This newsletter is a publication of the Mystical Order of the White Rose, a multi-faith devotional and spiritual support organization. We support and share information about mystical, monastic, contemplative and creative ways of living. We encourage prayer, the reading of sacred scripture(s), lectio divina, meditation, journaling, solitude, fasting, silence, kindness, hospitality, worship, simplicity, creativity,active involvement in spiritual and/or religious communities, and loving service to others. You can view past issues here and you can subscribe to it here .
Table of Contents
-- Article: "A Brief HIstory of Roses" by Daniel Keeley
-- Video: "The 12 Keys of Spiritual Activism"
-- White Rose Graphic
-- Poems: "A White Rose;" "Petals of the White Rose;" "Mystical Rose;" and "The Rose."
-- Links of Interest
-- Multi-faith, Multi-Media Daily Devotionals
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A Brief History of Roses
According to fossil evidence, the rose is at least 35 million years old, which proves that the floweing plant we sometimes consider delicate and finicky is actually very tough. Roses occur naturally throughout the northern hemisphere and have long been an object of admiration the world over. From China, where the cultivation of roses most likely began some 5,000 years ago, to the Middle East and Europe, roses have been grown for such varied uses as medicine, decoration, and even legal currency. Their beauty has captivated kings and queens, emperors and empresses, and the symbolism of the rose has journeyed from love and beauty to war and politics and back again.
- excerpt from article ("A Rose By Any Other Name") by Daniel Keeley, published in February 2006 issue of CitiScapes Metro Monthly (Fayetteville, Arkansas)
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The 12 Keys of Spiritual Activism (a Video)
It may seem incongruous to juxtapose the words--and concepts related to "spiritual" and "activism," but monks, nuns, clergy and many deeply religious and spiritual people feel that their faith leads them to not only look within but to also look without and to support cultural change in alignment with their values and beliefs.
The images in this video are very powerful and there is much food for thought in the text. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3qI02DyuY4
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White Rose Graphic
Okay, it's a little flashy and gaudy, but I like it anyway.
Click Here For Myspace Graphics at GraphicsHunt.com
White Rose
http://graphicshunt.com/images/white_rose-3260.htm
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Poems
A White Rose
The red rose whispers of passion,
And the white rose breathes of love;
O, the red rose is a falcon,
And the white rose is a dove.
But I send you a cream-white rosebud
With a flush on its petal tips;
For the love that is purest and sweetest
Has a kiss of desire on the lips
-- James Boyle O'Reilly (1844-1890)
Souce: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-white-rose/
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Petals of the White Rose
by James Haley
Dreaming by the morning moon
protected in a tight cocoon
so pale in the gloom
Petals of the white rose
Stretching at the sun light smiles
reflecting on its dew drop tiles
a glow that's seen for miles
The waking of the white rose
Delicate as the summer breeze
pearly white of royal genes
a queen within the garden green
the blooming of the white rose
Soft as love you give it when
hearts should touch a frail friend
before the gift of life might end
The message of the white rose
As we cry these tender woes
and say goodbye to them we know
they'll fly wherever spirits go
On petals of a soft white rose.
Visit this link to find out how James Haley was led to compose this poem:
http://www.netpoets.com/poems/love/1526001.htm
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Mystical Rose
THERE is no rose of such virtue
As is the rose that bear Jesu:
Alleluia.
For in this rose containéd was
Heaven and earth in little space:
Res Miranda.
By that rose we may well see
There be one God in Persons Three:
Pares forma.
The angels sang, the shepherds too:
Gloria in Excelsis Deo:
Gaudeamus.
Leave we all this worldly mirth
And follow we this joyful birth:
Transeamus.
By an unknown Medieval Author
Source: http://www.catholictradition.org/Mary/mystical-rose.htm
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The Rose
(Song Lyrics by Amanda McBroom)
Some say love, it is a river
That drowns the tender reed
Some say love, it is a razor
That leaves your soul to bleed
Some say love, it is a hunger
An endless aching need
I say love, it is a flower
And you, its only seed
It's the heart, afraid of breaking
That never learns to dance
It's the dream, afraid of waking
That never takes the chance
It's the one who won't be taken
Who cannot seem to give
And the soul, afraid of dying
That never learns to live
When the night has been too lonely
And the road has been too long
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snow
Lies the seed
That with the sun's love, in the spring
Becomes the rose
Learn how this song came to be: http://www.amcbroom.com/rose.html
Bette Midler sings The Rose in this video.
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The Rose
It is only a tiny rosebud--A flower of God's design;
But I cannot unfold the petals
With these clumsy hands of mine.
The secret of unfolding flowers
Is not known to such as I---
The flower God opens so sweetly
In my hands would fade and die.
If I cannot unfold a rosebud
This flower of God's design,
Then how can I think I have wisdom
To unfold this life of mine?
So I'll trust in Him for His leading
Each moment of every day,
And I'll look to Him for His guidance
Each step of the pilgrim way.
For the pathway that lies before me
My Heavenly Father knows--
I'll trust Him to unfold the moments
Just as He unfolds the Rose.
-- author unknown; published by Silaom Springs Printing (bookmark)
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Links of Interest
Theotokos, The Mystical Rose - Video - Divine Feminine -- Mother Mary -- Greek Orthodox Images, Metaphysical texts.
The Path of the White Rose -- with Eileen Smith, channeler and healer
The Illuminated Rose -- A family business that incorporates art, spirituality, healing and knowledge http://www.illuminatedrose.com/about.htm
Mandala Illumination - Making mandalas is a sacred art and sciene. Let Eileen Rose help you explore it. http://www.mandalaillumination.com/
Perelandra - Center for Nature Research http://www.perelandra-ltd.com/
Spirituality & Practice -- Resources for Spiritual Journeys http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/
Articles from the Intersections and Arenas of Religion and Spirituality: http://www.religionandspirituality.com/
Our Lady of the Roses-Mary Help of MothersShrine (Catholic)
Our Lady of Roses -- Marian Apparitions & Channeling in the United States -- An introductory video (Catholic)
Sustaining the Spirit -- Resources for Comforting and Repairing a Damaged World
Postive News - for a change! Explore this upbeat service here.
Rosa Mystica Chapel and House of Prayer (Catholic)
Rosa Mystica Apparitions in Italy -- website. (Catholic)
Divine Mercy Publications http://www.divinemercy.com.au/index.html
Lady of the Roses Song - About Our Lady of Guadalupe - on video. (animated)
Alternative Healing and Spirituality-- Articles, Prose, Poems, Prayers, Quotes & Lyrics
Sound Healing Information. http://kayleonne.com/soundenergy.htm?hop=shadowfae
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Daily Multi-Faith, Multi-Media Devotionals
Each day we should expose ourselves to the inspiration of others. Thousands of saints and wise men and women have left us messages of hope and encouragement. Read what is honest. Read the scriptures and the commentaries. Read great literature and poetry. Read the psalms. Read that which expresses the anguish and the exhilaration of experience, and teaches us that we are not alone.
- John McQuiston II, p. 88, Always We Begin Again--The Benedictine Way of Living
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Wednesday, July 1
If we fail to nourish our souls, they wither, and without soul, life ceases to have meaning. The creative process shrivels in the absence of continual dialogue with the soul. And creativity is what makes life worth living.
- Marion Woodman
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Thursday, July 2
Compassionate action starts with seeing yourself when you start to make yourself right and when you start to make yourself wrong. At that point you could just contemplate the fact that there is a larger alternative to either of those, a more tender, shaky kind of place where you could live.
- Pema Chodron
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Friday, July 3
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
- Ann Frank
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Saturday, July 4 -- Independence Day (USA)
Video of largest July 4 fireworks display: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzL4L_FpLvE&feature=fvw
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Sunday, July 5
So many gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind
Is all the sad world needs.
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox
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Monday, July 6 -- Birthday of Tenzin Gyatso, Fourteenth Dalai Lama; Tibetan Buddhist Religious Leader, and World Spiritual Leader (born 1935)
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Tuesday, July 7 - Dharma Day (Buddhist) -- Full Moon
Dharma day marks the beginning of the Buddha's teaching. The word Dharma can be translated as truth and is the term used for the path to enlightenment, or the Buddhist teaching. Soon after his Enlightenment the Buddha went to find his former disciples and share his experience with them. This event could be seen as the start of the Buddhist religion, and is what Dharma day celebrates. The first teaching to the Buddha's original five disciples is known as The First Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma (Dharmachakra).
In early Buddhism, the time around what has now become Dharma Day (the eighth lunar month in the traditional Indian calendar) marked the beginning of the rainy season. At this point, the Buddha and his monks and nuns would suspend their nomadic lifestyle for three months. They would shelter together until the monsoon season was over, and use this time as a period of further meditation and reflection. At the end of this time, they would resume their travelling, passing on the Buddha's teachings to those who were interested.
Dharma day is now seen as a chance to express gratitude that the Buddha, and other enlightened teachers, have shared their knowledge with others. Dharma day is usually celebrated with readings from the Buddhist scriptures, and is an opportunity to reflect deeply on their content. If an individual practices Buddhism within a monastic tradition, Dharma day is, wherever possible, celebrated in a temple, Buddhist centre or monastery in the presence of monks or nuns.
More information on Buddhist Holy Days
Reflections On Religion and Dharma by Hazrat Inayat Khan
And then we coime to another aspect of religion, which is not necessarily the law or the ceremony or the divine ideal of God, but which is apart from all of these four. That is, something living in the soul, in the mind, and in the heart of man, the absence of which keeps man as dead, and the presence of which gives him life. If there is any religion, it is that particular sense. And what is that sense? The Hindus have called it, in the Sanskrit language, Dharma, which, in the ordinary meaning of the word, is duty. But it is something much greater than what we know in our everyday life as duty. I do not call it duty, but life itself.
When a person is thoughtful, when a person is considerabe, when a person feels obligations that he has towards his fellow man, towards his friend, towards his father or mother, or in whatever relation he stands to man, it is something living, it is something like water, which gives the sense of the living soul; the soul is not dead. It is this living soul which really makes a person alive. And the person who is not conscious of this, this tenderness, this sacredness of life, he lives, but the soul is in the grave. You do not need to ask that man what is his religion, what is his belief, for he is living it; life itself is his religion, and this is the true religion. The man conscious of honor, the man who has the sense of shame, who has the feeling of sincerity, whose sympathy, whose devotion is alive, that man is living, that man is religious.
It is this religion which has been the religion of the past and which will be the religion of the future. And religion, if ever it was taught by Christ or any other great ones, was to awaken in man that sense which is awakened when his religion is living.
It does not matter into which house you go and pray, for every moment of your life then is religion. Then it is not a religion in which you believe, but it is a religion which you live.
- Hazrat Inayat Khan, p. 27, The Unity of Religious Ideals, Sufi Order Publications, P.O. Box 396, New Lebanon, New York 12125, copyright 1979 by Sufi Order.
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Wednesday, July 8
Cease trying to work everything out with your mind. Live by intuition and inspiration and let your whole life be revelation.
- Eileen Caddy
http://www.skyenergyportal.com/eileen-caddy/english/Index.htm
Findhorn Foundation/Community: http://www.findhorn.org/index.php?tz=300
Video: Findhorn Now (2008)
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Thursday, July 9 -- In the Summer translate thy self to the Fields....
In the Summer translate thy self to the Fields, where all are green with the Breath of God, or fresh with the Powers of Heaven. Sometimes thou may'st walk in Groves, which being full of Majestie will much advance the Soul. Sometimes by clear, Active Rivers, for by such (say the Mystick Poets) Apollo contemplated.
- Thomas Vaughn
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Friday, July 10 -- Through crisis and contemplation....
Through crisis and contemplation, each seeker processes through an infinite series of realizations which give a richer point of view, a deeper point of view and hopefully a more balanced point of view. Each inceases inner peace.
- channeled transmission from Q'uo p. 359, A Wanderer's Handbook by Carla Lisbeth Rueckert,
For more info, visit this website: http://www.llresearch.org/
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Saturday, July 11 -- Feast Day of St. Benedict
Video: Who is St. Benedict?
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/rul-benedict.html
Photo Gallery by a Benedictine Monk
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/benedict/rule2/files/rule2.html
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Sunday, July 12 -- It is a summer day.
It is a summer day. I go bareheaded and barefooted, holding a parasol to watch young people singing Soochow folk songs while treading the water wheel. The water comes up over the wheel in a gushing torrent like molten silver or melting snow. Ah, is this not happening? ...
To cut with a sharp knife a bright green watermelon on a big scarlet plate of a summer afternoon. Ah, is this not happiness? ...
- Chin Sheng-T'an, Chinese Poet (1609-1661)
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Monday, July 13
The very beginning, the intrinsic core, the essence, the universal nucleous of every known high religion ... has been the private, lonely, personal illumination, revelation, or ecstasy of some acutely sensitive prophet or seer.
The high religions call themselves revealed religions and each of them tends to rest its validity, its function, and its right to exist on the codification and the communication of this original mystic experience or revelation from the lonely prophet to the mass of human beings in general.
- Abraham Maslow
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Tuesday, July 14--Bastille Day
For the history and traditions of Bastille Day, visit this link.
Recipe for Chocolate-Hazelnut Fruit Crepes
The soul seeks God by faith, not by the reasonings of the mind and labored efforts, but by the drawings of love; to which inclinations God responds, and instructs the soul, which co-operates actively. God then puts the soul in a passive state where He accomplishes all, causing great progress, first by way of enjoyment, then by privation, and finally by pure love.
1647-1717 French Mystic and Author
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Wednesday, July 15
Human thought is active day and night, it never stops. It’s jus that people don’t know how to use this extraordinary instrument, and, because of this, not only does their thinking fail to bring them much benefit, it becomes another way for them to torment and destroy themselves. Thought is a force, a power, an instrument given to us by the Lord to allow us, like him, to become creators, but creators in beauty, light and perfection. By means of thought we are capable of contacting regions, substances, quintessences and creatures in both the divine and the infernal worlds. This is why it is so important to become aware of the creative power of thought, so you don’t go wading about in swamps but become workers in the field of the Lord.
-- Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
Bulgarian Spiritual Teacher -- http://www.prosveta.com/
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Thursday, July 16
The desire of the intelligences within nature to touch in with us, to communicate and work with us, is intense. The quality of our life and of all life forms on Earth depends on our willingness to learn how to act and move in such a way that we enhance life-quality, not damage or destroy it.
- Michaelle Small Wright, quotation from her book: Behaving As If the God In All Life Matters
Learn more about Wright here: http://www.religionandspirituality.com/view/post/1246049979326/
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Friday, July 17 -- Like the bee gathering honey from different flowers....
Like the bee gathering honey from diffferent flowers, the wise person accepts the essence of different scriptures and sees only the good in all religions.
- Gandhi
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Saturday, July 18
The spiritual world is like the natural world--only diversity will save it. Just as the health of a forest or fragrant meadow can be measured by the number of different plants and creatures that successfully make it their home, so only by an extraordinary abundance of disparate spiritual and philosophical paths will human beings navigate a pathway through the dark and swirling storms that mark our current era.
- Margot Adler
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Sunday, July 19 -- Heaven is . . . .
. . . . that heaven which is perfect life and perfect love, music and dancing, rhythm and melody, grace and courtesy, stars and atoms and beasts and flowers and men and angels and all with Christ, and Christ with God.
- Michael Stancliffe, former Dean of Winchester Cathedral in England, from his book: Stars and Angels--Meditations for the Christian Year. This 176-page paperback book is available from Christianbooks.com for just $1.49.
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Monday, July 20 -- Our hunger is for more than food . . . .
This is the heart of whole-body eating. Be there when you eat ....Taste it. Savor it....Rejoice in it. See how it makes your body feel. Take in all the sensations. But don't just eat the food. Eat the ambiance. Eat the colors. Eat the aromas. Eat the conversation. Eat the company sitting next to you. Eat the entire experience....We don't just hunger for food alone.
- Marc David
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Tuesday, July 21-- Belonging to God . . . .
When you feel that you belong to God like the rays belong to the sun, the stream to the ocean, the soul to Awareness---that is meditation.
- Swami Amar Jyoti
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Wednesday, July 22 -- Feast Day of Mary Magdalene (Catholic; Gnostic)
Ever since Dan Brown's book the Da Vinci Code hit the market, the role of Mary Magdalene has been re-examined, researched, politely discussed, hotly debated, and generally argued about up one side and down the other. As always, people will make up their own minds and hang onto their own opinions, regardless of whether they are historically well documented or not. It sure has been exciting, however.
The Renaissance of Mary Magdalene
The Secret In Mary Magdalene's Rose (a video)
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Thursday, July 23 -- Have no fear . . . .
Have no fear for what tomorrow may bring. The same loving God who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. God will either shield you from suffering or give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations.
- Francis de Sales
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Friday, July 24 -- Rest is not idleness....
Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer's day listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.
- Sir John Lubbock
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Saturday, July 25
Things don’t happen in spite of us. You and I are as important as anyone else and as responsible as anyone else. Whatever you and I do, speak or think is contributing to the entire energy of the world.
- Swami Amar Jyoti
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Sunday, July 26
Allow more and more thoughts of Your thinking to come into our hearts, day by day, till there shall at last be an open road between You and us, and Your angels may go up and down amongst us, so that we may be Your heaven, even while we are upon Your earth. Amen.
- adapted from a passage in David Elginbrod by George McDonald
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Monday, July 27 -- Birthday of Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961)
The psychoanalytic tradition has historically discounted the mystical dimension of life and the reality behind it. .... As a matter of fact, with the exception of Jung (who seemed himself a mystic) the major schools of psychoanalysis have defined mysticas as hysterics or worse.
Even organized religion (and thus spiritual directors of ministerial counselors) may be unfriendly to the mystical perspective since it is always an individual phenomenon, hard to describe, and generally subversive to institutional processes and objectives.
- Marsha Sinetar, p. 27, A Way Without Words, published by the Paulist Press
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Tuesday, July 28 -- Simplify life . . . .
Simplify life to bring inner and outer well-being into harmony. Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens. Many lives are cluttered not only with unnecessary possessions but also with meaningless activities. Cluttered loves are out-of-harmony lives and require simplification. Wants and needs can become the same in a human life and, when this is accomplished, there will be a sense of harmony between inner and outer well-being. Such harmony is needful not only in the individual life but in the collective life too.
- Peace Pilgrim
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Wednesday, July 29 -- O gentle soul reach out . . . .
Intuition - a poem by Susan Landon
What knowledge flows within our veins is born
with us, a message hidden by our God.
Then search for yours, and never dare to scorn
the prophet wild whose puzzling words will prod
you toward a path now indistinct, but right.
How else to find your way, escape the maze
of earthly pain, the sorrow born of night?
O gentle soul, reach out. For she who stays
within the earthly world alone ignores
the cosmic pull that rules our lives. So reach
for greater things, set sail for distant shores.
Let love and silence guide you, for in each
are found a path to inner depth. The goal
must be a course that elevates your soul.
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Thursday, July 30--the fruit of the Spirit
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law.
- King James Bible - Galations 5-22-23
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Friday, July 31 -- O Holy Wisdom . . . .
O Holy Wisdom, Soaring Power, encompass us with wings unfurled, and carry us, encircling all, above, below, and through the world.
- Hildegard von Bingen from: O Holy Spirit, Root of Life
