Moon

Silver disk: Let me call you goddess -

You, with your mirrored face.

Tonight, of all nights, your shape is perfect,

Your presence sublime.

You know it too. You appear before the sun has even set,

Glorious without your cloak of night,

Gazing down in supreme splendor,

To make this dusty world pastoral.

Tonight is the harvest moon. The queen of night is at her most perfect roundness, closer to us than at any other time of the year. She glows silver in an indigo sky.

People celebrate this night for many reasons. For some, it is the time to enjoy the view of the moon, and they toast it with sweets, wine, and tea. For others, it is time of relaxation and thanksgiving for the harvest.

The Moon Festival is a woman's festival, their time to worship. The harvest moon symbolizes the ascendancy of cool darkness over the bright heat of summer. This reminds us of equality in the cosmos: light and dark, male and female, heat and frost, hard and soft - all these things are part of an overall equilibrium.

If you are a woman, then tonight is your night for worship and celebration. If you are a man, then it is a night to step aside and give your wives, mothers, and sisters their privacy. But for all, we can be thankful for the riches of autumn and begin our preparations for the coming frost.

~365 Tao Daily Meditations

By Deng Ming-Dao

In the past few weeks, I started preparing for the Reiki Master workshop. Just like the autumn harvest, it feels to me like I am harvesting my past experiences as a practitioner and getting ready for the inward movement - introspection, letting go of things that don't serve me and opening up for the new. I feel like celebrating the successes and giving thanks to the riches that were showered upon me, us; and being grateful for the obstacles and hardships as they provided the big learning lessons and personal growth. 

Now, I am ready for the next big step; the responsibilities, fun, healing, learning and opening up to the magic of life...

Babies

When a new baby is born among the Six Nations of

the Iroquois Confederacy, the Clan Mothers welcome 

the newborn by saying: "Thank you for coming to 

our village; we hope you will stay with us."

- Katsi Cook, Mohawk Midwife from Akwesasne and a research

fellow in the American Indian Program at Cornell University

in Ithaca, New York*

What a beautiful way to welcome a baby to this world, to this community, to this family.

Sometimes we forget the bigger picture. We tend to focus on our immediate family,  our basic unit. There is nothing wrong with that... the difference is in the welcome. We welcome our baby to our family, to our lives.

When using Reiki with newborns, Reiki broadens that welcome, it brings in the loving energy of the Universe, of Mother Earth, the community and the love of the family. This deeper experience of welcome and security makes the baby feel safe. Even if your baby is premature, it is safe to use Reiki because Reki can never cause harm and it always goes where it is needed the most and it doesn't interact with any medical or other alternative treatment.

Reiki can help babies in different ways. It can help with sleep, developing and establishing healthy sleep patterns. It can help with colic and teething pain. Reiki can speed up recovery, healing and it can improve well being. Babies that receive Reiki are more alert and tend to be calmer and more relaxed.

The nice thing about Reiki is that your baby will never leave your arms to receive it and generally they need less time for healing because they are energetically still very clear and open to receiving. Usually the treatment lasts between 15 - 30 minutes sometimes a little longer; it always depends on the baby.

Babies like Reiki! Reiki nurtures and makes them feel safe in this big, wide world!

Ho! Ye Sun, Moon, Stars,

all ye that move in the

heavens,

I bid you hear me!

Into our midst has come

a new life.

Consent ye, I implore!

Make its path smooth,

that it may reach the brow

of the first hill!

- Omaha prayer for infants*

* American Indian Healing Arts

by E.Barrie Kavasch and

Karen Baar