Re-weaving the Net of Peace
by Pythia Peay

"Ah! When shall all men's good 
Be each man's rule, and universal peace
Lie like a shaft of light across the land."
-- Tennyson, "The Golden Year"

As I write this New Moon meditation from Washington, D.C. the evening of September 12th, the strident sound of army helicopters continues to fill the air. The atmosphere remains eerily anxious, with every household riveted to the latest broadcast news report. The unimaginable has happened - the most secure air space in the world has been rent apart by an act of horrific violence - and the world is not the same.  For many sensitive individuals, this event has torn asunder their own once-secure lives, creating a gaping maw of fear and anxiety. 

We do not know what this mid-September New Moon will bring, whether resolution or retribution, to the collective trauma our country has suffered.  But as the sun and moon join in the sign of Virgo, we can make use of its special talents. Virgo is known as the healer of the Zodiac. In addition, Virgo is the artisan, the skillful weaver of the tapestry of life and 
destiny.  Psychologists, for instance, say that for the individual who has suffered a violent and unexpected trauma, it is as if a hole has been torn in their fragile psyche. The work of healing involves "re-weaving" the psyche's open wound by gently integrating into consciousness the shock a victim may have experienced.

Thus this New Moon, each of us can begin to take the first steps on the path toward healing their own and the nation's wounded psyche.  Whatever one's political beliefs, grief and suffering abound.  Even though, like most of us, I witnessed the terrorist attacks via television, I felt a physical blow to my body. I felt heavy with sadness, and my eyes burned with tears. My stomach was knotted in fear. Emotions of anger, disbelief, and shock washed over me in waves. Rather than block these experiences emanating from the collective pain of a large number of suffering souls, I sank into them - for my physical body could absorb what my mind could not take in. Then I began to breathe through and with my feelings. 

The breath combined with compassion, in fact, is the warp and woof of soulful therapy.  Thus as you breathe through your feelings, not resisting, but gently accepting, experience the shattered pieces of your emotions being slowly healed back into wholeness. You may imagine the wound in your soul being re-woven, as if the hole in your psyche is being knit up with shimmering skeins of gold and silver.  Feel each breath you take as a stitch in the wise hands of the Great Mother goddess, whose universal image can be found in every religion. Take comfort in the faith that while things may never be the same again, in time a pattern of wisdom and understanding will begin to emerge from the chaos. 

Next, centered within the consciousness of peace and compassion, reflect upon the suffering of those most closely involved in the terrorist attacks: the victims in the jets and decimated buildings, their loved ones left behind, and even the perpetrators of this desperate act.  Contemplate as well the thousands upon thousands of individuals, young and old, sick and healthy, who are presently engulfed in fear and grief for the fate of the world.  Imagine 
them held within the strong, capable, and skilled hands of the Great Mother.  See her holding each soul in love and warmth, breathing in their suffering and breathing out their pain, each breath a stitch reweaving their shattered spirits.  In this spirit, pray for the healing of all beings. Then, extend this prayer to the fractured soul of America. Ask that she may grow in 
understanding from this tragedy. 

Finally, send forth prayers of peace to the rest of the globe, encircling the world in a golden net of protective light and peace. Know that, at this moment, each of the illuminated souls of the spiritual hierarchy stands linked together as unbreakable strands in a miraculous net of protection surrounding the planet.  Weave your prayers into the ongoing concentration of these beings, and join your soul to their Great Work: peace on earth.

To continue your concentration throughout the rest of the days and weeks ahead, you may wish to join in many of the collective prayers being held across the world (we are posting times on the Talking Circle). Some may find solace by concentrating on this phrase: "Send Thy peace, O Lord, our Father and Mother, that we Thy children on earth may all unite in one family." (from "A Prayer for Peace," by Hazrat Inayat Khan)