A Harmony of Roses, part 1

This article begins a 3-part series penned by Cecilia M. Farran, mother of our regular blogger Celia Farran. Cecilia shares her wisdom about life, and illustrates her thoughts with songs by her beloved daughter Celia. Be sure to keep an eye out for the sequels, which will appear over the next few weeks.

Celia Farran Calls to Spirit And Sings Honor To Our Hearts

Peace Be With You in this moment
Peace Be With You now.
All around, above, below.
Peace, Serenity, and Love.

“Peace be with You” by Celia Farran, available on Bandcamp here.

Unconditional Roses

I see the pain behind those eyes.
I don’t mean to talk out of turn but I think that you’re telling yourself little lies.
But if you give me permission and offer your hand.
I will lead you away from this wreckage to an Enchanted Land.
And I promise you there’ll be water and light.
And I promise you the trees will sing you lullabies at night.
And I promise you it’s safe for you to grow.
And I promise you that if you just let go.

There will be roses so beautiful and sweet.
Unconditional Roses just growing at your feet.
Once you get thru the carnage the lava has wrought.
Once you get past the pain and the shock.
There will be roses. Roses in the Rocks.

I feel the hunger off your skin.
I think that I know how you feel but I will not pretend that I know where you’ve been.
But if you give me permission. And open your heart.
I’ll show you a land of abundance to give you a brand new start.
And I promise you there’ll be laughter and play.
And I promise you you’ll never ever treat yourself that way (again).
And I promise you It’s safe for you to go.
And I promise you that when you just say so….

There will be roses so beautiful and sweet.
Unconditional Roses just growing at your feet.
Once you get thru the carnage the lava has wrought.
Once you get past the tears and the snot.
There will be roses. Roses in the Rocks.
Bridge:
Take your time. You know I love you my Dear.
A Miracle’s just a shift in perception.
There’s no pressure. I’ll be here.
Just as soon as you decide to change directions…..
You know, you know you know…..

There are roses. I can’t wait for you to meet.
Unconditional Roses just smiling up at you from your feet.
Once you get past the rage, and the pain and the blocks.
Once you get past the shame and the shock.
There will be Roses. Unconditional Roses.
There will be Roses. Roses.
There will be Roses. Unconditional Roses.
In the Rocks.

“Unconditional Roses” by Celia Farran (c) Red Granite Goddess Publishing/ASCAP 2017, available on Bandcamp here.

Aaaahhh Peace. It Flows A River in My Soul

A 4-H music book, shuffled deeply within the contents of a piano bench holds a song much favored in my earnest long-ago years: Peace of the River.  Although there was no river, in my childhood I imagined one, and sang to it with a full heart as I rambled the rolling contours of our family farm. That song made a deep impression on me and now still comes across the decades: “Peace I ask of you, oh river.…peace, peace….When I learn to live serenely cares will cease.”

Perhaps it is no surprise that today I live along a river that flows serenely through the valley where I make my home. It is close at hand and I need only to ask of this river, the Wisconsin, for peace, and it delivers in spades. I muse. Perhaps tranquility is not only the doing of the river, but some credit to be given to this sandy valley, as the crystalline structure of sand holds the energy of peace. Clear peaceful waters roll in their windings to the Mississippi and ever-on to the sea. Giving my cares over to this river I learn an important life lesson:

Life grows serene, not through struggle, as one might endure in a raging flood-torn river,  but rather is to be found in the release of struggle, in the letting go and giving oneself instead to a tranquil river’s onward flow.

Our Wonky World Gone Mad

But what’s to be done in a world such as ours that offers so few gentle streams of peace and so many nudges to push the river; a struggling world that mocks tranquility, ravishes serenity to dust, and tramples peacemakers to bits, ridiculing them that they “don’t get the gravity of the situation”, all the while paying the ultimate homage and honor to those who fight the “noble battle”.

I have heard it said we are the bright shining star-seeds of the galaxies. If so, is this any way for us to live? I am reminded of the opening words to The Second Coming by Irish poet, William Butler Yeats. Although written in 1919 he poetically nailed these times. Chaos stalks the land.  What has become of us? It is deeply troubling.

The Second Coming
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. [1]

Ah ha. “Anarchy.” That’s it isn’t it? A naked roughshod word. I shiver for it is a word as cold as a river’s ice-choked dam. I am drawn to my dictionary; a weighty tome which I carefully balance down from the high shelf. Perhaps in its bulk I will find and grasp what’s behind this hardened world that Yeats captures in a few such simple lines.

Under the A’s I find it. Page 65. First a political definition, which I pass over getting to the real thing: ANARCHY absence of any cohesive principal, standard or purpose. Disorder and confusion.  Yep, that’s it; a hard-core definition for the mind, but Yeats, ever the poet writes in a way that the heart can grasp.

Things fall apart. The center grows weak. Nothing true seems to hold. And everywhere chaos shouts the D words. Disorder. Disharmony. Disbelief. Distraction. Destruction and Disinformation; false information and counter-information until we hardly know what is real. You do feel it don’t you? The only cohesion to be found these days, is the common thread of cacophony.   

Whether, as many faiths hold, we are molded in the image of a powerful creator or our genesis springs as star-seed forged in the womb of the galaxy, our souls yearn for the sublimity of peace. It is the Harmony of the Universal Song, not anarchy, that matches our true pitch. It is the lilt of the spheres in song and music that feeds our spirit.

Dew-sparkled petals glow in a rose-lit summer morn.
Bird song entwines the whispered air and in it I hear the once-words of Ram Dass: “Be Here Now” [2]

Three simple words to remind me, it’s ok to eschew the pummeled clutter of the world so concerned for the days to come. All right to drink instead of the moment. Close at hand, rose-petal tea steams in my cup. I sip. The playlist flowing in the background, not unlike a river, Celia’s voice reminding me of rose-petaled peace.

There will be roses so beautiful and sweet.
Unconditional Roses just growing at your feet.

Aaah, beautiful rose-petaled peace. What better way to deliver harmony and balance to my soul than with a musical flow of roses? Kate Murphy wrote in The Spiritual Meaning of Rose [3]: “The rose’s exquisite beauty and fragrance, its soft velvety feel and symmetrical disposition of petals, harkens balance and harmony, and our connection to spirit.” Celia knew what she was doing when she wrote of a rose garden. She has been called “the singer for the soul.” 

How could she not sing of roses?

This article was published in 3 parts. You can continue on to the next installment: “A Harmony of Roses, part two”.

Featured photo of two red roses by JOSE MIGUEL

For more information about Cecilia M. Farran, including her bio and her collected blog posts, check out Cecilia the Elder’s page here on Pagan Song

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End Notes

[1] Yeats, William Butler (1865-1939); Irish poet and dramatist, founder of the Abbey Theatre and winner of the Nobel prize for literature in 1923.

[2] Ram Dass, (1931-2019): American spiritual teacher, guru of modern yoga, psychologist, and writer. His best-selling 1971 book Be Here Now was seminal in popularizing Eastern spirituality and yoga in the West. Years later, in our current time, the concept that the Now is the only reality we have, was to be investigated by Eckhart Tolle (1948- ), The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, New World Library 1999.

[3] Murphy, Kate, The Spiritual Meaning of Rose, (December 2020 ) https://www.thisiskatemurphy.com/post/the-spiritual-meaning-of-rose