I thought it might be beneficial and helpful for the women on Shalom Place to have their own posting area for the discussion of problems as they come up in our daily lives, together with healing issues, what works, and what does not work, conflicts with others, all which may hinder us from living our lives to the fullest potential as women.

Men on the forum are not allowed to post. This will be our private sanctuary of support. Here we can share our poetry, thoughts as the arise, our joys and our sorrows.

How about starting with "Forgiveness". For me love and forgiveness go hand in hand and are inseparable. Forgiveness is one of the most painful emotions to come to term with yet when realized, the most blessed gift one could have hoped for. It frees us from the shackles that can enslave us for many years robbing us of joy and happiness which we all deserve now right here. Without the surrender to love and the healing steps necessary, we will never know the joy of wholeness within ourselves.

I will share more later on the tried and true approaches in forgiving and healing from pain and trauma of the past. Believe me when I tell you that I do and can love everyone and have total and unconditional forgiveness for all including myself. It is a reality!.

Whatever your concerns, come and share your heart here in an environment of love, encouragement and support.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ALL MY SISTERS IN CHRIST

DEDICATED TO THE STRENGTH
OF WOMEN

STILL I RISE

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies.
You may trod me in the dirt
But still like dust, I rise

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like i've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of huts of history's shame - I rise
Up from past that's rooted in pain - I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear - I rise
Into daybreak that's wondrously clear - I rise
Bringing the gifts that ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise
Maya Angelou

I am neither a Christian nor a woman, but I pride myself in pretending to understand Virginia Woolf's assertion that one must be a womanly man, or a manly woman:-) She writes: "It is fatal to be a man or woman pure and simple: one must be a woman manly, or a man womanly."

Hi Asher,

You do not have to be a Christian for me to love you. I enjoy and love you for who you are within the revelations of your posts. By the way, how are you?.

What I am about to say may come as a great surprise to you. Man is superior to woman having been given great intelligence from God. The compliment to man is woman having been given love, wisdom, intuition and great intellect. A woman is the weaker vessel, which does not make her less than man, instead woman is better in combining with man in unity, oneness and wholeness. We are the strength and power of man given to woman by God.

Re Virginia Woolf's assertions re woman manly, man womenly, I must state clearly that I am a woman with intelligence, intellect, wisdom, love, and great intuition.

Freebird:

Can I put some of that - the first part of your second paragraph- on the bathroom stalls in the men's room?

Guys,

In my moderator function I would suggest respecting Freebird's request that only women post in here.

I realize that this was a test of maturity and reveals much about us...

cowardly_recovering_mysogynist.com

WINGS

Be like the bird
That, pausing in her flight
Awhile on boughs too slight,
Feels them give way
Beneath her and yet sings,
Knowing that she has wings.
Victor Hugo

Love for God or love for money.

Last night I was called by an elderly neighbor who had fallen and needed help in getting up and into bed. This man is in frail health, very wealthy, and also extremely miserly. He became a millionaire he tells me by his sweat and blood.

I rushed to his house and assessed the situation with my medical background and knowledge. He appeared stable and I managed to get him into bed making him comfortable by offering water, propping up his pillows etc., as well as taking his vital signs. He has fallen quite often in the past but refuses to use the care plan I have written up for him. He will not spend one penny in hiring an aide, instead manipulates neighbors and friends into doing things for him for nothing. His money should be spent making the last years, the winter of his life, more pleasurable, instead he hoards it. His daughter and grandsons are hurting financially and beg monthly to get some money from him.

As I was leaving I gazed upon an old dying man, his wallet in bed with him, together with his bank statements, and he also asked me to bring him his check book from the kitchen table as well.

He is known in the neighborhood as a very sweet man, and so he is, yet the shadow side has a firm grip on him. Here he lay in bed with wife #4, his money, an icy cold maiden, who is draining him of life and love and all and every joy. She promises that she will stay at his side forevermore.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me. saith God.

The Visitors

Alas, here I was yesterday finally cleaning out my garage, or should I say busy hoeing it out. Painting stuff everywhere from a project I started months ago which is 95% completed yet waiting for the rest of the 5% to be finished as soon as an ambitious day appears for me to tackle it again. So far I am still waiting for that day to appear.

Coming up my driveway were unexpected visitors, neighbors. The husband had casually mentioned that he would saw a great oak limb into smaller pieces that had fallen on my property during the last storm.

The wive and I sat outdoors enjoying the blessed sunshine of the day conversing about her life and the raising of her family. Occassionaly she would stop talking and lovingly gaze upon her husband who was busy performing his task of sawing. I almost felt like an intruder upon a sacred private moment between a long time married husband and wife. I saw the flowing of her love within her glances toward her husband, and I could actually feel them. The joy of witnessing same was almost unbearable. What a gift from Father God to be let in within the mystery of their love for one another. I saw the meeting of God's Holy Temple as one together between them. There were no boundaries nor any separation, only a oneness of each other being within the body of Christ and The Lord being their Head. Glory and praises to God for this treasure in an otherwise uneventful day.

The husband also filled up the tire on my wheelbarrow and I was gifted with a new lock for my front gate which had been broken for awhile.

We hugged goodbye and tears flowed from me in gratitude and thankfulness. They embraced me in their love in knowing to love your neighbor as thyself.

Love and kindness is alive and well on planet earth. Whatever kind act you give to another will come back, what a blessed assurance, and it may return to you from another when least expected. Since I help the elderly neighbor from my above post often, God gave to me from the visitors.

Thank you Lord for your love expressed in and through my neighbors. Bless them abundantly.

Love your neighbor as thyself.

I am well. Thanks for asking, Freebird.

Oops. Sorry mm, I just saw your note...a little late.

My dear friends, yesterday is gone, today is afresh with the morning dew; a day for surprises and looking at things anew. With the eyes of childhood and wonder take in the things of this world as if seeing things for the very first time.

When all my days are ending
And I have no song to sing,
I think that I shall not be too old
To stare at everything;
As I stared once at a nursery door
Or a tall tree and a swing........

Men grow too old for love, my love,
Men grow too old for lies;
But I shall not grow too old to see
Enormous night arise,
A cloud that is larger than the world
And a monster made of eyes.....

Men grow too old to woo, my love,
Men grow too old to wed:
But I shall not grow too old to see
Hung crazily overhead
Incredible rafters when I wake
And find that I am not dead.....

Strange crawling carpets of the grass,
Wide window of the sky:
So in this perilous grace of God
With all my sins go I:
And things grow new though I grow old,
Though I grow old and die.
G.K. Chesterton

My dear friends. For men only is getting a bit risky and X-rated. I will now give a few pearls of wisdom about men to even the score a bit.

What is the nicest thing about a nudist wedding?. You don't have to ask- you can see who the best man is.

Why does a man have a clear conscience?. Because it's never used.

What's the difference between a man and a chimpanzee?
One is hairy, smelly, and is always scratching himself. The other is the chimpanzee.

How can you tell if your husband is dead? Sex is the same but you get the remote.

What do UFO's and caring men have in common? You keep hearing about them but never see any for yourself.

What is the difference between men and women?
A woman wants one man to satisfy her every need.....
A man wants every woman to satisfy one need.

What's the most common cause of hearing loss among men?
Wife saying she wants to talk to him.

Why are hangovers better than men?
Hangovers will go away.

What is the difference between garbage and men?
Garbage gets thrown out and stays out!.

How many divorced men does it take to screw in a light bulb?
No one knows, the ex-wife always gets the house.

How are men and batteries different?
Batteries have a positive side.

How does a man keep his youth?
By giving them money, furs and diamonds.

Why don't men wear tight underwear?
It cuts of cirulation to the brain.

Why do men die before their wives?
They should.

What do you call a caring, considerate and gifted man?.
A Myth.

Husband: I don't know why you wear a bra; you've got nothing to put in it
Wife: You wear briefs, don't you?

How to scare a man?
Sneak up behind him and start throwing rice.

Woman: "I got a set of golf clubs for my husband".
Friend: "GREAT trade".

How do you get a man on the roof?
Tell him the beer is on the house.

Did you hear about the two men who went ice fishing?
They caught 200 pounds of ice, but drowned when they tried to cook it.

Without putting fear in men, my final.....

Do you always tell your husband when you've had an orgasm?
No way! I'm not going to call home every time.

Love all you men, so let us laugh together.

Very funny, Freebird. You're certainly holding up your end .

PHENOMENAL WOMAN

Pretty woman wonder where my secret lies
I'm not cute or built to suit a model's fashion size
But when I start to tell them
They think I'm telling lies,
I say
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips
The stride of my steps
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please
And to a man
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees
Then the swarm around me
A hive of honey bees.
I say
It's the fire in my eyes
And the flash of my teeth
And the swing of my waist
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say
It's in the arch of my back
The sun in my smile
The ride of my breasts
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally

Phenomenal woman
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say
It's in the click of my heels
The bend of my hair
The palm of my hand
The need for my care.
Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.
Maya Angelou

FAREWELL TO MAMA AND HELLO TO HEAVENLY MOTHER OF US ALL, a love story.

The news of my birth mother's dementia and failing health came as a shock. She had always been so strong, stoic, independent, and now needed placement into an assisted living home. Last time I saw Mama was 25 years ago during my Dad's funeral, He died young leaving a widow and my 2 siblings who were the joy and happiness of her life. Mama and I had never bonded, nor had a warm loving relationship as mother and daughter. God knows I tried, but to no avail. She was a professional nurse, respected by her peers, had many admirable gifts as a woman, but was icy, cruel, like a surgeon's scalpel in her expressions and interactions with others. She was a mystery, a woman I hardly knew at all.

Finally the day of my visit had arrived. Here we were mother and daughter going out for lunch and a shopping trip, the very first time in our lives that we had spent together alone in our adult lives, and now it also meant goodbye and farewell for one another. I took her to the best restaurant, bought her the very best shoes as a gift, stopped for ice-cream and a soda and finally we ended up in a local park sitting on a bench.

I gazed upon her in awe and wonder. Who was this woman who gave birth to me and yet never once had touched and stroked me with her beautiful hands, nor ever had shown me any love and kindness. It was I who tenderly stroked and touched her lovely face and her exquisite hands. It was a moment and time for a miracle to happen. The mother I so longed for was within myself expressing Her love for my birth mother. How softly and tenderly she touched the hair of Mama and expressed Her love over and over again. Here was Heavenly Mother within me loving so deeply her child my birth mother. Tears flowed as the truth and realization hit me and filled me with the greatest abundance of love imaginable. Here was my true Mother, Heavenly Mother, with Her wisdom and unconditional love shown for 2 of her children, Mama and I.

Heavenly Mother has been so powerful with her love in my k transformation and new birth. When I lay my hands upon myself, the river within me flows upwards with the strongest current. It is a constant flowing like a circle from my hands into my body, and a repeat of same over and over again. These hands are not mine but Hers, as She heals others in my healing practitioner's work and counseling practice. Her hands give comfort and love to all that She touches. She is in all of us waiting for our recognition of Her. We are Her beloved children that she helps lift upwards to Father God, as She birthes us within.

Heavenly Mother came forth from the darkness of my sorrowful life and filled me with a love so true and constant. Never again am I without the love of a Mother as She guides me with her wisdom in my journey through life homeward bound.

I pray that Heavenly Mother will be recognized by all Her children. She is Mother of us all. She lifts us out of the darkness into the Light of Christ. That is why I love the black Madonna. Out of the darkness Mother came to lighten my path with Her love and quench the thirst of my soul.

My birth mother died last year. Farewell to Mama and Hello to Heavenly Mother of us all who lives within us. I now have our true Mother's love that is never ending. I wish the same for all of you. Awake and open your eyes. Heavenly Mother of us all is within us, and we all are her beloved children.

I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

A sorroful poem dedicated to all men with clipped wings and whose feet are tied!

I know why the caged bird sings

The free bird leaps on the back of the wind
and floats downstream till the current ends
and dips his wings in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage
can seldom see through his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
of things unknown but longed for still
and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.
Maya Angelou

Come my brothers and grow your wings, untie your feet and I shall open the cages. Let us soar together in the deep blue sea within infinity. Love you men!.

Watch out Asher, lightning bolts are ready to be delivered. A storm is brewing and the clouds are thundering. I assume that you men did not like my poems about the fiery maiden, nor the one about men with clipped wings, tied feet and kept in cages. Ha ha ha ha

To make it up to you, here is a gift:

He drew a circle to keep me out
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout;
But love and I had the wits to win
We drew a circle and took him in.
Edwin Markham

I picture all of us much different. We are all swimming in a blue lagoon diving for diamonds, rubies, emeralds, the size of rocks and boulders, bathing under crystal clear waterfalls. We all stand together in joy and freedom walking in the cool afternoon in the garden with God. We drink from the River of life and eat fruits from the Tree of life. No tears, nor sorrow will pass by us ever again. What joy to meet each other with the recognition of our minds expressed on Shalom Place. Phil will shine forth his light as we all will blink back in harmony as one in the joy of spending eternity together. Asher will acknowledge that I was a very wise woman with great insights in all my posts, and everyone will nod their heads in full agreement.

One of the greatest human expressions of love is empathy. It is a love whereby you are able to truly put yourself in the position of another human being and try to understand and feel their conscious or unconcious need to inflict pain and suffering unto another, and the causes of same. This takes a tremendous love in all of our experiences and interactions with one another.

What comes to mind as I start this series of healing is a story about Mahatma Gandhi who was interviewed by a Western journalist in a small Indian village as he was performing his services for the poor. The interviewer asked, "How wonderful all the things you're doing for these poor people". Ghandi replied, "I'm not doing it for these people, I'm doing it for myself." Further questioned by the journalist, "What do you mean by that?", Ghandi replied, "How can I have empathy for others without having empathy for myself?".

How true these words of Ghandi ring for me. Due to my upbringing and conditioning I was always able to forgive others in due time and have empathy for them, yet the pain of others would linger on within me until finally I learned to love, forgive and to have empathy not only for others, but for myself as well. I have truly learned to love my brother as myself, and like Ghandi I have learned the importance of empathy for myself in my own center of being loved.

I welcome our newest member Jim Marion and with great anticipation look forward to the dialogue between him and Phil

There are two ways of spreading light; to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.
-Edith Wharton

I hope that the rest of the members will also be able to ask questions of Jim

My angel of delight

He was an angel of delight
when first I gazed upon his wondrous sight;
He moved with wings of grace
that flowed in crystal light,
so very high above me.
Who are you angel of delight?
a dream to fill my lonely night
with moonbeams raining drops of dew
upon my lips so softly?
I am your cherub and your guide
who watches you throughout the night;
who bathes you in rays of light
and gives you joy in my kiss goodnight.

Thank you Jim Marion for your generosity in being part of a dialogue with Phil
Let us all be open to the gifts of knowledge, wisdom and spiritual insights he has gained through many years of study, meditation and deep spiritual experiences that have led him to his truth.

I am touched by Jim who must have a busy schedule, yet has found through love the time to enlighten us with his revelations.

May his time schedule also allow us the opportunity to ask questions of him.

God Bless

An old God centered Rabbi told me years ago that a human being's consciousness is dependent upon the biological father's consciousness state at the moment of his seed fertilizing the biological mother's ovum. Can a man's consciousness be elevated at the moment of conception?. This is not an easy thing to do for any man, but the chances of an offspring having a higher level of consciousness is a very good probability. Yet, such an elevated consciousness raised being still needs the new birth as stated by Jesus, due to the tainting of us by original sin. We all must be born anew.

Jesus was the only one of all humanity who did not need this new birth. He was conceived by a pure physical virgin and spiritual virgin, since God had purified Mary of all sin nature. She was a pure vessel and was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit to conceive Jesus Christ, the Word, incarnate as the Son of God. God's Holy Spirit is the Father of the Son Jesus Christ, as God's Holy Spirit is our Father in our new birth.

In our new birth there also has to be the merger of the pure spiritual virgin, Matter, (Mary), who is within all of us, with God's Holy Spirit. A Holy seed comes forth from this union giving us our new birth as a spirit son, brother of Christ and co-heir with Him. This gift and promise is given to us by Jesus Christ who tells us that He is the way, the truth and the life and that no one gets to the Father except through the sun. From this union of Matter, (Mary) with God's Holy Spirit out of the Holy seed springs forth the Light of Christ, His pure consciousness which Mother, Matter, the Heavenly Mother of us all lifts above as the son of man and new born son of God. This birthing process is a long labor as we are lifted above and grow daily taking on the mind of Christ being one with Him. As we die daily to the former old creature in us having now given our new birth, not I, but Christ lives in us.

Jesus Christ is God, the Logos. He is the only one of all of humanity who did not need to be born again. He is also the new Adam who came to teach us and show us the way back into the Kingdom of God as we become one with Him in the image and likeness of God.

One of the most beautiful gifts I am experiencing in my new birth is a genuine love and realization of the brotherhood of mankind. I truly am aware of God's words: Don't we all have one Father hasn't God created us all. I look for the face of Christ in everybody.

Freedom of the mind allows me to express what I have learned within the center of my being. You have a right to agree or disagree with me, but this is how I see our new birth for all of us. We all have the gift of God's love to attain this new birth and to become sons and daughters of Father God, brothers of Christ and co-heirs with Him.

No greater love was ever expressed by anyone like the love of Jesus Christ on the cross who gave His life for all of humanity so that we could return to the Father as His beloved children.

Last Tuesday I made a trip to the big city to visit my elderly neighbor friend who was recovering from surgery in the hospital. My human nature did not want to go. My spirit had other plans in mind as we set out with a bouquet of daffodils, the first blooming in my garden, my counseling bag containing the Holy Bible, and a bottle of the purest essential blessing oil I make myself. Directions given to me to find the hospital were not accurate and yet like a homing pigeon I was never of course, close, until finally I arrived at the hospital.

I was greeted by the head nurse with the sad news that my friend was at level 1 in his cognitive skills and declining rapidly in his physical state. We were left alone and I looked upon my friend with an awareness that his spirit was in the process of separating from his body. His eyes were rolling and unable to focus on me at all. As I touched him, he was cold as ice.

I sing praises to our beloved Lord God who uses us as His instruments in our service to Him with His children. I silently prayed for the Lord to give His healing should it be His will for my friend. I started with the reading of the 23 Psalm and annointed my friend with the blessing oil upon his head, throat, hands and heart. I than stroked and touched his body. My hands turned red and fiery as I continued in silent prayer to minister to this child of God. This healing work continued for over an hour until his body became warm once again and I managed to look into his eyes that were full of recognition, awareness and love. Spirit smiling back at spirit. Hallelujah!. All praises and glory to God for His grace and mercy in healing and allowing my friend more alloted time to be with us here on earth. I kissed him on the forehead and departed on my long journey back to my home.

Instead of having to remain in the hospital, he was transferred Wednesday into a rehab closer to my home. He will not have the opportunity to return home himself since his frail health will need the supervision, most likely, in an assisted living situation or a high quality nursing home facility. He did not remember me coming for the visit and told me of an angel visit instead, and so it is, we are all angels in disguise.

We all can make a difference in our love and help for another human being. Whatever kindness we give and show to another does make this world a better place. In any love transaction you are aware of Jesus' love working in and through you and another. Thank you Father God for allowing me to serve you. Amen.

An Ocean without Shore

I marveled at an Ocean without shore,
and at a shore that did not have an Ocean,
And at a Morning Light without darkness,
and a Night that was without daybreak;
And then a Sphere with no locality
known to either fool or learned scholar;
And at an azure Dome raised over the earth,
circulating round its center-
Compulsion;
And at a rich Earth without o'er-arching vault
and no specific location, the Secret concealed....
I courted a Secret which existence did not alter;for it was asked of me: "Has Thought
enchanted you?"
To which I replied: "I have no power over that;
I counsel you: Be patient while you live
But truly, if Thought becomes established
in my mind, the embers kindle into flame,
And everything is given up to fire
the like of which was never seen before!"
And it was said to me: "He does not pluck a flower who calls himself with courtesy
"Freeborn."
"He who woos the belle femme in her boudoir,
love-beguiled,
will never deem the bridal-price too high!".

I gave her the dower and was given her in marriage
throughout the night until the break of Dawn-
But other than Myself I did not find-
Rather
That One whom I married-may his affair be known
For added to the Sun's measure of light
are the radiant New Moon and shining stars;
Like Time, dispraised-though the Prophet (Blessings on him!)
had once declared of your Lord that He
is Time.