September 2018 - Deborah King

The Night of the Harvest Moon

INDULGE IN THE HEALING LUNAR ENERGY

Weather permitting, don’t miss your chance to experience an amazing annual event that takes place tonight. Just after sunset the moon will be magically transformed into a giant ball of glorious orange gracing the night sky.

Lunar Energy is a powerful source of energy healing, and a full moon is a perfect opportunity to activate your chakras. This Harvest Moon may well be the best of all.

With its unique properties, the moon has been endowed with names to capture its monthly lunar transition. For me, nothing quite compares to the Harvest Moon. I hope you’ll take advantage of this rare and wondrous opportunity to join me in meditation under its glow.

A Time to Recharge and Reflect

Harvest Moon is the name given the full moon that is closest to the Autumnal Equinox that occurred just a couple of days ago, this past Saturday. Year to year, it can be up to two weeks before or after, and while the Harvest Moon typically is in September, it can also happen in early October.

What’s unique is that unlike any other time of year, for a few special nights the moon rises earlier than usual, just after sunset, giving you a perfect evening of moon gazing.

We’re treated to a visual feast and a spiritual reawakening all in one.

For a spiritual teacher, it’s hard to ask for more.

Why the Harvest Moon is Special

This is the night sky at its most romantic and dramatic, affording us a connection with the fullness of the season and the bounties of the earth. Since ancient times, the Harvest Moon has been revered and central to our celebration of the seasonal harvest traditions timelessly binding our cultural and spiritual fabric.

This annual celestial event is one of nature’s great visual displays but what we see only hints at the role it has played in different cultures around the world.

Celebrated Since Ancient Times

In the Northern Hemisphere, it signals the beginning of autumn. Many believe the origins of the Harvest Moon date back to Europe in the 700s. In the centuries since, observances and cultural traditions have been recounted around the world. Two are particularly intriguing.

In China the Harvest Moon is celebrated with a festival where games are played and delicious treats, ‘mooncakes’, are enjoyed. Due to calendar differences, the Chinese call it the ‘August’ Moon.

In America, the Algonquin Indians, among other indigenous tribes, not only celebrated the Harvest Moon but put its unusual brightness to work. Like Mother Nature’s flashlight, they used its light to harvest crops well into the night.

One of Nature’s Optical Illusions

What we see is bigger and bolder than usual, and the moon’s surface appears warmer and a vibrant orange. An optical illusion that is the result of the moon’s positioning, the Harvest Moon’s remarkable brightness occurs because we’re viewing it through the lower, and thicker, part of atmosphere.

While the moon’s color is inarguably more intense, and it appears larger and warmer, as it rises through the night, the moon will appear smaller and cooler.

Upcoming Lunar Events

For those of you who like to plan ahead, a truly rare event is when the Harvest Moon falls on the night of the Autumnal Equinox. This wont won’t again until 2029, but let’s start planning now!

Next up, however, and usually in October as it is this year, is the Hunter’s Moon; the first full moon after the Harvest Moon. It also features unique color, this time red, not orange, and it’s known as a Blood or Sanguine Moon.

Get Out and Experience It

Wherever you are, I urge you to get outside, even if just for a few minutes, and bask in the lunar energy on display and become part of a celestial event celebrated around the world for millennia.

And no worries of you miss it tonight – there are encore performances for a few nights after that are nearly as spectacular.

Worldwide traditions transcending our differences and bringing us together like these should be cherished, so I offer three words of advice:

Sit. Meditate. Enjoy.

That’s what I’ll be doing.

Separated by the miles, we’ll be together in spirit.

Deborah

#MeTooBrett

It was less than two weeks ago, in an Open Letter to Senators Collins and Murkowski, that I voiced legitimate concerns about the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to fill the vacancy on the United States Supreme Court.

I was uncomfortable with the rushed process, skeptical of too many documents not made available, and afraid that Kavanaugh’s true position on the rights of women would prove disastrous for future generations.

But in the past week, a letter was introduced from Christine Blasey Ford, a research psychologist and professor. Ms. Blasey, in an interview published in a recent Washington Post article, tells of a sexual assault by the nominee in 1982. She was a child of 15, Kavanaugh a young man of 17, and in her own words admitted that the event “derailed [her] substantially.” Nothing like thinking you are going to be asphyxiated to get the adrenaline going.

Naturally, Brett denies, denies, denies. That’s standard behavior, coming from the top political figures on down.

I believe Blasey. Her behavior is typical of a young girl who blames herself when she is assaulted by a man; the last thing she thinks of doing is telling anyone, least of all, her parents. How will she explain her presence at a drunken party? And like me, another survivor of sexual assault, she didn’t work up the courage to tell anyone until she was much, much older; like Blasey, I finally told my husband and my therapist when we had been married many years.

I wasn’t surprised by the response of the other man in the room during the attempted rape – Mark Judge – who first claimed he didn’t recall, then denied it, then switched his story back to not recalling. After all, he’s the guy who wrote a book about his teenage alcoholism, including a chapter on his friend who also drank too much entitled “Bart O’Kavanaugh.” How telling.

For the Committee to fairly evaluate Ms. Blasey’s statement, they will need the FBI to investigate and have experts assist them. Instead, they have scheduled a hearing a week away to question her, clearly not enough time for the necessary investigation to take place first. Sounds chillingly like the Anita Hill hearings, yet, we are light years from those days. This is post #MeToo, gentlemen of the Committee, there are a lot of us women watching you.

Senators and Representatives of both parties need to find the courage to stand up and do this right.

The stakes are big.

Women’s Rights.

Due Process.

Fairness.

Truth.

Anita Hill was ignored over two decades ago.

The Access Hollywood tape and the twenty accusers it unleashed were ignored two years ago.

#MeToo changed all that in ways that put the rights of women and all people first.

This time, let’s get it right.

Heal Your Limiting Beliefs (But First Discover Them!)

Do you ever feel like you are running in place instead of moving toward your goals and dreams? Like you’re pounding away on a hidden treadmill going nowhere. Clearly, something is holding you back, when your path seems to be blocked, and chances, you are blocked by limiting beliefs you don’t even know you have.

What’s a Limiting Belief?

Just like 15th-century Europeans who believed that the earth was flat, you may have unexamined beliefs that are incorrect. Such beliefs may be limiting you, holding you back—especially those that stem from fear-based thinking. Fear is always limiting, as opposed to opening, expanding and freeing. When you start to look closely at your personal beliefs, you may be surprised to find that some actually close doors rather than open them. Limiting beliefs can stifle your vision, your potential, and your power. You won’t set sail to explore the world if you’re afraid you might fall off the edge.

Where Do Your Beliefs Come From?

Typically, your most important beliefs are unconscious. You haven’t examined them because you don’t even realize they exist. Over 90 percent of your core beliefs originated in childhood, coming from your parents or caregivers, school, and culture. These subconscious views run the greater part of your life and shape your potential to be happy or unhappy, rich or poor, healthy or not so much. You have inherited what you believe, most of which is unconscious, and all of it dramatically influences your life.

Do You Know What You Believe?

Questioning your beliefs is an exercise well worth the effort. It’s part of the process of self-discovery needed for spiritual growth and healing. It will free you from all kinds of limitations in life, including fear and living according to what’s right for someone else but not for you. You’ll want to ask yourself: “Where did this belief come from?” and “Does it still work for me, or is it limiting me in some way?” If you think that an idea no longer fits you, ask yourself what might suit you better.

Here are some of the personal “belief” areas you’ll want to examine:

Religion – this is usually the primary limitation for people when they want to expand their consciousness. What, if any, childhood faith were you raised in? Do you believe in the tenets of that faith now? Do you practice them? Are they fear-based? Are you aware of unconscious beliefs from your early education about religion that may be negatively affecting your life today? Also, consider your beliefs about the religions of others. Do you automatically reject others or their thinking because their religion is different from yours, even if you give only lip service to your own?

Politics – So many people automatically exclude everything from the “other side,” assuming that no good can possibly come from it. Do you automatically decide that everyone who opposes your viewpoint is 100 percent wrong? How much do you expose yourself to the beliefs of the other camp? If very strong feelings arise when you look at this area of belief, consider it closely and make sure that love and not fear is ruling your outlook.

Social Values – Where do you stand on the right of women to make decisions about their own bodies, the death penalty, gay marriage, social welfare programs, and other important topics? I always try to read well-written pieces on both sides of every issue and then consciously recheck my position. Have you thought through your own views on these issues recently, or do you automatically determine that there can be nothing of merit on the other side?

Race – We’d all like to think that we’re blind to skin color, but the truth is that we inherit racial prejudices from our family of origin, our schools, and our country—and these are very hard to delete. Bring your feelings into the light and really examine them.

Money – I can almost guarantee that if you have money problem, they can be traced back to certain beliefs you inherited from your family of origin. What are your beliefs about abundance and your own relationship to it?

Relationships – What subliminal or even overt messages did your mother and father give you about interpersonal relationships? How healthy is your relationship to yourself? Is your self-talk positive and empowering? Do you believe in your worthiness and potential? What about your relationship with a significant other?

Why Is It Vital to Question Your Beliefs?

Most of your preconceived beliefs are unconscious unless you make the effort to shift them into your awareness. Here’s why it’s important to bring all of them into your consciousness:

Your unconscious beliefs may inhibit you from becoming all that you are meant to be. It’s nearly impossible to expand and grow, to take in new information and make new choices, when you are confined to operating solely according to preexisting ideas.
If you want to work comfortably with others, you’ll need to be able to accept their beliefs and treat them with the same respect you would your own.
A person with a lot of fixed beliefs is acting from fear. Being afraid to give serious thought to the activities and opinions of others means that you are judging them without really giving their ideas your full consideration.

To free yourself from limiting beliefs that keep you “running in place” instead of growing into your greatest good, give some thought to your beliefs. Find out where you really stand. Free yourself to be open-minded and self-determined, think what you want to think, be in the driver’s seat of your own consciousness!

An Open Letter to Senators Collins and Murkowski

BEFORE KAVANAUGH TAKES US IN THE WRONG DIRECTION

Dear Senators Collins and Murkowski,

Allow me to first thank you for your good work, not just for your constituents, but for all citizens and people of the earth. Watching the Kavanaugh hearings in some ways makes clear the challenges and grave responsibilities that you, as members of Congress, have in the process of a Supreme Court confirmation. Our future is in your hands.

My thoughts today are not political, but rather human. My priorities are the greater good for all women and men. And as an attorney, lifelong student of the Constitution, and these days, a spiritual teacher, I am very worried about where we are heading.

I am writing on behalf of a minority – not the blue minority, but the pink one. Women, despite the strides of recent years, face a most horrific prospect of rolling back the clock in all the wrong ways and for all the wrong reasons. I believe that by proceeding without a deeper understanding of Judge Kavanaugh’s views, women may be irreparably damaged.

You two Senators have the power to safeguard our future and I pray you do the right thing and vote against this nomination.

It may seem unfair that the future of so many of us is laid at your feet, but leaders of all persuasions attest to the strength of those called upon in such trying circumstances. I have every confidence the two of you will find the courage to do the right thing, because the wrong thing has incomprehensible consequences for present and future generations.

At stake are the rights of women to make reproductive health decisions. Decades ago, the Supreme Court wisely decided in Roe vs. Wade to right an ancient wrong that previously took from women the right to determine the fate of their own bodies. Returning to a primitive state of governmental interference would be cruel and unusual punishment for all, both women and men. It would not only vacate the great strides forward, but trivialize the struggle to get there, and ignore how far there is yet to go.

Contemplating such a horrific step backward offers a chilling view of a future far less than our mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, and their daughters deserve. It’s never a question of our own personal beliefs about the right or wrong of abortion – rather, it can only be the question of a woman’s right to choose what’s right for her.

Note that this isn’t solely a female issue, but more appropriately a human issue.

We really are in this together: it’s not just about the rights of women, because the welfare of women affects everyone, women and men. Every man has a mother, and often a wife or female partner, sisters, aunts, cousins and nieces, grandmothers and granddaughters.

When your fellow Senators asked Judge Kavanaugh if he knew of a law that controlled men’s bodies, it came as no surprise that he did not. The historical inequality of the sexes made that not just unlikely but unimaginable.

Judge Kavanaugh’s face said so much more without him saying a word. Unspoken was the sense he viewed the question as frivolous, indeed, irrelevant.

There are no such similar laws impinging the freedom of men over their bodies, of course, and there never will be legal limitations for men of the type that women have lived with for eons. Roe’s role in the first stages of shedding that yoke was a landmark moment in human history.

Equally disturbing was Judge Kavanaugh’s use of the term “abortion-inducing drugs,” to refer to contraceptives. Like many others, I was horrified by his use of a term that is patently incorrect in terms of biology, and a term that screams anti-science and anti-choice. The defense that he was simply quoting from the parties’ language in the lawsuit in question did not go very far in convincing me that he had chose those words for a legal reason – it seemed far more likely he chose those words because he was personally comfortable with them.

A quick look online reveals that Kavanaugh has the most or second-most conservative voting record ever on the D. C. Court on every policy issue. He does not appear to be the kind of thoughtful, centrist figure we want Congress to select to make important policy decisions for us all, whatever our own personal political position.

More troubling, it appears Judge Kavanaugh’s beliefs are being deliberately hidden from the committee and the public in this hurried process to place him on the Court. This is not an accident, it’s by design, evidenced by over a hundred thousand unreleased documents. Clearly, there is something afoot here.

Beyond politics is fairness and by any objective measure, this process has been rushed, cloaked in secrecy, and politically motivated. In that spirit, the judge’s responses are less revealing than his lack of responses – whether about Roe or self-pardon of a President, there is ample evidence to wonder about the wisdom of a lifetime appointment in these extraordinary circumstances.

The fear consuming us today is not of party, but of principle. The greater good cannot become political collateral damage. Aspiring to our better natures knows no party. It isn’t limited to gender, and a lifetime appointment should not be guided by the shortsighted expediency of settling for less and, inarguably, should not be made by a leader potentially appointing his own judge.

Senator Collins and Senator Murkowski, you must find the courage to stand in your own integrity, free of partisan influence; the fate, the health, and the well-being of all of us, both women and men, are in your hands. Reproductive rights are human rights, and human rights are blind to party and indifferent to gender.

You have the rare opportunity and privilege to draw a line in the sand of epic proportion.

Refusing to settle for less than America’s best is surely the way to sustain her greatness. We deserve a nominee more in the mainstream of public thought; the current nominee could not be farther from the center; his record speaks volume.

Few of us in life have the power to do so much, for so many, as you two have today.

May you find the peace, guidance, and courage required to honor our trust in you.

Respectfully,

Deborah King

Attorney, spiritual teacher, and New York Times bestselling author

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