The Alchemist’s Kindness… Memento Mori, Randy David Jeffers

“On December 26 near midnight, Randy passed over like a phoenix. His body was lost to us, but his spirit and teachings will live on for generations to come. There will be no goodbye between us. Those who are remembered shall live.

His vast knowledge of mysticism can be match by no one alive or passed on. He is truly a mystic master. I am so fortunate to call him a loved one and my continuous teacher.”

– Monika Sanders

Randy Jeffers was as kind to me the day I showed up at The Sword and the Rose – age 18, fresh to San Francisco – as he was twenty years later, when my first book came out, and as he was years after that, whenever I stopped by.

I didn’t see him as often in the later years as those early ones, but when I did, there was always something of interest to talk about as he carefully packaged blessed oils and fragrant incense. This one to the Faerie Queen. That one to Ganesh. This one to the Djuat. That, to Tetragrammaton.

As Eric Hauschan writes: “Randy’s incense would actually transform you by its smell. Depending on which one you burned it would fill the room with the elegance of a cathedral, but it would also reach inside you and change you. His blends had names such as Anubis, Xepera, Horus, Isis, Holy Grail, Shekinah. He would make the incense when he felt like it. That’s the kind of guy he was. I guess you have to be in a certain state of mind when creating an incense to invoke Anubis.”

Every person who planned to visit San Francisco, looking for interesting places to go, I sent to the Sword and the Rose. People from many parts of the globe visited the shop. A hidden gem, tucked back behind two buildings and a small garden courtyard, fountain always burbling. Lit by a fire in winter. Warm or cool, depending on what was needed. Always hidden. If you didn’t know it was there, there was no way you could find it. Even people who had instructions sometimes missed the way inside.

The shop is hardly big enough to hold much more than the rows of bottles filled with Randy’s art – everything blended and consecrated in sacred space. Magic. All of it.

Just like Randy’s life.

Randy, thank you for your care. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your immense skill. Thank you for your brightness. Thank you for your magic. Thank you for your kindness.

What is remembered, lives.

Monika Sanders said: “Without much effort Randy changed peoples lives…” May we remember that we all can have that power, just by being. Just by paying attention to one another. Randy paid attention.

My thoughts and love go out to Patrick, his partner, to Monika, and to the whole Sword and Rose family.

I made this for Randy the night I heard of his death. Feel free to pass it along:

_________________________________________________________________________________

If you want to contribute to Randy’s memory, his partner Patrick conveyed that “community is coming together to help him reopen the store while his burned hands heal. [Patrick] is busy thinking of the best way to honor his partner of nearly three decades and is planning a ceremony in the courtyard with lots of flowers and fancy stone work.”

A PayPal account is set up for donations. Monika told me: “We will probably be closed for about a month or so and need to pay rent.”

Send donations via paypal to theswordandrosealways (at) gmail.com

Here is the original story and the later news report.

Another link to Monika’s full statement.

Note: I knew him as Randy Jeffers, though the news reports call him Randy Sapp. His musical name was Randy David, which I also knew him by. I choose to use the name I called him throughout his life. 

#Randy #RIP #SwordandRose

Setting Intentions

I make time between Samhain and Gregorian New Year for cleaning, organizing, and contemplating.

I appreciate the time to prepare.

Some consider Samhain to be the end of the old and the start of the new year – and I used to be one of those. These days, however, I am appreciative of the longer tides. Maybe it is a hallmark of middle age. Years rush by and I want to deepen and savor the gifts and the lessons.

In recent years, I’ve come to understand that Samhain marks the threshold of many things, including the winding down of the old year. This enables space to open for deeper tides of magic, and helps me percolate on my new intention for the coming year. I appreciate the subtle changes that occur within my practice and my work by this shifting of attention. The tide carries me through Solstice and on. I don’t feel slammed into a new year, breathless, filled with resolutions I’ve scrambled to make.

In allowing space for winding down, cleaning up – and pondering my heart, soul, work, and relationships – I find that when the time to set my intention arrives, that intention can arise from a clear, less hurried space. 

Gregorian New Year’s Eve, I gather with a small group of friends to eat and drink and laugh, to  talk about our last year, and our hopes for the year to come.

Around 11pm, we pause. Take a breath. Drop within. From that place, whether we’ve thought long and hard, approached from different angles, or just opened our hearts to listen, we will set an intention for the coming year. These are not resolutions – not self-improvement lists. These are intentions that weave themselves in and out of all our activities, setting the tone as we move through time. We then pull runes, one each, to gain more insight. Then we toast each other, and toast the coming time.

The lessons of last year’s intention have been varied, surprising, sometimes amazingly challenging, and also filled with loveliness and joy. It is one that will likely stay with me.

What do I want for the coming year? More Love. More Justice. More Kindness. More Creativity.

What will my new intention be? I’m not yet sure.

I’ve been listening, opening, and pondering. I have some ideas, but the intention itself may not gel until that magic moment, somewhere before midnight, when my heart and mind open, and the words fly free.

I wish you a contemplative dark moon. I wish you a joyous new moon. I wish you a joyous year to come. 

May the ancestors and descendants bless your path in equal measure to your honoring of them.

And as always, I offer you my favorite spell, written in a time of huge transition a decade ago. It has served me well. The more you pass it on, the stronger the weave of magic.

Raise a glass of whatever you like. Repeat after me: 

Love! Health! Prosperity! Knowledge! And Great Sex! 

May these properties helps us to grow joyous and generous lives, well supported by family and friends. May these properties help us grow a society that offers justice and kindness to all.

So mote it be. 

#intentions #NYE

To Gasp in Awe

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“There was Earth. Afloat in space. Seen not with color coded countries and political boundaries delineated, but only as nature intended: with oceans, land, clouds. We went to the Moon as explorers, and discovered Earth for the first time.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson

Forty-five years ago, humans saw the earth from space.

These were no shamans, traveling in the aether, bringing visions of their journeys home.

Three men in space, surrounded by metal and blinking lights. Orbiting the moon. And then there, out there:

A breathtaking view of home.

Those of us who dare to live un-jaded are still in awe. How can we not be? 

I was going to write more today, a brief essay on the importance of shifting perspective and how it affects the Power to Know. I was going to write about the importance of feeling, truly feeling, our place in the scheme of things. I was going to write about awe, and why we miss it, and why it is important.

But any words I thought to set down pale in comparison to this:

There is beauty, here on earth. There is beauty out in space. We are beloved, if we allow ourselves to be.

We too, can recall wonder. We too, can gasp in awe. 

#Earthrise #moon #Nature