I apologize for being so long silent in this space. Life is challenging for all of us these days, and in many ways that it never has been before. I hope to speak more on this soon. So, while you patiently and graciously wait, I want to offer something simple, a practice that may help you as it helps me. That is my subject today.

…

Everyone seems to know the book The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. I believe I even have a copy on my bookshelf, alas unread. But as sages and traditions have been telling us since dirt, we only have the moment of now. And, as I suspect that you’re a lot like me, we tend to spend a lot of our time thinking of the past or the future. While we know what we have experienced through The Past, we really have no idea what The Future holds. We may have some ideas and some reasonably good probabilities, but we do not know with any absolute certainty. I have event heard Collette Baron-Reid say that in her communities people have “future fatigue.” Yeah, I’m feeling that myself to some degree.

So, the simple practice I offer you today is this: add the word now to your statements and thoughts. If you are meditating — as we all should be — it can be as simple as Now I breathe in and Now I breathe out. The simplest form of meditation is “watching” your breath. Adding the word now to it, as if you’re following an instructional sequence, having done prior steps, such as in cooking a delicious and nutritious meal for yourself and your family or friends, now I do this. Got it?

You can then apply this anytime you find yourself, well, you find your mind that is, going off on some ranting tangent to bring yourself back to the present. I find myself doing this more often than I would ever want to admit while walking “She Who Must Be Obeyed,” so I simply say, to myself, Now I am walking the dog. I do this as many times as I need to bring myself back into the now, get my off the ranting tangent ledge. I might expand this to say, Now I see this flower or Now I admire this tree or Now I study this stone.

I have also found this helpful if I’m taking a nap to trying to get to sleep. Now I am resting and/or Now I am falling asleep. It’s easily adaptable to the myriad and infinite activities of daily living. You get the idea.

Now do! See if it works for you. I would love and appreciate to hear of your experiences and insights in working with this practice in the comments.

And maybe Mr. Tolle says the same thing in his book; maybe someday I’ll get around to reading it and find out. Until then — and my next post…

All my love,
Apollo

This morning, during deep soul writing, this came to me:

Let there be peace!
Let there be love!
Let there be joy!
In gratitude for all that is!

May it resonate with you.

For a short piece on joy, see this post by Gail Minogue. (Note: If you’re using a VPN, it may hiccup and you have to turn it off.)

New Moon and Vernal Equinox Blessings! May this truly be a spring awakening for each of us individually and collectively. The old world is dying, a new world is birthing, and we’ve got work to do.

All my love,
Apollo

Greetings dear friends,

How are you holding up as our world goes through birthing pains? Old things and old ways are clearly dying. We are part of a rebirth process, a labor that for many, me included, seems to be taking far too long and is far too hard. But, alas, it’s out of our control. (Well, maybe not entirely, but that’s a conversation for another day.)

On my mind today — and frankly ever since it came across my Tumblr feed — is the quote in the image above. Here it is again, with a few wording suggestions to bring it a bit up-to-date:

When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind {humankind}. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man {person} who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is {they are} concerned with the total understanding of mankind {humankind}.

It’s from J. Krishnamurti and published in Krishnamurti: Reflections on the Self, J. Krishnamurti, edited by Raymond Martin, 1998, Open Court Publishing.

I am not highly familiar with J. Krishnamurti and I haven’t read this book, yet, but this quote has been living with since coming into my life. It seems especially resonant today with all that is happening in the world as the old one ends and a new one is being born.

Several years ago, in a Christmas letter from a relative, she wrote, “I don’t care what calendar you use, so long as your still Christian.” I never responded to that remark, and I never forgot it.

I don’t think I ever called myself Christian, despite being raised in an American Baptist “infused” home. And even when I was well into adulthood and baptized in the Methodist Church (with my “fairy godmother” at my side), did I ever consider or announce myself as Christian. When I was more earnestly exploring Buddhism I may have considered myself as a Buddhist, but I no longer do so.

For most of my life I have referred to myself as an American, but that is imprecise: I am a natural born American Citizen. “American” is a shortcut, and far too often, hubris too. I am proud of my home country as we have done many good and great things; but we have also done (and continue to do) many bad and horrific things. We are no different than any other country around the world, perhaps to lesser or greater degrees, but not intrinsically different.

So, Krishnamurti’s quote has, for me, introduced a nuance for me to consider when I label myself in any way: Am I being violent or nonviolent? Am I connecting or separating? It’s a profound and awkward thing to consider. And a lifelong work-in-progress.

May this short contemplation resonate with you.

Peace be with you.
Peace be with me.
Peace be with us all.

All my love,
Apollo

I hope you are well this Friday morning.

A mantra for meditation

During my meditation this morning — a schedule that shifted a bit because the dog had to go out earlier than usual — a new, to me at least, mantra came through: “Breath of Life, Gift of Life.”

The in breath is the Breath of Life, the out breath is the Gift of Life. I just silently paid attention to my breathing and repeated these phrases silently. I also did some experimentation with focusing on each chakra, up then back down again, as well as flowing through the chakras, up then back down again, imagining the flow of energy.

Let me know if you try it, either as a focused, deliberate meditation or while your sitting in traffic or waiting for your take away order at a restaurant, and if you experience anything.

I’ll continue experimenting as well and write about it in a future post.

A metaphor for reflection

While doing some deep soul writing this morning, a new metaphor arrived. I’m quite certain you’ll relate.

My life and our world, and perhaps even our Earth Mother and solar system, all feel like we’re standing in the middle of a very large lake on frozen ice. But the ice is singing and talking to us. It’s magical. But the sun is also out and the temperature is rising. Small pools of water are appearing on the surface at spots in the lake. The ice is starting to shift and soften.

There are people on different shorelines in different directions calling to me, shouting to me, do this, do that, come this way, you’ll be safe, no, come this way, it’s better, it’s safer. I am paralyzed. I know that I need to move, and perhaps much more quickly than I realize or want. But which way do I go? Or do I simply surrender to where I am and let fate take it’s course? Do I let the ice break around me and I succumb to the cold waters below? Does that mean death, transformation, or transmutation? Could I survive? Would I survive? In what form? Is there a dolphin waiting to keep my head above water until I reach safety? (Yes, I know dolphins do not live in lakes.)

Take this metaphor where you want to, if you want to. Does it resonate? Is it helpful? Let me know. Maybe it’s something to take into your journal and reflect upon. A reflective writing prompt.

A few site changes, housekeeping

I turned on the paid subscription feature for Substack. If you are so moved to support me through this platform (as imperfect as it is), I greatly appreciate it. Like you I’m struggling with living in the world that we have chosen to create.

If you don’t, just bypass the prompts that Substack will give you. At present I do not have plans to publish anything for paid subscribers only; I might, in distant future, and I will let you know well in advance of any change.

A shop debut, my Zazzle “store”

A month or so ago, when Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, delivered a special address at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, he spoke of a new world order. One of the best speeches of all time in my humble opinion. Here’s a link to read it or to watch it if you haven’t already, being the world wise people that you are.

You know that he spoke of Communism, a shopkeeper, and a sign in the window. And that prompted a bit of flash mob of people asking what sign might they put in their window? I’ve created three designs, so far, which you can see and purchase if you are so moved, on my Zazzle shop. See my store here. Full transparency: I do make a small profit from the sale of each item.

Sum Up

Thank you for your attention this morning. Thank you for being you. I always welcome your comments. Have a lovely, peaceful, satisfying weekend. I’ll write again soon.

All my love,
Apollo

Good morning.

It somehow seems appropriate that Reverend Jackson’s passing is timed with the powerful Solar Eclipse / New Moon / Lunar New Year, launch of the Year of the Fire Horse.

I asked the Heart Path Oracle Cards for a final message from the Reverend. The card that came through:

I Who Guide You
Dare to Face Yourself

The associated affirmation, adapted to the plural: Anything we want is possible, it is just how we look at it.

Sit with that as we remember a man who was clearly on the side of humanity.

—

I also received this message:

Let the Truth be revealed and let us not flinch.

Let the Healing begin and our trauma transmuted.

Let Collective Love awaken from deep slumber and guide our healing and our path forward.

Let the Lies be uncovered.

Let the Betrayals be revealed.

Let the Abuse be ended.

Quite a lot to contemplate today.

Peace be with you, Peace be with me, Peace be with us all,
Apollo

Dear Friends,

This morning a member of my morning Koffee Klatch shared an image with these words on it:

Someone asked why I bother to bash Trump on social media, since those who love him are never going to be swayed by anything I say. This sums it up perfectly:

A reporter once asked A.J. Muste, a Dutch-born American clergyman and pacifist who protested against the Vietnam War, “Do you really think you are going to change the policies of this country by standing out here alone at night in front of the White House with a candle?”

Muste replied softly, “Oh I don’t do this to change the country. I do this so the country won’t change me.”

I do not know who originally posted this, that is, the speaker who was asked. But I thank the universe for sending it my way!

I share this with you today because I believe it says something important, for current times and all times: The things we do may not seem like much at changing the direction or velocity of the larger societal winds, but each of us can practice holding our own against them.

And then, if you vibrate like me, everything is energy, and doing practices such as these, will, over time, with patience, with practice, and with greater numbers of people, actually change the direction and velocity of societal winds.

So, be a Muste. Today and every day. I will too.

Let us all stand in the face of adversity until it surrenders.

Carry on, carry on.

All my love,
Apollo

Let this be the day that the River of Truth flows strong and free again.

Let this be the day that the River of Unity flows strong and free again.

Let this be the day that the confluence becomes the Great River of Humanity again.

All my love,
Apollo

Today (Sunday, 18 January 2026) is a new moon. On new moons the general practice is to set new intentions, for the beginning lunar cycle, but the larger lunar cycles too. Today’s new moon begins a larger moon cycle. The next full moon in Capricorn is at the end of the year, 29 June 2026, approximately 160 days later. The next new moon in Capricorn to complete the larger cycle is then 7 January 2027, approximately 354 days later. I am using Western Tropical Zodiac astrology. My point is, we have intentions which are focused the current 29.5 day lunar cycle and the larger cycle that’s roughly a year.

So, armed with this esoteric knowledge and given the cost of food and the dire political circumstances here in the States of America — notice purposeful word omission — I offer a response for you to consider: it is a practice of speaking into the future, calling in from the future, the energies we want.

I know I may have lost a few with “energies” but roll with me here. Follow my lead and then improvise as it suits you.

Right now many are resisting change. Many things have been damaged, some obliterated, and some holding on by a thread. My point is, the future is not for the few to determine: it’s all of ours to determine, you know, We The People…

Here is one way that I am helping call in the future, with these statements (or variations) that I say at the beginning and end of my day, and whenever I can during my day:

Let this be the day that America awakens to the lies and myths that form her identity and discourse.

Let this be the day that America awakens to the tyranny of the many by the few.

Let this be the day that America recognizes that Democracy and our freedom needs our love and attention to right her listing ship.

Let this be the day that America awakens to recognize that identity politics and the current state of being does not serve her people, and really never has.

Let this be the day that America awakens to her bright future to rebuilt systems and institutions by heart-led, truth-honoring, and transparent leaders and parties who care about every Americans lives.

Let this be the day that America awakens to this vision of a new, powerful, and world-leading, people-caring, and inclusive country once again that the world respects and honors.

Let this day be the day that American awakens to the truth that our hopes and dreams have been hijacked by the egregious and wealthy few.

The formula is simple: “Let this be the day that (fill in the blank).” My point is to speak into existence that which we want, that’s the calling in the future we want.

The more people doing this practice, the more powerful We The People become, and the sooner the future arrives for a country re-built upon the principle of the highest good for all.

And if you’re poo-pooing all of this as pie in the sky, living in a fantasy world, you may be right. But I could be right too.

So join me in a “Fellowship of the Future” shall we say. Adapt as you see fit. Make this work for you. Consider this the spark to light your engine.

It’s time to call in the future WE want, as a collective.

So let’s begin.

Thank you for consideration. Let this be the day that the Fellowship of the Future is born to serve everyone.

Blessed be! Glory be! Let it be!

Apollo

The last gasps of the What Was is burning and churning through the flames of the What Is. The What Next is waiting in the wings ready for its debut. The chorus is building, the anticipation rising, what will What Next bring?

It will be like a gentle Spring morning full of promise, full of hope, full of wonder and delight. The funeral processions for the What Was continue. But the joyful bands and reverent choruses of the What Next rise and rise and rise. A cacophonous din reverberates across the land. The new world, the new hope, and the great awakening hearts join in. This day has been very long coming, and perhaps overdue. The evil residue of the What Was needed its last, dying gasp and is now being buried, sequestered, and transmuted by the power of Light.

This is my assessment. This is my vision. Let the Light of the People, the Light of Love, the Light of Truth emerge from the ashes once again. Let the remaining days be The Way of Peace, Love, Joy, and Gratitude. Let us rise each other up. Let For the Highest Good of ALL be our guiding mantra.

This is my blessing. This is my dream. This is the Reality becoming seen.

And so it is. And so it shall be.

I don’t recognize my country, our country anymore. I don’t recognize the United States anymore. We are founded on freedom, truth, justice, and the pursuit of happiness. We once stood up to the world’s aggressions, stood up for the weak, the impoverished. We have a statue in our most famous harbour, New York Harbor, on an island named Liberty Island, for our famous greeter and beacon to the world, our Statue of Liberty.

But liberty, truth, justice, and compassion and help for the weak, the poor, the many seeking a new and better life in our country has been hijacked, has been stolen from us. The election of and inauguration of Donald J. Trump and his cohorts have turned our once fabled and glorious lands and country upside down.

The real truths about our country are being revealed. Donald J. Trump was right about one thing, “the system is rigged” he has famously said over and over: our system is rigged, against us, against the masses. Our country’s founders, rightly or wrongly, rigged the system so that a few, focused, and wealthy people, and most of them men, can hijack and manipulate our systems, our dreams, our futures, our pursuit of happiness.

The spell has now been broken. We see the truth. We see the work that lies ahead — and there is a lot of work ahead. We have to rebuild EVERYTHING from the ground up. We need to revisit our “guardrails” and our fundamental principles. We need a new future. A new future that speaks to America’s core, to truth, justice, and the American way FOR EVERYONE. It will take some time. And it’s going to require everyone, you, me, our neighbors, our friends, to get ourselves out of our cubby holes and hide-y holes, our own comfort zones.

This work is important. It might be the most important work any of us have every attempted. And we must do it whether we like it or not.

To begin, let’s start chanting this incantation every day. Let’s teach it to everyone we know. Let’s make it “go viral”. It’s only a beginning, but we must start somewhere.

Universe vast, hear my call,

The circle is closed, the lessons learned, the debts repaid.

With gratitude in our hearts, we honor the teaching given.

Enough is enough, the time is fulfilled.

The work is complete, the story told.

With love, we release* Donald J. Trump

And all his cohorts from their task,

And give permission for the turning of the wheel.

Called home with compassion, embraced by eternity,

We bless the end of this chapter,

and welcome the dawn of the new.

So it is, and so it shall be.

* BY THE WORD “RELEASE” I MEAN LAWFUL, LEGAL MEASURES AND PUBLIC PRESSURE. DO NOT INTERPRET THIS WORD IN ANY OTHER WAY. IF YOU SHARE THIS, YOU AGREE TO INCLUDE THIS FOOTNOTE.

Let’s turn the wheel. Let’s restore America’s future for EVERYONE.

Today,
I choose to be more...

Kind
Calm
Gentle
Gracious
Grateful
Joyous
Peaceful
Loving
Vibrant
Engaged
Aware
Grounded
Centered
and
Open

Than I was yesterday,

Toward myself,
Everyone,
And everything.

Ashé!*

I call this the Apollo Moonfire One-Step Method to Becoming a Better Human Being and Galactic Citizen. Ha! No I don’t — or maybe I do… You can if you want, or not.

Skip the resolutions. (We all know that by 2 January, 3 January at the latest, you’ve forgotten them anyway.) Do this instead.

Give it a try for seven days. Stop, look, and evaluate. Yay/continue? Nay/nix and eat a banana?

What happens for you?
What do you feel?
What do you experience?
What have you noticed?
How are your relationships changing?

Help me prove I’m onto something here, or that I’m full of processed baloney that will soon cause a premature death.

I truly hope this works for you, or inspires you to something that works for you, and that you laughed at my wit.

Ok, carry on.

All my love,
Apollo

*Ashé is a Santería term that means “So it is” or “So mote it be” or “Amen”. I have adopted it because I love the vocal, loud, passionate feel of saying it. If Amen or another expression — perhaps “Let it be!” or “Blessed be!” — works for you, substitution is permitted. I’m not Big Tech with spy eyes and ears everywhere.

I pray for love.
I pray for Truth.
I pray for Peace.
To bless all hearts.

But to whom–or what—do I pray?

This post is about explaining my current thinking and experience. Yours may be different—and probably is—and I respect your thinking and experience.

I have rejected male “God.” I have also rejected “Goddess” because for many it’s simply a gender change from male to female.

Yeshua—whom many improperly still call Jesus—himself didn’t pray to god the father. The opening lines, according to the exemplary scholarly work by Neil Douglas-Klotz, that goes Abwoon d’bashmaya is best translated as something along the lines of “Oh great mothering-fathering energies of the universe we call to thee”.

Truth is, I don’t know with any certainty to whom I am praying.

I know to whom I have been indoctrinated in as to whom I “should” be praying, but I reject that. They don’t know either in my experience.

For a time I was using Dear “ “—yes, a blank in quotes—because I don’t know. It’s rather fun in my own opinion, and I may continue to use it in future.

But as I learned from Buddhist monk and author Brad Warner, “There is no god and he is always with you” as he says in his excellent book, *‌ There Is No God and He Is Always with You: A Search for God in Odd Places.* He has used the male gender in his writing.

I have seen the term “God Force” and “Great Goodness” and countless others. I have attempted on my own to create a gender neutral term, but I have been unhappy with my efforts thus far.

Study of the Tao and Native/Indigenous American cultures and traditions time and time again reinforces my experience that everything and everyone is god, all of life everywhere in every form. I practice an animist approach because everything is energy.

Back to Yeshua, he used the term “Alaha” to refer to whatever it is that call all of this in which we live and experience.

Occasionally I use “Universe”.

At present I am using the Native American “Great Spirit”. I love their term Wakan Tanka but I do not feel comfortable in my understanding and I am sensitive to cultural approbation.

“Spirit” by itself can work, and it does for many, but it seems, oh I don’t know, a little wimpy.

Does it really matter what term you use? In religious dogma I’m certain that it does.

For me, I advocate whatever term works for each of us as individuals as we define and experience our relationship with the cosmos and divine energies. (Divine might also be considered a “loaded” term in some ways.)

My points in this Saturday morning rambling are:

• Use the term or terms that work for you.

• Give yourself permission to explore, study, ruminate, contemplate, ferment, and postulate other terms.

• It’s only a term and there is no one term that is correct and there is no term that is incorrect.

So pray to who or to what resonates with your being. Prayer is energy you send into the universe. It’s best spoken aloud in state of composure and reverence. Prayer might take the form of incantation. Or song. Or poetry. Or art. Or dance. Or infinite other ways.

Don’t limit yourself to what someone said is “the” definition. For better or worse, humanity is born with free will. Use it wisely.

Go in peace.
Go in love.
Search for Truth.
May your journey be blessed.

All my love,
Apollo

I was agitated in the night. And when I’m sometimes I’m agitated I listen to the messages that come through, looking for something to latch on to to help me calm down and get back to sleep.

The roots of this prayer grew in the wee hours of this morning.

During meditation the final form came through.

I hope you like it. It’s simple enough to be a mantra.

For the record, Truth is actually capitalized:

I pray for love.
I pray for Truth.
I pray for peace.
To bless all hearts.

May this prayer ease your mind and help in these most turbulent of seas. I plan to write more on this topic — and many others — as I make a major life pivot.

But as you know, the colloquial saying, “You can’t turn an aircraft carrier on a dime” fits the enormity of my pivot, and these most astonishing and perplexing times.

Go in love, in Truth, and peace.

Apollo

Circles, realms, and caves
deep, dark, and mysterious
unconventional and uncommon
call my name.

I can only follow
and trust
with all my heart
the path is right
and true for me.

—

The above words came to me this morning, a “download” as we say. I found myself wandering the internet and was curious as to why I was seeing such and such and finding it so interesting. And it came through. It is, without doubt, the most mystical transmission I have yet received.

I think its also relevant in lots of situations to our current times. A lot is happening, in our political realms, in our cultural realms, and in our solar and galactic realms. Change is afoot to paraphrase our beloved Sherlock Holmes. So many things are happening and happening so fast that all we can often do is trust with all our heart that the path is right and true, individually and collectively.

Remember to breathe.

Peace be with you, peace be with me, peace be with us all.

The other day, Sunday to be exact, the idea came through: I had to write a new Pledge of Allegiance that I would be proud to memorize, proud to say, and proud to share. This is it. It didn’t take me too long. The form allowed me to capture many thoughts into once concise piece. I’m proud of it. I hope you like, maybe proud of it too.

More importantly, I invite you to adopt it, to practice saying it, to practice living it, and to share it. And let me know it goes. If you record yourself saying it and post videos of it somewhere, let me know that too.

If this ignites are fire within you, all the better. The world needs new, powerful, compassionate, loving leaders. May you be one or soon become one.

Blessed be!

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