Mystic Confessions

Saturday

February 24, 2018

I'm happy to be in student-mode again with my three online courses, feeling  grateful that I have (and can handle) these while still showing progress in all other areas of my life.

I seem to be developing my own learning techniques which is uniquely suited to me, and I feel that the way I absorb and assimilate new information is evolving. I myself am suprised, but in good ways.

I take a lot of notes on a good old-fashioned spiral notebook and typewriting papers which I study at home.  

It was in another notebook, on March 2017 at Jollibee with spaghetti and Tuna Pie, that I composed my first poetry collaboration with a fellow poet and kindred spirit. 

I put down on paper, in metered rhyme, some of the things I've learned as a student of metaphysics and lifelong seeker of deeper spirtual awareness. 

Our poetry duet, which my partner titled "Be the Guiding Light," appeared in Atunis, the Albania-based magazine which also featured our second, "Ode To The Moon."

It was published on January 20, 2018.

Be the Guiding Light

By Elizabeth Esguerra Castillo and Jonathan Aquino

(Excerpts)

👧 Elizabeth:

You and I – we are One, all coming from One Great Source
It was never an accident nor a coincidence that you were born on Earth
You were created for a Definite Purpose, with a mission to help change the world
In a world enveloped by greed for power and hatred,
Be the Light to help illuminate the paths of others even when you’re going through your own darkness.

Different journeys, same direction leading us all to where the Universe originated,
Pilgrims travelling in a swirling wave of vibrations- Love, Light, Peace, and Harmony from within
Souls with a Definite Divine Purpose, embrace your fragility and shine your way for others to see
Be the guiding Light, spreading positive sparkles with every beat of your heart
A Torch Bearer leading troubled souls out of their darkness, leaving traces of Peace behind…

👦 Jonathan:

He explores his new world, seeing wonder everywhere,
he seeks for all the answers, and he finds his own truth;
he learns that his body is of nature,
and he is at one with the sea, the sky and the earth,
yet his inner being is of immeasurable worth

Then a day will come, a day that seems like any other,
when his souls shines through, and he will feel the knowing,
that he is not alone, and that he has never been alone;
he finds love for his fellowmen, as clear as the sun,
he sees the love of his Source, as sure as day follows night,
and that inside him is a flame, for his true nature is light.

See The Full Poem Be the Guiding Light at Atunis

See The Facebook Story of Ode To The Moon

Photo courtesy of Mobile.AlphaCoders.com

Infinity In The Palm of Your Hand

Saturday Stories

February 17, 2018

My first feature article got published on December 2004 in Philippine Panorama, the Sunday magazine of The Manila Bulletin. Since then, a lot of my stories have appeared in various publications like The Philippine Star and The Manila Times.

DeWitt Wallace, the founder and editor of Reader's Digest, is one of my virtual mentors as a young writer. His essay in a vintage edition has inspired me to write stories that are concise yet timeless, without needless words yet of "enduring value."

The best of my magazine stories became my first book, The Way To Inner Peace. The title comes from my essay on spiritual awakening inspired by Zen Buddhism and  Siddharta by Herman Hesse. 

My book first came out in 2013 from Smashwords, an ebook publisher based in the United States.

This year, The Way To Inner Peace got published in Amazon Kindle.

In the second part of the book are some of the most significant  essays from my journal. I would like to share brief excerpts here:

From Seeing The Miracles of Nature: Is the world an illusion? I see the miracles of nature and my heart tells me her mysteries are beyond what my eyes see. Yet there is beauty as real as the breeze that embraces me, I thought, trying to recapture those moments of magic that I have felt eternity within. Inside me is my Authentic Self. All I need is to cut away all that is false to reveal my inmost nature. There is a Higher Reality where I wage my real battles, and only by winning there can I find victory here. 

From Eternity: I am a spirit vibrating in a different frequency from the angels and my nonphysical guides. The universe responds to my vibrations because that is the real meaning of the Law of Attraction. Perhaps that explains why, when I was a child, I was able to see things other people don't only when I feel happy. In my moments of sadness, even in the sense of Celtic-like melancholy that have become a part of me, I feel as if my senses are imprisoned in a steel vault. At those times I find it hard to reach out and touch the universe. But when I go deep within, I begin to feel the wisdom in the words of the mystic William Blake: 

To see the world in a grain of sand

And heaven in a wildflower.

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour.

See The Way To Inner Peace on Amazon Kindle

Photo courtesy of SocImage.com/user/anime.vietnam

When God Met Satan

Saturday Stories

February 10, 2018

I found one of my untitled and unpublished narrative poems recently. By coincidence, on the same day, a friend gave me the link to Setu Bilingual, a literary journal in English and Hindi based in Pittsburgh.

"Setu" is Sanskrit for bridge, "to connect the extreme ends of the words," to quote the publisher, "written and spoken, across the globe."

The story of my poem, which appears in the January 2018 edition of Setu Bilingual, is inspired by the meeting of God and Satan in the Book of Job – but that's where all similarities end.

Here is a short excerpt:

"'That’s the most ridiculous thing,'
said the Lord, 'since Vatican!'
The Devil cannot be distracted,
he’s in debate: 'Look,' he said,
'feed a dog and he won’t bite you,
but feed a man and he will.'"

I gave it a name, "Divine Comedy," in honor of Dante Alighieri, author of the 14th century epic Divina Comedia – the trilogy of Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso – one of the greatest works of literature in history. 

Another great inspiration is Mark Twain, the creator of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, who had always cloaked his words of wisdom in humor.

There is quote from Mark Twain that has served me in good stead throughout my life. I found it in the book A Treasury of Courage of Confidence by Norman Vincent Peale when I was a kid, same age as Tom and Huck.

"I am an old man and have known a great many troubles," he said, "but most of them never happened."

See Setu Bilingual January 2018

See "Divine Comedy"

Photo courtesy of RussianChurchCheltenham.org.uk

Once In A Super Blue Blood Moon

Saturday Stories

February 3, 2018

Blue Moon is when two full moons appear in a month. A Blood Moon is a lunar eclipse where the earth passes between sun and moon. A Supermoon is when the moon comes to its closest orbit. 

The Super Blue Blood Moon of January 31, 2018 is when all of them happened at the same time, the first since March 31, 1866, with the next coming soon on January 31, 2037.

My fellow author Elizabeth Esguerra Castillo and I were chatting on Facebook last week and the topic came up, and we created a poem in real time which she titled "Ode To The Moon."

It got published in perfect timing on January 31, 2018 at AtunisPoetry.com, a literary site and magazine publisher based in Albania. We want to thank Agron Shele, the publisher; and Kapardeli Eftichia, who graciously took the time to translate our poem into Greek.

Ode to the Moon

By Elizabeth Esguerra Castillo and Jonathan Aquino

Elizabeth:

Goddess of Light from above,
How you captivate me even from afar
Just a mere glimpse of your luminosity,
Sets my spirit to the heavens.

Jonathan:

I look at you, and I feel the mysteries,
hiding beneath your veil, yet all these
you have whispered to those who could hear:
those who chanted spells and hidden knowledge,
the mystics and wise men throughout the ages

Elizabeth:

Yes, I am somewhat under a magical encantation,
As your beaming rays shine on my soul
On this dark night, owls cooing,
And my only companion is my shadow.

Jonathan:

My body is of earth and water, and yet,
you are in me, as the waves are in the sea,
poets and dreamers have looked up, and wept,
as you reign, like a god, when the sun had set.

No mere mortal can reach out and touch you,
as a lover holds his mate, with tender caress,
naked in your light, and tonight, as night birds flew,
with songs of joy and melancholy, I lay down to my rest

Elizabeth:

Lovers dance worshiping your immaculateness,
You leave a trail of enchanted hearts
Enamored by your majesty,
Hypnotized by this indescribable serenity.

Oh, moon how you captivate the lonely,
And shine your light of love
To heal the brokenhearted,
Let your endless illumination of miracles surround me.

Visit Atunis

Visit Elizabeth's Facebook Page

Photo courtesy of GettyImages.com