The "Ah-ha!" moments....

Seems to me that all kinds of things are just ringing clearer for me today, and I kind of need to log them here, so's I won't forget.

First: Was listening to the NASA recording of the rings of Uranus being "played" by the solar wind, mentally comparing it to tibetan singing bowls once again. For some reason was compeled to put on one of the Nordic Roots CDs, and while listening to one of many pieces by various Sami throat singers from Finland, had the first of these ah-ha's roll through my brain. Throat singing happens mostly in Arctic tribes, across both the European and american continents. Why? Ok, the Tibetan monks also throat sing, but it is quite different. Why are people above the arctic circle singing in a similar manner without having necessarily interacted with one another? The Northern Lights.

No, I am not crazy- the lights make sound! Granted our ears probably cannot hear all the tones of the sounds, but we can perceive them, not unlike the singing bowl reflecting the sounds of space. The human vocal ability to imitate sounds is known throughout the speaking world, from animals to mechanical sounds. When the world was much quieter, it is probable that we heard all sorts of stuff now drowned out by things like the constant drone of highway traffic near my house. It seems to be our nature to imitate, especially when we were in better touch with Mother Gaia and Her many consorts. Now I hear in the Samis' singing and the T'lingt and Inuit, and many others the call of Nature Herself. Those who came before might not have understood that the songs came from the heavens not this little bit of solar dust....or they just might have. Their knowledge, often spoken in parable, has surprised me before.


All the more reason for me to be where the Northern Lights shine, that I might be moved also to sing their songs.

(the other thought went to sleep during this diatribe. I will be back with it later)

What Goes Around....

sadly it seems it all comes back around, the good and the bad. Right now, I mean the use of heroin. I remember the really bad times of heroin abuse back in the late Sixties and early Seventies. Hell, it nearly killed a lot of people in the music industry, and DID kill a lot of others. Nasty stuff- friend to no one, whatever it feels like when one is high. I am lucky that examples convinced me early enough that I would never, ever put that stuff in my body. I must have some real internal strength that I am not always aware of, because I never fell into the pit of despair so far that drugs seemed like a solution. I was suicidal, but obviously strong enough to survive even that. Strange, isn't it, where one can find the will to live, even when facing one's own mortality......not meant to be funny in anyway.

A new friend's girlfriend's son died from heroin overdose last week, just before 2010 started. He was a child -seventeen- and mom is a wreck understandably. What floored me more than this one death was the knowledge that this is apparently the 11th local teenage death from heroin in recent months. My first thought was that the drug was being cut with something lethal, but I will have to let the police figure that one out. Pure smack can kill, but smack cut with something indigestable is guaranteed to.
In the case of semantics, does causing someone's death by cutting an illegal drug with a lethal substance constitute murder? That kind of made my head hurt to word....I think I will leave that to the legal philosophers.

As a woman who lost a child many many years ago, I can relate to this poor person's state of mind and heart. She is little more than a stranger to me, but the Goddess is telling me to reach out. Goddess love Michael for caring, but no man can understand what it is to give birth, nor what it is to lose what has been in your womb. A piece of my heart was ripped away from me that day, hence the tattoo on my left forearm. Everything changed in me that day- forever. Nothing anyone says or does for me will ever change that- it was a wound to the soul. I know this is what she is going thru, but it is particularly fresh. I should make the offer of a ritual of passing directly to her, but part of me is not willing to possibly step on toes. I am going to have to dig down deeper thru meditation to learn what is right to do. I could touch her remotely, but knowing what I know, one to one is what will help her bust the bubble of grief, and start what healing will be possible. As I said, it will never fully go away. When something this deep happens it is vital to remind theose left behind, especially a parent, that one is not alone, and that life can work again. Psychiatry tries, religion tries, but frankly, it is people, not idealogies, that will ultimately make the difference.

More later maybe...this subject is pestering my brain, to the point of distraction, which is why I am both compeled to write, and concerned with what action I should take. I do not think I am supposed to stand idly by, that much I am certain of.



It is things like this passing into my life remind me vividly why I myself am still here. As much as I loathe people half the time, I am compeled by my office as priestess, and my own compassion to reach to those truly hurting. It can be an overwhelming experience frankly, which I believe is also why I do not like being in crowds of people. I am too sensitive to emotions around me, and it wears me out, drains me. It is in the one on one position that I can do the best work for those in need. It is perhaps too soon to ask her to trust a stranger with the gash in her heart, but I have a feeling she and I must cross paths

I Say It Means..........

http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2009/bishopcanning/bishopcannings2009b.html

You can read all the various interpretations from people on the above website, but I personally have my own belief of what the three dancing fishies are all about. They are cavorting to a piece of music by Tchaikovsky, from the Nutcracker. They are making a pretty circle with their tails, while they each make a bubble line. Since the fishies are swimming in a circular pattern, the bubble lines get pulled into a circle on a similar vector to the internal circle made by their tails.

Really, people. Can we just look at the mathematics of the glyphs being made out here and stop trying to make them into otherworldly re-interps of various man made religions?! NO ONE knows who or what is making these glyphs, or why, and I think religion has shown itself to be the great divider (that's your Satan people....)

Let us calm down, enjoy the astounding artistry, and stop trying to make more complications of things that are in all probablility very simple. Remember- WE are the lesser lifeform.

Teachings

I found a coot today, lying in the middle of Powhatan Dr., while I was driving to work. Picked him (her?) up, put him in the back seat on a poncho I had there and went on to work. I thought it was a dark duck, but found when I got it to the Wildlife Rescue vet (yeah Castle-West Vet Hospital!) that he was an American coot. Just trying to figure out what he was doing in my neighbourhood really. The closest bodies of water aren't really. Coots are marsh creatures- not little city made pond creatures....but they may be opportunists. Anyway, little fella had a busted up wing, damaged left leg and some contusions. Probably had a run-in with a car. The number of cats in the neighbourhood prohibited me just leaving him there. After a recent run in with a lazy group of young ducks, I am wondering if there is some weird attraction in my life recently for waterfowl. Rather Twilight Zone really.....

XFiles quotes, for future reference

From season three, "The Blessing Way"



Albert Hosteen (played by Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman, probably the foremost Amerindian actour, ever): There's an ancient indian saying that something lives only as long as the last person who remembers it. My people have come to trust memory over history. Memory, like fire, is radiant and immutable while history only serves those who seek to control it. Those who would douse the flame of memory in order to put out the dangerous fire of truth. Beware these men, for they are dangerous themselves ... and unwise. Their false history is written in the blood of those who might remember it and of those who seek the truth. edit »

Albert Hosteen: When the FBI man Mulder was cured by the holy people, we were reminded of the story of the gila monster, who symbolises the healing powers of the medicine man, In this myth the gila monster restores a man by taking all his parts and putting them back together. His blood is gathered by the ants, his eyes and ears by the sun, his mind by talking god and pollen boy. Then lightning and thunder bring the man back to life. edit »

Mulder: You were here today looking for a truth that was taken from you. A truth which was never to be spoken, but which now bind us together in dangerous purpose. I've returned from the dead to continue with you, but I fear that this danger is now close at hand and I may be too late. edit »

Awaken the sleep of reason and fight the monsters within and without.

question to contemplate

Can man's organized religions ever lead to true enlightenment?

just found a group "Monks Without Borders." A bunch of religiously inspired people who go out and do "good" where they are, as they can. Noble and all that, but does it come with a dose of their versions of "God" in the process?
I have to wonder.

I am afraid that history will show that mankind ideas about religion have always gotten in the way of true personal growth. This is why the greatest teacher of our world so far, the Buddha, chose to dump all religion in favour of a non-religiously based field of self-discovery. religion is a wonderful way to present rules and regulations to enslave a population to lazy to think for itself, but it is not an answer for those truly seeking self-knowledge, and the eventual loss of self thst comes from that growth.

You see- self-awareness is the ultimate form of selfishness and ego- vanity to such a scale it cannot be described by mere words. It is the release of that non-belonging that brings true enlightenment.When one finally grasps the connectedness of all things, and understands that not only do we all -ALL- some from the Source, but that we are in fact made of exactly the same thing.

My biggest problem in the last decade has been to let others come to this understanding in their own time. I am impatient beyond all reason to get the hell off this mortal plane and back to the business of my real existance, and someone or thing just simply will not let me go! I am waiting for that someone or thing to tell me WHY.

I seriously doubt it will be Monks without Borders, however.

Some things cannot change...at least not quickly.

Indigenous grandmas nearly kicked out of Vatican
Indian Country Today July 18, 2008.
All Rights Reserved
Thirteen indigenous grandmothers, formally known as the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, initial greeting at the Vatican was not pleasant. The group was almost kicked out while performing a prayer and waiting to speak with Pope Benedict They went to pray. They went to see Pope Benedict XVI on his home turf. They went to ask that he rescind historic church doctrine that played a role in the genocidal onslaught of millions of indigenous people worldwide.
For 13 indigenous grandmothers, accomplishing only one of their three goals wouldn't have been so bad - had they also not been harassed by several Vatican policemen who claimed the women were conducting ''anti-Catholic'' demonstrations. The elders, formally known as the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, convened in the morning hours of July 9 at St. Peter's Square. After setting up an altar cloth, candles and sacred objects, including feathers and incense, they began holding a prayer and ceremony circle. Nine-year-old Davian Joell Stand-Gilpin, a direct descendant of Chief Dull Knife of the Lakota Nation, was brought along by one of the grandmothers to participate in traditional regalia.
Soon, however, four Vatican police officials asked the women to stop the prayer ceremony, claiming their prayers were in contradiction to the church's teachings - despite the two crosses on the alter cloth and some of the members being practitioners of the Catholic faith.
The officials told Carole Hart, an Emmy and Peabody award-winning producer and filmmaker traveling with the grandmas, that the group was in violation of Vatican policy. They said a permit Hart had obtained in order to document the prayer gathering was only relevant in terms of filming, but did not allow the women to pray, sing or burn incense.The police said the actions of the grandmothers were ''idolatrous. Through the course of obtaining the permit, Hart had written to Vatican officials explaining that the grandmothers would be conducting a prayer ceremony at the site.''We stuck to the fact that we were legitimately there with this permit,'' Hart said. ''The grandmas did not back down.
Still, the police urged the grandmothers to move on; but Hart and the group appealed the decision to a higher authority. Finally, the police brought back a law official who assessed the situation. Upon seeing 13 indigenous elder women and hearing one of their songs, the official concluded there was no problem with the ceremony. The official also ultimately invited the grandmothers to enter St. Peter's Basilica to rest and pray.Despite their short-term success, the ultimate goal of the grandmothers - to hand-deliver a statement to Pope Benedict XVI, asking him to rescind several controversial papal bulls that played a part in the colonization of indigenous lands - was thwarted.Documents from the 15th century, such as the papal bulls, show the papacy played a role in the genocidal onslaught that affected millions of indigenous people on the North American continent. In 1455, for instance, Pope Nicolas authorized Portugal ''to invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens and pagans'' who had previously made their homes in North America.
Just a short time before the grandmothers left for their long-planned journey to Rome, Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would be leaving the Vatican to rest at his summer home, called Castel Gandolfo, in preparation for a trip to Australia. The pope had originally been scheduled to be in residence July 9. Laura Jackson, the grandmothers' publicist, described the pope's decision to leave the Vatican as a ''sudden cancellation'' and noted that the grandmas held tickets to a scheduled public audience he was to have held that day.
While Castel Gandolfo is less than 20 miles away from the Vatican, the grandmothers ultimately decided not to make the journey to the pope's summer getaway despite some in their inner circle encouraging them to pay an unexpected visit.
Hart believes the grandmothers chose to focus on St. Peter's Square because it's part of the Vatican and is a strong symbol of the pope.
''As women of prayer, I think they felt that bringing their prayer there, on the very ground on which the church as an institution stands, as close as they could get to the heart of the church, would have a great effect on what will happen next,'' Hart said. Additionally, the women had no guarantee that they would even be able to enter the grounds of the pope's summer residence. Instead, the elders left a package with one of the pope's personal guards at the Vatican. The package contained a written statement the women had sent to the Vatican in 2005 decrying the papal bulls, to which the Vatican never responded. It also contained a new 632-word statement to the pope asking him to repeal three Christian-based doctrines of ''discovery'' and ''conquest'' that set a foundation for claiming lands occupied by indigenous people around the world.
''We carry this message for Pope Benedict XVI, traveling with the spirits of our ancestors,'' the women said in their new message. ''While praying at the Vatican for peace, we are praying for all peoples. We are here at the Vatican, humbly, not as representatives of indigenous nations, but as women of prayer.
The package was given to the pope's guard via a traditional Lakota manner, by extending it to him three times with him then accepting it on the fourth attempt. The entire process was captured on film, and is expected to be made into a documentary by Hart in the coming year. It is unknown whether the pope has yet personally received the package, but legal scholars and Native activists in the U.S. have nonetheless been paying close attention to the grandmothers' journey.

''I think the trip is very significant,'' said Steven Newcomb, co-director of the Indigenous Law Institute and author of the book, ''Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery,'' and an Indian Country Today columnist.
''These are women who are very much grounded in their own languages and traditions. They're able to raise visibility of the issue in ways that others are perhaps less effective.
The grandmothers from the U.S. who sit on the women's council are Margaret Behan, of the Arapaho/Cheyenne of Montana; Agnes Baker Pilgrim, of the Takelma Siletz; and Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Dance and Rita Long Visitor Holy Dance, both Oglala Lakota of Black Hills, S.D.All of the grandmothers are currently in private council in Assisi, Italy, and are expected to be returning home by early August.
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I am not certain what these representatives of the Amerindian tribes hoped or believed would be accomplished, but I could have told them what would happen. The "church" has just now been willing to admit that its celibacy rule has bred demons in males who were never supposed to be like that. Now they want them to admit that the wars and atrocities committed against others in the name of god were also wrong? We Wiccan have been trying to do that for centuries- it has done no good. Saying I'm sorry doesn't come easily to the patriarchal regime. It will not change until we get rid of them either, and I fear that that change will have to be a violent one- males are not going to give up easily to the matriarchal way. At least not those raised by the "church."
Good try ladies. I am afraid the effort alone will have to be your reward.