Mandala 556 by Melody Cummons

~

Cornstalk Mandala.

Blessing everyone a peaceful and illuminating

Holiday season, full of gratitude and love and

Oneness!

Om Shanti!

Mandalas 545-555 by Melody Cummons

These Mandalas were birthed from photos taken of

the beautiful Bas reliefs on the grande stairway walls leading down to

the Bethesda Terrace Fountain in

Central Park NYC.

~

Mandala 544 by Melody Cummons

~

Stone Carved Mandala in Central Park NYC,

Flower of life,

May Peace flow through every petal,

inward and outward, behind and beyond.

Spiraling eternal.

Om Shanti!

Raw Food with Abby and Tommy Anton

I'm taking a break from my Mandalas tonight to

share with you some amazing news about two friends of mine,

Abby and Tommy Anton.

Abby and Tommy are Raw Foodists. For those of you

who may not know what that means, being a raw foodist

means that one chooses to eat vegan, organic foods

in their raw uncooked state.

They do not eat dairy or refined grains and sugars or

any other type of overly processed foods. For most people that

may sound pretty extreme, and it really is a totally

different way of life.

Abby and Tommy are very mindful in their practice.

By practice, I mean they have been doing this for over

ten years.

About now, you might be wondering why I'm talking

about my raw foodist friends on my Mandala blog.

This blog is about Peace and Love and most

especially about awakening consciousness.

Something amazing begins to happen when one

practices a raw food lifestyle. At some

point in the journey of being a raw foodist, one

will begin to wake up. One begins to be more grounded

and peaceful and present. The present is the one magical

place where one can be transformed, where one

can have direct access to source.

Abby and Tommy are living examples of the

spiritual benefits of living a raw food lifestyle.

They exude an amazing energy of peace and love

and stillness and presence.

When they look at you, you know you are really

being seen. You look back and can instantly see

there is something special beyond description.

Abby and Tommy have never said to me that they

are healers or teachers.

But I'm telling you, that in their presence I felt

healing and I learned many things in a very short

period of time. I wasn't expecting it and it

was really amazing.

~

We are living in a time when everything around us

is more and more manufactured and less natural.

Our vegetables are irradiated and have been genetically

modified as if God's perfect fruit was not good

enough for us. We need to make it bigger or

faster or more controllable.

As we destroy the natural world around us, what will

become of us natural beings?

It is time for us to remember that we are a part

of everything else on this planet. We are not

separate. We are one with everything and as we destroy

what is in the world around us, we begin to destroy

ourselves.

When we eat animals that are killed inhumanely,

we take the energy of that animal's death into our

bodies. Every harm we create on this planet, no

matter how far down the line from us, still

affects our being.

I'm not telling everyone to run out now and be a raw

foodist. But I am posing these questions to myself...

How can I live more in harmony with this living

being, conscious planet we call Earth?

How can I attain my own deeper connection

with source and all that is? How can I heal my Body

and spirit? How can I free myself from a human

planetary consciousness that does not support

life and Love and Peace and kindness and Acceptance and

Oneness?

I'm glad to meet Abby and Tommy, because they show

me there is hope.

Maybe there is hope for me too :-)

Abby is a gentle teacher and guide on the raw food path

of vibrant health and healing and consciousness.

She is also a musician with her husband Tommy

who is an amazing musician / singer who writes the most

uplifting and moving music to transform the soul.

Here are a couple of links to Tommy's sites.

Tommy's Website

and,

The Music Page

And, if you live in New Jersey and would like to

explore the option of raw food and all the great

things it can do for your life, then click on this link below

Jersey Shore Raw Foods & Wellness Community.

~

Want to change the world? Always the best to start with self.

OM Shanti!

Mandalas 523-543 by Melody Cummons

Fallen Leaf Mandalas

Born in Central Park NYC

Mandalas 516-522 by Melody Cummons

In my sister Lynn's kitchen, there is a ceiling light that

casts the most beautiful reflections of light and shadow.

These Mandalas were created from photo's I took of

those same lights and shadows.

They give me the feeling of a hearth fire.

While I was there she was cooking up a storm, making

potato soup with dumplings and other amazing but

decadent delicacies.

I'm still recuperating from the 3 inch thick fillet

Mignon's that you could cut with a fork like butter

and the twice baked sour cream and chive potatoes

and the sweetest corn on the Cob I have ever

had in my entire life....

Oh yeah... Mandalas.

Sorry for my decadent, digestion, digression ;-)

~

Mandalas 514-515 by Carolyn Smith

These Beautiful Natural Mandalas were photographed

at the Bronx Botanical Gardens Orchids Show by my

dear friend Carolyn Smith, who, by the way, was

the person who first got me to buy a digital camera

which got me started down the endless path of

Mandala making.

Thanks Carolyn, for helping me find one of

my great passions in life.

And, Thank you for these amazing natural

born Mandalas that don't have any need for

photoshop magic.

Beautiful photography!

~

Mandalas 498-513 by Melody Cummons

These Mandalas were made from photographs I took

of the surrounding landscape at Lifebridge Sanctuary

in upstate NY

Click on each image to see it enlarged.

~

Mandala 497 by Everyone

This Photo was taken by My friend Carolyn on the

last night of our recent retreat at Lifebridge Sanctuary

in upstate NY. This Mandala was a group effort and was

created by many of the students at the retreat.

That afternoon, one of the other students was painting faces.

So yes, that is me, your Million Mandalas for Peace master

of ceremonies with my eyes in full rainbow regalia.

You may be asking yourself, what kind of retreat is this

anyway????

It's a retreat where we remember who and what we are

and who and what we aren't.

We are raised up to our perfect, open hearted, playful,

innocent, loving, childlike selves.

We Play..

Drums and rattles and harmonicas and we

breathe...deeply.

We dance until our bones are aching and sweat is pouring

down our bodies and our hair is plastered to our heads.

All the poisons being poured out of us by

pure joy.

We make big fires to keep us warm.

We laugh contagiously.

We sing without reservation.

We stay up late and get up early.

We recite our poems that come dripping out of our hearts like

honey.

We pray for emptiness and it comes and wraps around us

like still air and clouds.

We walk in the forest, looking for deer and bears and

other wild beasts.

But they are invisible and we cannot see them,

though we can hear their footsteps in the forest all

around us.

We have dreams and visions that wrap us together as one.

We make a magical, mournful, beautiful sound into the night,

and the night sings back to us..

loudly.

We shake and tremble,

every atom and cell vibrating with awe and wonder.

We question the nature of reality and illusion and

we receive a gift of understanding that is as tidy

as an unfurled, tangled ball of yarn,

messy and everything,

everything, everything,

not a thing of words.

A ghost gives a gift of a red heart leaf from heaven.

Sometimes we cry.

We embrace one another.

We see one another.

We allow ourselves to be vulnerable

or shy.

We celebrate each and every miracle moment

and time flies past with hurricane force winds.

We reach out, we reach in.

We let be.

We experience ONENESS.

We experience LOVE.

We WAKE UP... just a little bit more.

Our Beloved teacher wraps us in a blanket of

pure LOVE and PEACE and ACCEPTANCE.

She is a perfect flower. She is a happy

playful cute Buddhahahahaha!

It is paradise.

So, this is me...

And this is the Mandala we all made

together....

~

Mandalas 473-496 by Melody Cummons

Sacred Cloud Mandalas

of Lifebridge Sanctuary, High Falls NY

~

I just returned on Sunday evening from a week long

spiritual retreat with my teacher and other students

in upstate New York at the beautiful and serene

Lifebridge Sanctuary. The sanctuary sits on top of a

mountain, surrounded by forests and streams.

This area of upstate NY is known amongst spiritualists

as being an area dense with energy vortex's.

This is also ancient sacred Indian land.

The Indians came to this land to do ceremony and to bury

their dead. The Indians did not live on this land because

there were too many spirits. It was known as the land

of the spirits. The land feels sacred. But really, all

land is sacred.

Each day we had two hours of silence, and during that

time I walked the trails around the Sanctuary area and

took many photos, communing with the land and sky.

This series of Mandalas were created from photos I took

of the sky above the sanctuary and some from the forested

area directly around the sanctuary.

As I said in a previous post, Clouds are different everywhere,

and I see that these clouds are very unique and special

in their own right.

When I make the mandalas, I don't feel like I am creating

something. Rather, I feel as if I am uncovering something.

Seeing something in a different way, in a sacred way.

I hope you enjoy them. Click on the images to see

them enlarged. If you look softly at each enlarged

image you will begin to see faces and beings

dwelling there.

Let them bring Peace.

~

Gandhi

I took this photograph today in Union Square NYC.

This statue of Gandhi stands at the south west corner of the park.

To Gandhi's Left is Staples. To Gandhi's back is

Whole Foods. To his right is the outdoor artists market and

subway entrance, and he faces the farmers market and the 4 story

Barnes and Noble bookstore. I think it's safe to say,

he is the centerpiece of Peace.

Not much stillness in this part of town except

around 3:00 am.

Union Square, throughout history has been the

traditional place for people to gather in protest, wether

against war or for higher wages or women's rights,

This statue is a great reminder of Gandhi's teaching of the

power of peaceful protest and resistance.

Because of his efforts, India was liberated as

an independent nation.

Go Gandhi!

Mandalas 469-472 by Melody Cummons

Sacred Cabbage Mandalas

~

A little farmers market fun brings us these

sacred cabbage mandalas.

May they bring you Cruciferous Peace.

Mandalas 464-468 by Melody Cummons

Ohio Caverns Mandalas

These Mandalas were created from photos that

I took 60 feet underground in the womb of the Earth.

Ohio Caverns is the largest cavern in Ohio and is

home to many stalactites and stalagmites which

take hundreds or even thousands of years to grow.

The Stalas are calcite crystals.

At one point during the trip, the guide turned off all the 

lights so we could experience complete darkness.

It wasn't scary at all, and I actually would have liked

to stay down there alone in the dark and meditate for 

a while. But alas, such things are not allowed.

It is perfectly silent. Though if you were sensitive to 

energy, you could feel the energy of all the people who pass 

through that space. You can even see the mark of human

presence in the Stalas. Some are turning a brownish polluted 

color, which is sad. Still, it was a great adventure.

It would be nice for a group of energy workers to go down

and cleanse the space a bit.

Nature is truly miraculous.

The cavern was a combination of phallic and womb like energy

where crystal calcite children have been growing

for centuries.

Underground is a peaceful place.

~ 

Mandalas 455-463 by Melody Cummons

Ohio Cloud Tribe Mandalas

I recently returned from the land of my birth.

It's a very beautiful place called Ohio.

I was born in a small town, surrounded by corn and sky.

I believe that the sky is different everywhere you go.

I think of the clouds as tribes and each tribe has

it's own territory. 

Just like people, no cloud is the same.

Some of my fondest memories from childhood are

of laying in the grass, looking up at the sky

and deciphering all kinds of images in the clouds.

I could feel the earth turning underneath my body.

There were moments when I felt I might

actually fall off the Earth into the sky.

I recommend trying it sometime.

It's better than any roller coaster, any day.

Anyway...

Perhaps this explains why I am so obsessed

with clouds.

If you want to feel a deep peace, lay on your

back on the earth with your arms stretched out

to either side. Feel the grass tickling between

the toes of your bare feet.

Watch the cloud tribes march by and breathe in

their stillness.

Know yourself as more than just an earthling

and feel yourself lift off into the blue abyss.

Pure bliss.

Walk on the beach before the hurricane

hits land.

Run through a downpour.

Feel the breeze,

get soaking wet

smell the metallic ozone smell of

the storm cleansing the air.

Any way you look at it, even the fury

and bright lights of the cloud tribes bring peace.

~

Mandalas 453-454 The First World Peace Day

These Mandalas are in honor of

The First World Peace Day

September 21st 2009

Om Shanti, Let there be PEACE

Mandalas 447-452 By Melody Cummons For my Mother

The Drumming Shield Of

Life's Final Heartbeat

~

Watchers Of The Body's Bones

~

The Souls Event Horizon

~

The Cries Of Things Left Undone,

Words Unspoken, Songs Unsung.

~

The Gatekeepers Embrace

~

The Sound of Everything,

Everything, Everything, Everything.

~

Ancestors Greetings

From The Abyss Of Light

~

Mother,

Where have you gone? What have you become?

Is your spirit resting? Are you at Peace?

Out of the shadows, into the light.

Out of illusion and darkest night.

Be Free,

Be surrounded,

by all those you have loved.

Heal now, let go,

let it be so.

Be embraced in the oneness,

you are part of us.

We carry you now

in our hearts, minds and cells

Forever you dwell within our hearts well.

Know that I love you.

One day we will meet again.

Your Daughter always

Melody

A Prayer by Mystical Philosophy Rev. Marjiorie Lipari copyright 2009

A Prayer A Day

09/13/09

May every woman this day

with child

be given the blessings of true

comfort and the gift of greater fortune.

May we eternally honor the Mother.

May Mother love always be purely

be given and purely received.

Bless all babies born to us.

May each new spirit coming to us,

bring with them a deeper wisdom

and the divine knowledge that will forward

move humankind into a refinement of light.

May the human race be illuminated

by all new spirits coming.

May humanity be sacredly guided

in the rearing of it's young and

in the fortifying of it's innocent.

Praise be the cycles of life.

God grow us all.

Deeply Respectful,

Rev. Mudra

Mystical Philosophy Rev. Marjorie Lipari copyright 2009

Mandala 446 in Memory of Phyllis Kay Stinson Mech

This Mandala is in Memory of my Mother

Phyllis Kay Stinson Mech.

She passed from the illusion of this life into

the loving arms of the Universe this morning

Sunday September 13th at 7:48 am.

No more suffering, No more pain.

May her free spirit ascend quickly into

the light and peace of all of creation.

OM Shanti. Let there be peace.

Thanks to all those who prayed for my Mom

and supported me through this time.

You are all angels to me.

Love, Love, Love to you all.

Melody Cummons

World Peace Day Sept 21st 2009

Greetings to all those devotees of manifesting peace.

Jeremy Gilley is the founder, chairman and Grand Orchestrator of 

"ONE DAY OF PEACE".

September 21st 2009 will be the first World Peace Day.

To read more about Jeremy and his journey toward

bringing all peoples of the Earth together in harmonious Peace.

go to  http://peaceoneday.org/en/welcome

Find out how you can be part of this historic day of unity,

If any magical makers of Mandalas would like to submit images

to this site for peace on that day, then please email them

to me with any information you would like to share about 

yourself or Peace.

Send to mcummons@verizon.net

OM SHANTI

May the Earth and all it's peoples be united in Peace and Love.

Mandala 445 by Melody Cummons

How much time do I spend each day, going over the details

of the past which can never be changed?

~

How much time do I spend each day, going over the details

of the future which may or may not ever come to pass?

~

How much time do I spend each day just being present

in the now?

~

When I am in the past or the future.

I'm stuck, I'm stagnant. There is no possibility

for Magic or surprise or peace or 

awakening consciousness

in the past or the future.

In the now...

This moment and this moment and this moment,

Eternal moments strung together like precious pearls

have unlimited potential

for life and love and expansion and peace.

Now is the moment when you can have any affect on anything.

Now is the only time that you can wake up.

You can't wake up in yesterday.

You can't wake up in tomorrow.

Those are only illusions.

There is only now.

Act, Speak, Sing, Dance, Create

Love like it was the last moment to love.

Live like it is the last moment to live.

Give this moment all your joy, your pain,

your regrets and sadness.

This is the moment when healing manifests.

Give this moment your laughter

and your open heart.

Give this moment

miracles, blessings and wholeness.

Give this moment a breath of fresh air,

a sigh, a cry.

Sense this moment with everything you have.

Hear the sounds of life all around you.

Breathe in the Earth and all of it's divine life

into your being.

See all the colors and patterns, the perfect

geometries exploding and expanding

outward, eternally, ever growing,

flowing outward into endlessness.

Let yourself fall into that silence.

Touch the face of God and feel it touch you back.

Now is the new black. Now is where it's at.

Feel your body in the now.

Go within, feel your bones, feel your skin.

Feel your lungs expand with life.

Feel yourself tremble with delight.

Make love to every leaf and stone.

Each creature and Ocean

each vibrational tone.

Only in the now

can you truly see

that you are nothing but divine energy.