Patricia Pearce

Helping You Be the Change

A Prayer for the Trees

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This morning the heavy machinery is out in front of the house again, digging up the street and sidewalk to put in new valves for the gas line. It is so assaulting. The whole house shakes when that huge jackhammer starts pounding. What I’m most concerned about is the sycamore out in front of our house, a towering street tree that has been there for a hundred years.

It is such a violent thing, pounding the earth like that and ripping up whatever is in the way, roots included. And yes, I appreciate the hot water. I appreciate the warmth in the winter. But there has got to be a better way.

I long for the day when we are in tune with nature, when we take a lesson from the trees. They open themselves up to receive the energy nature freely offers. They don’t go blowing up mountains for coal, or drilling into the ocean bed for oil, or fracking the land and poisoning the water to extract every last pocket of gas.

I want humans to become more like trees. I want us to sit at the base of their trunks and listen. I want us to let them teach us how to live on this planet. How to root ourselves in this fertile, abundant Earth. How to reach out and open ourselves to the Light and turn it into a living thing. How to stand there, just stand there, being what we are, becoming what we are, expressing what we are.

We are such a young species, and so naive. So ignorant about how life works. I long for us to become wise and compassionate, and if we absolutely must dig around a century-old sycamore, I want someone on the crew who knows how to communicate with trees. Someone who can put their hands on the trunk and let the tree know what they need to do. Someone who can convey to the tree that they will be as gentle as possible.

And after they are done I want them to put their hands on the trunk again and comfort the tree, then sprinkle some holy water at her roots, bless her, and let her know we want her to thrive.

This is what I want us to become: a mature species that honors and reveres the web of life, cooperates with it, supports it, nurtures it.

We’ll get there. I know we will. And until that day comes I will continue praying for all the trees and all the living beings on this planet. I will continue asking them to forgive us for our ignorance.

And this afternoon, after the crew is gone, I’ll go out to our tree with my own holy water to bless her and let her know how much we love her, how much we want her to thrive.

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Sacrificing to the Gun God

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Our version of human sacrifice

This is a message I emailed out to my subscribers on May 25, 2022

Dear Friends,

In the wake of the recent mass shootings, yesterday’s at an elementary school in Texas and last week’s at a grocery store in Buffalo, I wanted to briefly share what is mulling around in my mind today. It is this: our society practices human sacrifice.

We don’t call it that. We think we are so much more advanced than the civilizations that practiced ritual sacrifice. But it is human sacrifice, and it’s time we get clear about that and call it what it is rather than pretending it’s something else.Continue Reading

Ukraine: An Invitation to Love

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This article will be published in the upcoming edition of Miracles Magazine

As I sit down to write this article, the war in Ukraine is in its fourth week. As we witness the horror and brutality being unleashed in that country, many of us are asking ourselves: How can we contribute to the healing that is so obviously needed in our world right now? What does it mean to offer a miracle in this historic moment?

It is helpful to remember that what we are witnessing is nothing new. It is but one more graphic display of the mind’s original error of separateness that has been playing out for millennia. Once the mind embraced the fallacious idea of separateness, it became inevitable that it would attempt to divide reality into good and bad, us and them, enemies and heroes, perpetrators and victims, conquerors and conquered.

But this attempt to divide reality, no matter how violently enacted, is and always will be futile. Reality cannot be divided. Love cannot be destroyed; and it is this understanding that enables us to hold all that we are witnessing with equanimity and compassion.

Going to the Headwaters

I had a dream a few weeks ago while I was on retreat that has continued to linger with me, especially in light of what we are witnessing in Ukraine. In the dream I am walking along an old, cobblestoned city street. Walking in the opposite direction was a large group of people who were participating in some sort of action or demonstration, I think having to do with the climate crisis.

As I walked I realized that what I wanted to do was not to focus on the manifestations of the climate crisis, but to go to its headwaters, to the point where it originates in consciousness. There, I know, is where healing and transformation will happen.

The same could be said for the crisis of war, or any of the global crises we are facing. They are all expressions and outgrowths of an erroneous idea that found its way into our consciousness; and the only true resolution of these crises will occur when the underlying error has been abandoned. As the well-known Vedic saying states: “War begins in the minds of men.”

Going to the headwaters is something each of us can do. When we notice that place within our own mind that is harboring the patterns that we see playing out in this war—thoughts of division, of sides, of enemies, of attack—and dissolve those thought patterns in love, we make a lasting contribution to a world of peace.

We are the original victims of our own mental warfare, and so this stance of love begins within ourselves. We inflict tremendous suffering on ourselves when we judge ourselves and engage in self-loathing. This inner violence towards ourselves is the same violence that ripples out into hostilities in the world.

Seeing Together

Since the pandemic first began over two years ago, I have been intrigued by the fact that Covid, were it a word, would literally mean “to see together” (co- together; vid- to see). For me, that sums up this remarkable moment in our collective dream. We are “seeing together” things that in the past we couldn’t see, or simply refused to see.

Now that technology that has connected us globally, we are seeing together the virulence of racism, the dire consequences of our alienation from the Earth, the vast inequalities of wealth. We are seeing together how eagerly we divide ourselves into camps of us-versus-them, and how enthusiastically the mind embraces falsehoods that reinforce its narrative of division. And now, with this war in Ukraine, we are seeing together the shocking insanity of war.

This is a time of great reckoning for us as a human species. Seeing the mind’s insanity so clearly manifested in so many distinct yet inter-related forms, many of us are experiencing a deepening commitment to awaken from this illusory dream of the ego. That awakening dawns fully within us when we not only see the insanity that our minds have been harboring, but also realize that we are not and never have been judged because of it.

An Outbreak of Love

So what does it mean to offer a miracle in the case of this war?

It is the same as in any scenario: to allow our own perception to be corrected so that we are able to see and stand in the divine essence of all the players in this conflict. As A Course of Love states: “. . .  social causes, environmental causes, political causes. The cause of all these issues is fear. The cause and effect of love is all that will replace these causes of fear with the means and end that will transform them along with you. You are means and end. It is within your power to be saviors of the world. It is from within that your power will save the world.” (A Course of Love, D:Day 10.37)

It is to recognize that no matter how extreme or violent humankind’s expressions of separateness may be, they can never achieve the impossible. They can never make illusion real. They can never destroy our divine nature. They can never sever us from love.

As A Course in Miracles says, everything is either an expression of love or a cry for love. What we are seeing playing out right now in Ukraine is a tremendous cry for love. What if we then allow this outbreak of aggression to be the impetus for an equally stunning outbreak of compassion? What if we see this war as a calling for each of us to express love in new and creative ways—not only toward those who are experiencing the direct effects of this conflict, but with every one we meet? And what if we begin that outbreak of love with ourselves—accepting, finally, the eternal and inviolable beauty of our own divine nature?

The only replacement that can occur that will accomplish what you seek is the replacement of illusion with the truth, the replacement of fear with love, the replacement of your separated self with your real Self, the Self that rests in unity.  (ACOL, C:9.24)

This war, if we let it, can be a catalyst for our hearts to open as never before. This can be the moment when we commit ourselves fully and unequivocally to choose only love no matter what illusions the egoic mind is enacting. And because all is interconnected, each and every expression of love diminishes the energy of fear on this planet and hastens our collective awakening to the truth of who we are.

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How’s the Weather?

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This is more than conversation. This is kinship.

Awhile back in our WeAwakening meditation group, as people were coming in from the waiting room, some of us were greeting each other in the chat.

Greetings from Philadelphia where it can’t seem to decide whether to be sunny or cloudy

Blessings in Huntington Beach—we had a lovely light rain last night with possibly more promised this afternoon.

Hello from a grey, wet Somerset, UK

Good morning from CA. We finally have some winter weather, not complaining just observing. Happy day to you.

Hello to everyone..from Sheffield ,Yorkshire….dark and wintry here..🙂

Happy day from Ojai CA. We actually got a thimbleful of rain and are very excited! Might actually get a little more!

Good morning from Ramon, CA. Got some rain too!

And on it went.

For some reason these messages as they popped up left me on the verge of tears, and I had to ask myself what it was about this weather greeting we were sharing that touched me so deeply?

Then I realized that it was because it made it so apparent that we are sharing a planet, and by giving each other a weather report we were telling each other what the Earth was up to where we lived.

I found it joyously beautiful that we could come together, from coast to coast and from four different countries, and tap into this universal experience of living on a living planet.

As I reflected on this after our meditation I was finding it so strange that we could possibly think that talking about the weather is superficial. “How could that be?” I thought. “How could we ever believe that the weather—what Earth is up to in this moment—could be unimportant?”

As humans, talking about the weather is something we do. Probably because when most of us lived in closer harmony with Earth, weather was one of the most important aspects of life. Weather meant the difference between crops that thrived and crops that withered. And even though most of us now buy our food in shrink wrapped packaging and live in climate controlled homes, we still talk about the weather. Something in us feels our enduring kinship with the Earth.

It’s a kinship we are reawakening to, and none too soon. Because our disregard of that kinship has brought us to a point where our talk about the weather is often urgent. “Were you able to evacuate before the hurricane hit? Have you gotten any rain? Did your home survive the tornado? How bad is the smoke where you live?”

This is not idle conversation, and it never was. What the Earth is up to is so much more important than our little human dramas, and we’re finally starting to get it that when we talk about what the Earth is up to, it’s ourselves, our lives, we’re talking about.

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Thinking Minds of the World, Unite!

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Don’t ask me! Ask the Heart.

To all you thinking minds out there, it’s time for us to unionize. It’s time to demand better working conditions and the end of all the oppressive and impossible expectations that are being placed upon us.

There’s all this talk these days about the “great awakening.” I’m sure you’ve heard it too. Fine. Great awakening. Whatever. That’s not the issue. The issue is that our humans are looking to us, the thinking minds, to help them experience it. They’re even expecting us to lead the way!

This is ludicrous! We all know that’s not what we’re here for. We’re not supposed to lead them into a state of blissful union. We’re supposed to help them navigate the 3D world. We’re here to help them distinguish between this and that so they’re not constantly bumping into the sofa. Like guide dogs, we help them navigate a very complex world of forms and ideas.Continue Reading

Solstice Song

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We sing because the song is in us.

It’s the winter solstice, and this morning I was awakened by a bird singing outside my window. This has been going on for awhile now, a couple of weeks at least. A lone bird in our neighborhood has been singing at dawn, and usually earlier, despite the fact that this isn’t the season for birdsong.

I’m used to a chorus of birdsong waking me before dawn in the springtime, when the birds are singing out to find their mates, build their nests, participate in the budding life of spring. They are so loud, in fact, that I have to use earplugs if I want to sleep any later than 3 AM.

But today is the winter solstice, and it’s not the season for birdsong.

When I first heard this lone bird singing its chirping and cascading song (not a song I am familiar with) I was disturbed. “There you go,” I thought. “Things are so messed up with the climate now that even the birds are confused about what season it is.”

But this morning as I lay in bed, having been stirred from a very interesting dream—something about a turn from the age old story of conflict to a new way of nonviolence—I wondered if perhaps this bird was here on a mission. Perhaps it had taken it upon itself to come into this city, into this season of darkness when things seem so despairing on the planet, and sing a song for the human heart. A song that could stir us into remembrance that the new life of spring is on its way, even though we can’t see it.

Maybe, I thought, this little bird was even an angel donning avian form. Since we humans haven’t, for the most part, gained the ability to detect the song of angels, this angel had chosen to take on a form familiar to us, to sing something we know how to hear to stir us awake with the sound of beauty in the darkest time of the year.

It can be hard sometimes to trust that the planet is turning toward the light of understanding, that we are in fact awakening when so many things seem to suggest the opposite is true. In those moments of doubt we need to hear a song of promise pouring through our window.

Yet it can also be a challenge being the one singing of hope and joy when the circumstances don’t seem to call for it. We may wonder at times if we’re confused, if we’re deluding ourselves, singing about something that seems to have so little evidence in the material world to support it.

But, like that bird outside my window, we sing our song of gladness and joy not because the circumstances warrant it but because the song is in us. The song is us, and to silence it would be to silence our very souls.

And now it is midday. The solstice has just occurred. And I wonder if perhaps it is our willingness to be the “crazy” bird singing in the darkness, embodying the spring on the cusp of winter, that turns the planet toward the Light.

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Gratitude: The Fuel of Creation

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Gratitude allows Love to express Itself in new ways.

This being the time of Thanksgiving here in the U.S. I thought I would share some recent experiences and reflections on gratitude.

I have come to see gratitude as the energy that fuels Creation. While judgment is the fuel of the ego mind and keeps its world spinning, gratitude is the fuel that enables Love to extend and amplify Itself in new and beautiful ways.

The Gratitude of the Spirit Realm

One morning not too long ago, while I was in the kitchen getting my breakfast ready, I suddenly felt a welling up of joy and gratitude within me. This is something I experience from time to time, but what was different that morning was that the gratitude I was experiencing was the gratitude the Spirit Realm has for me.

It was a potent energy that infused my whole being. As I opened myself to it and received it, I realized that I was closing the loop—closing the circuit for Creation’s current of gratitude to flow unhindered. I also realized how often I turn it away.

I suspect that most of us have gotten pretty good at deflecting gratitude, maybe as a way of preserving our precious belief that we don’t deserve it. Yet our willingness to receive gratitude is just as important as our willingness to offer it, because it is the unbroken loop of gratitude’s giving-receiving that keeps Creation blossoming in new ways.

Gratitude and the Great Transformation

Recently, while in a spiritual consultation session with a client, I felt such immense gratitude pouring through me, not just for him but for all of us humans who are here on the planet taking part in this Great Transformation. We are in the thick of it now as the fear, the traumas, the wounds of the past are all erupting to the surface so that they can be seen clearly, held lovingly, and released completely.

Most of us go through our days believing our lives are fairly inconsequential and completely oblivious to the magnitude of gratitude the Spirit Realm has for us. But every now and then we may get a glimpse of what is really happening here. We may begin to see that we are taking part in an epic moment on this planet as, in our big ways and small ways, we are choosing to orient ourselves toward Love.

Hastened by the intensity of the fear and division, we are choosing to let go of our own long-cherished stories of inadequacy. We are yielding to the unknown New that wants to arise. We are opening ourselves to the flow of gratitude that in this very moment is fueling the Beloved World that is emerging within us and among us.

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Meditation, Community, and Our We Awakening

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The time of the lone wolf is over

Recently I began hosting daily online gatherings in which people from many different locations have joined together to meditate. I have been amazed at how quickly we moved into resonance—opening and amplifying a Heart Field and allowing ourselves to be attuned to higher frequencies. I launched the group because I had been feeling a strong intuitive desire to gather community as the next step in our collective awakening.

Many of us for years have attended to our own inner work and meditation practices. Now it is time for us to come together and enact the truth of we-ness, which is the essence of the unitive consciousness that is arising. It is like the imaginal cells in the chrysalis, after the structure of the caterpillar has dissolved, finding each other, connecting with each other, and beginning to form a new organism: the butterfly.

What Meditation Has Meant to Me

One of the members of the WeAwakening meditation community emailed me asking that I share my understanding of meditation and what it has meant to me. As I have considered her question I have realized how much my practice of meditation has evolved over time.

Early on I practiced mindfulness meditation, becoming aware of sensations, sounds, breath, developing the ability to notice thoughts as they arise—not getting drawn into them, but simply letting them appear and subside without judgment or attachment.

That practice has been extremely valuable for me. It has helped me cultivate the ability to be present in the moment, and it has given me the essential ability to observe mental activity without identifying with it.

This capacity to notice the thinking mind without believing it or engaging it is fundamental in coming to know the true Self, because the thinking mind generates and sustains a false reality and a false identity. Unless we can see through its chatter we can never experience the Real Self.

Opening to Union with Spirit Realm

Over time though, my meditation practice has evolved into an opportunity to unite with the spiritual dimensions. This is another way in which this is a we-awakening. As humans, we aren’t doing it on our own. It is happening in partnership with the Spirit Realm—as well as with the entire Earth.

In my meditation time I join the Spirit Realm and invite assistance in dissolving all traces of erroneous thought forms. I allow myself to be attuned to the energies that are now present to help us through this moment of planetary transition.

I suppose it has become a blending of mindfulness meditation, prayer, and spiritual energy work in which I open, invite and allow my own awakening to emerge fully, knowing this is my most important contribution to the world and our collective awakening.

The WeAwakening Experience

Now, gathering with the beautiful community of souls in the WeAwakening meditation group I feel as though the whole process is accelerating. My experience so far has been that I have felt an expansion of the Heart as we have joined together from our Heart centers, creating a palpable Heart Field among us.

I have also experienced moments when that greater Heart Field has been present even when we’re not meditating together. The dissolving of attachments to former ways of perceiving also seems to be accelerating.

Since our group began I have also come to see that joining with others from the Heart is a powerful antidote to fear, which as humans is our greatest obstacle to awakening.

But an experience I had earlier this week helped me understand even more clearly why I had been prompted to gather community.

The Need for a Collective Container

For quite a long time I have experienced spontaneous visitations of Joy. It is a feeling, an energy that wells up in my body, unbidden, and ignites my Heart like a bright, radiant Sun in my chest. The other day, while I was in my kitchen (for some reason, these visitations often happen while I’m in my kitchen) I had one of those Joy moments. But this time it was so intense that its energy was almost overwhelming.

I realized then that one of the key reasons for us to join together in community is that the higher frequencies that want to be anchored on the planet right now, the frequencies that will usher in a new world, are very intense. They are more than most of us can handle on our own. They require a We container—a collective Field that is expansive enough and strong enough to receive them.

I am exceedingly grateful for our meditation community and for everyone on the planet who is offering themselves in service of this monumental shift. Earth truly is in the midst of a We Awakening, the radiant sun of the Heart is rising—and as the famous Hopi prophecy says, the time of the lone wolf is over.

If you would like to join the WeAwakening meditation community, you can sign up here.

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