Week 46--in which we stand at a moment that will not come again until 2035

Beautiful Ones,

I have led The Lotus and the Lily prayer intensives for 16 years. So you might think that I’ve seen it all, experienced it all, understood what it’s all about.

Nothing could be further from the truth. And what happened this week proves it.

And, I am going to share it with you.

You might want to get comfy, pour a cup of tea, and open your journal before proceeding. Because what I am going to show you not only surprised me, it surprised Emma Kupu Mitchell, who has been a deep student of numerology for years.

First, a little background:

I’ve been swimming in mystical waters for a long time. I first put my toe in the water in 1997 when I stumbled upon how to activate a divine voice on the page, followed the guidance I received, and totally rearranged my life from human resources consultant to spiritual writer.

I thought that was a big deal. And it was.

But I didn’t realize it was just a beginning, sort of like stepping into the source of the Nile when it’s a rivulet.

If you’ve been reading these Notes from the Field for a few years, you know the river got wider and deeper and still wider and deeper year after year.

When prayer artist arrived in the middle of the night in February 2018, everything changed. Instantly.

On a podcast with Emma Kupu Mitchell, I tried to describe what happened:

“I went to bed knowing who I was and what I would be writing and teaching in 2018 and the next several years. I woke as someone else. It felt like I had been plucked out of the little boat of my life sometime in the night and dropped into a different boat. There was no going back. My boat was gone. Gone. I woke not knowing who I am anymore or what I’m here to do, and yet feeling trust in my new boat. I don’t know where it’s taking me, but I’m saying yes anyway.”

And, indeed, the next day, I wrote in my journal: “I don’t know what prayer artist means, and I’m pretty sure it changes everything, and I’m scared, but if you want me to be your prayer artist, I will be your prayer artist.” Instantly the first of what became a whole new genre of prayer came rushing through my hand.

We were off to the races! At the speed of love.

Prayer artist did change everything.

I closed my six-year radio show, stopped teaching my courses, ordered a whole new website, and began to offer prayer intensives.

There was only one thing, one intensive, that continued: The Lotus and the Lily.

Why? Because it’s such a delicious, profound, and I would go so far as to say necessary way to look back at the year ending, harvest the gifts hiding there, and then listen for whispers of the life that wants to be lived in the year coming.

The intensive wraps up with creating a mystic mandala that somehow holds the seeds of the life to come. If you missed it, I talked about the mandala in last week's Notes from the Field.

We’ve gathered to harvest the old and seed the new every year since 2010.

Pay attention to the numerology of that year: 2010 = 3.
2011 = 4
2012 = 5
and so on until 2016 = 9

That cycle began in 2008, a year before Writing Down Your Soul came out and three years before I made my first mandala.

So even though I’ve led Lotus and Lily intensives every year since 2010, and have made 16 mandalas, this is the first time that I or anyone has had the opportunity to look back at a full 9 year cycle from 2017 (10/1) to 2025 (9).

And, if that weren’t stunning enough, when we make our 2026 mandalas, we are planting seeds not just for 2026 (10/1) but for the entire nine-year cycle to come, all the way to 2034 (9).

We’ve always studied the numerology and it’s always profound, but this time, we get to stand at the center point of two nine-year cycles.

I knew we were in a sacred and rare moment, but I didn’t understand how rare, until mystic artist and journey guide Cathy Stevens Pratt sent this visual of time laid out on a Mobius Strip.

The Mobius Strip, which has no beginning and no end, no inside and no outside, is the perfect mystical symbol or field to illustrate the moment.

Before I continue, why don’t you just stare at this for a moment. Not trying to figure anything out, but simply letting it speak to your unconscious creative mind.

Visualize yourself standing at the widest part of the dark blue path where 2025 completes one counterclockwise cycle (starting with 2017) and 2026 initiates the next cycle that will end in 2034.

When Cathy sent this I had to sit with it for quite a while. Not only does this totally explain the profound numerology, but it also illustrates without words the primary teachings of the Buddha that underly The Lotus and the Lily.

Consider the Buddha’s foundational teaching:

"This is because that is."

If that is a bit of a conundrum, put yourself back in that spot at the transition of 2025 into 2026 and realize that this moment, this present moment, is the result of all that has come before AND—the wildest part of his teaching—all that is to come.

In You are Here by Thich Nhat Hanh, he describes the Buddha's teaching this way:

“The present is made up of material called the past and the future, and the past and future are here in what we call the present.”

The Buddha’s other profound teaching, born directly out of This is because that is, is the concept of inter-becoming or interbeing.

This is the life-giving mystical foundation missing in our materialistic, patriarchal, fascistic world. If you feel wounded and afraid for our world, it’s because power not only ignores inter-becoming and interbeing, it denigrates and tries to destroy it.

But inter-being is still the truth.

So, in The Lotus and the Lily this year, we are going to look back at the 9 years ending and then listen to whispers of the next 9 years.

This moment doesn’t come very often. Here are the last three times:

2017-2025 — 2026-2034
1        9           1         9

1990-2007 — 2008-2016
1        9            1        9

1972-1980 — 1981-1989
1         9            1        9

The next time you can stand at that mystical intersection will be 2035-2043 meeting 2044-2052. I was born in 1948 so I dare say I’ll miss that last bit.

We open Tuesday with a live gathering at 6p eastern and a watch party on Thursday at 2p eastern.

There's a lot of fun material to read and watch to get ready, so register right away please. I'll send a welcome email with access to the Resource Page. You'll also receive an email outlining what we'll be doing together in our first gathering.

And invite friends. Because we don't do this alone.

We are a community who is inter-becoming together.  

Follow the link to the Registration page with all the details, schedule, and registration options.

The Lotus and the Lily Harvest 2025 Seed 2026

Life is Fragile. Handle with Reverence. And wonder! 

Janet

PS It didn't skip my attention that week 46 is a 10/1. How perfect is that!

PSS: Lotus is NOT offered OnDemand after it ends. But everyone registered will have access to the Resource Page until next October. So register, even if you won't be going through the process now.

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