheel turns, my life changes, and, as of late, I've been singing this song...


John Francis Dooley,
wipe the sleep from your eyes
and embrace the light
you have slept now for a thousand years
beneath starless nights
and now it's time for you to renounce the old ways
and to see a new dawn rise


In former days, the masks were raised
when the god came down from off the mountain
and a sacrifice was made
for they knew that the day of wrath was fast approaching
just like yesterday, before the war
John Francis Dooley,
the scapegoat has run
all our sins are disowned


and now it's time for you to take off your mask
and cross the Rubicon
if you and I were one within the eyes of our designs
it would still not change the fact of our leaving
for tonight we must leave with the first gentle breeze
for the Isles of Ken we are assailing


Just like Ulysses
on the open sea
on an odyssey of self-discovery...

One

One with the buffalo, one with the bear
One with the meadow, one with the mare,
One with the redwood, one with the rock
One with the eagle, one with the hawk.

One with the blue sky, one with the storm
One with the winter, one with the warm
One with the thunder, one with the rain
One with the laughter, one with the pain.

One with the shadow, one with the light
One with the sunrise, one with the night
One with the sorrow, one with the joy
One with the fullness, one with the void.

One with the mystery, one with the doubt
One with the famine, one with the drought,
One with the homeless, one with the king,
One with the angel, one with the wing

One with the harvest, one with the seed
One with the marshland, one with the reed
One with the sugar, one with the cane
One with the loss and one with the pain.

One with the hero, one with the whore,
One with the rich man, one with the poor
One with the marrow, one with the bone
One with the hunger, one with the moan.

One with the sparrow, one with the song,
One with the righteous, one with the wrong,
One with the morning, one with the dew,
One with the mountain, one with the view.

One with the newborn, one with the breast
One with the outcast, one with the guest
One with the palace, one with the cell
One with the bucket, one with the well.

One with the seeker, one with the sought,
One with the teacher, one with the taught
One with the trinket, one with the jewel
One with the master, one with the fool.

One with the lover, one with the loved,
One with the vulture, one with the dove,
One with the diamond, one with the coal,
One with the beggar, one with the bowl.

One with the desert, one with the dust,
One with the iron, one with the rust,
One with the heavens, one with the earth
One with the labor, one with the birth.

One with the bridegroom, one with the bride,
One with the blind man, one with the guide
One with the vision, one with the eye,
One with the knowing, one with the why.

One with the shining, one with the star,
One with the battle, one with the scar,
One with the music, one with the flute,
One with the branches, one with the root.

One with the daughter, one with the son,
One with the convict, one with the nun
One with the mountain, one with the awe
One with the forest, one with the saw.

One with the infant, one with the crone
One with the feather, one with the bone
One with the master, one with the slave
One with the water, one with the wave.

One with the seer, one with the seen
One with the dreamer, one with the dream
One with the garden, one with the bud
One with the chalice, one with the blood.

One with the meaning, one with the word
One with the spider, one with the bird
One with the spirit, one with the soul
One with the part, one with the whole.

One with the dying, one with all life,
One with the wounded, one with the knife
One with the other, one with the ONE
One with all beings under the sun.

© 2001 Jan Phillips

Another Year

Even if you don't know what you should be doing or what your mission is, you need to practice creating that vision anyway. remind yourself that before long, the all-creating source will bring your vision into the physical life in ways greater than you could have imagined...