a reverie of water...


















the fountain
july 13, 2009

dear friends, i have been away from this place for too long...

today, i began reading re-visioning psychology, by james hillman. he writes so passionately about soul, anima, psyche. in response, i offer this image of the fountain, and these words from gaston bachelard:

"the first dynamic lesson of water is, in fact, elementary: a man asks the fountain, as a first proof of his cure, to revitalize him. our feeling refreshed provides the common everyday reason for this reawakening. ...

"purity and freshness join together... to give a special happiness which all water lovers know. the union of the sensory and the sensual upholds a moral value. the contemplation and experience of water leads us, by many routes, to an ideal. we should not underestimate the lessons taught by original matters. they have left their mark on our mind's youth. they are essentially a reserve of youth. we discover them in connection with our most personal memories. and when we dream, when we truly lose ourselves in our dreams, we submit to the vegetative and restorative life of an element."

~gaston bachelard~
from water and dreams: an essay on the imagination of matter

on these soft summer nights, let us dream...

resources for the journey

james hillman, re-visioning psychology - thank you, joe
gaston bachelard, water and dreams: an essay on the imagination of matter

and remembering tea and friends...

507 yunnan imperial, from specialteas
thank you, theresa, for the tea and conversation.
namaste.

may all travelers find joy!!
jeanne

new lands...

in this garden...
august 2, 2008

dear friends!! in the garden near the teahouse, on an august night, we may sit and watch as the fireflies dance beneath the stars. in this garden, on an august night, we may talk quietly about matters of the heart, and contemplate the words of beloved poets...

~that lives in us~

if you put your hands on this oar with me,
they will never harm another, and they will come to find
they hold everything you want.

if you put your hands on this oar with me, they would no longer
lift anything to your
mouth that might wound your precious land-
that sacred earth that is
your body.

if you put your soul against this oar with me,
the power that made the universe will enter your sinew
from a source not outside your limbs, but from a holy realm
that lives in us.

exuberant is existence, time a husk.

when the moment cracks open, ecstasy leaps out and devours space;
love goes mad with the blessings, like my words give.

why lay yourself on the torturer’s rack of the past and future?

the mind that tries to shape tomorrow beyond its capacities
will find no rest.

be kind to yourself, dear- to our innocent follies.

forget any sounds or touch you knew that did not help you dance.

you will come to see that all evolves us.

if you put your heart against the earth with me, in serving
every creature, our Beloved will enter you from our sacred realm
and we will be, we will be
so happy.

~jelaluddin rumi~

resources for the journey:

jelaluddin rumi, on poetseers
new lands, a photoset on flickr
the awakening heart...

and remembering tea and friends...

tea meditation, from plum village

may all travelers find joy!!
jeanne

journeys of spring...

happiness
june 3, 2008

dear friends!! hanging baskets of fuchsias greet us as we approach the teahouse. today, let's sit together and listen to the song of the birds as we sip cups of high mountain green tea. perhaps a poet will join us, or a honeybee.

resources for the journey:

zensai: the horticulture of japan, an experience at the cleveland botanical gardens
happiness, on flickr

remembering tea and friends...

tea house, a photoset by giovdim (on flickr)

may all travelers find joy!!
jeanne

a world of jewels...













the jeweled garden
march 7, 2008

"there is no treasure in the deep mountains; one who has no desire for it finds it."
~zen saying~

let us walk in the jeweled garden, where the birds will sing to us while the trees whisper the ancient teachings. nearby, the teahouse is warm and cups of jade green tea await us...

resources for the journey:

the zen calendar
akira kurosawa, dreams
kakuzo okakura, the book of tea
the jeweled garden, on flickr
winter, a photoset on flickr

and remembering tea and friends...

hialoakapua, a journey with tea, on flickr

may all travelers find joy!!
jeanne

the garden of the soul...


roses for the poets...
october 19, 2007

dear friends!! today, let us honor the poets who journey into the deep places of the soul, searching for one golden key*... let us honor their quest, and contemplate the words they bring to us...

dedicated to all poets, *inspired by mel-pin's homage to arthur rimbaud.

resources for the journey:

mel-pin, "don't go away, a.r." to arthur rimbaud (on flickr)
mel-pin, on flickr
pablo neruda, twenty love poems and a song of despair
mary oliver, dream work
jelaluddin rumi, translated by coleman barks, the essential rumi

and remembering tea and friends...

the joy of freshly brewed mint tea at aladdin's eatery in lakewood
the beauty of "puerh" by tortuga del desierto (on flickr)

may all travelers find joy!!
jeanne

the language of the heart...


















summer musings: letter from a poet...
july 6, 2007
scanned, assembled and altered image

let us speak only the language of the heart
when we whisper together
our words
will be angels...

dear friends!! today, let us honor the poets whose words have opened our hearts and liberated our minds... including our dear friend rainer maria rilke who advises us to live our questions...

thank you to magic fly paula for the inspiration of her power of words/power of writing...

resources for the journey:

rilke on poetry chaikhana
power of words/power of writing, by magic fly paula
letter from a poet, by conceptvessel
come closer, to read rilke's words...
summer musings, by conceptvessel

and remembering tea and friends...

perfectly pear white tea, from celestial seasonings
send a postcard, from celestial seasonings

may all travelers find what the heart seeks...
love and best wishes,
jeanne

submersion...

soul of objects: submerging...
june 2, 2007
scanned, assembled and altered image

a reading from rabbi lawrence kushner:

the first mystery is that there is a mystery.
a mystery that can never be explained or understood.
only encountered from time to time.

rabbi kushner also writes: "throughout all creation, just below the surface, joining each person to every other person and every other thing, in one luminous organism of sacred responsibility, we discover invisible lines of connection."

resources for the journey:

rabbi lawrence kushner
jorge luis borges, the aleph and other stories
liev schreiber, everything is illuminated (dvd)

and remembering tea and friends...

zhena's gypsy king chai

may all travelers find joy!!
jeanne

clarity ...



conceptvessel and mel-pin
clarity (the gift of a small bird)
scanned, assembled and altered image
march 5, 2007

a small bird, a sweet anam cara, has arrived from across oceans, bringing a song of clarity... words of light... and a warm embrace from my dear friend, the alchemist mel-pin...

each day since the arrival of this soul bird, i climb the stairs to the third floor sanctuary in my home... to ask the secret questions,* to listen for the one precious word that i have forgotten*...

slowly, my heart begins to resonate with this sweet bearer of clarity...

*the soul bird brings these words from melina, words that rest in my heart...

resources for the journey:

mel-pin on flickr
letter's lives group on flickr
the mystery of friendship

remembering tea...

spring cherry tea, from the republic of tea

may all travelers find joy!!
love and best wishes,
jeanne

the alchemy of the heart ...


















magic of tea (the emergent flower)
scanned and altered image
february 23, 2007

during these cold winter nights, it is good to cultivate the gradual flowering of the heart...

may all beings be happy...
may all beings know joy...
may all beings be free of suffering...

resources for the journey:

loving-kindness meditation from buddhanet
tricycle magazine
the warmth of your heart

and remembering tea and friends...

flowering loose teas, from numi

with loving-kindness,
jeanne

the soul of tea and friendship ...










magic of tea (the generous fishes)
scanned and altered image
december 14, 2005

the delights of sharing tea with friends...

through an alchemy of the senses and the heart, these objects with which we live become imbued with meaning... and become the material of our reveries and dreams...

a legend of tea:

stories say that in 2700 b.c. emperor shen nung, scholar and herbalist, discovered the magic of tea while sipping hot water under a wild tea tree. as he sat a drift of leaves floated into his cup from above. he sipped, he thought and he discovered, much like the tea drinkers of today.

from tea time world history

resources for the journey:

alain stella, et.al, the little book of tea
mmm. teacakes! from stitchwitch, on flickr
the soul of objects, on flickr
tea time world tea history
tea resources on conceptvessel.net

and a tea for the journey...

darjeeling estate golden tipped from stash

drink deep!!
jeanne