SUN AND RAIN

Hey, it’s been awhile since I posted over here. Have to keep an eye on that.

I think we had just about everything except hurricanes tornadoes yesterday. And I can only really be sure about where I spent the day, namely Junction City. It rained. It hailed. It snowed. It sleeted. And in between the sun came out and it was bright enough to almost blind you.

I followed a huge black cloud home from work last night and it must have been pouring because the road was almost flooded. But, where I was the sun was shining, the clouds were big and poufy, and the grass is so green right now. I’m not sure there’s a green in the painter’s palette to match it. And even if you could match the color, there’s that shimmer from standing water that just is. It can’t be matched. I’m not sure if a photographer can catch it. You can only look at it long and hard and tuck it away in your memories. And maybe that’s how it’s meant to be.

 

KEEPING THE LIGHTS ON

We kindle this flame in honor of the Creator of Creation. We are grateful for the plenty that blesses us. In a world where many walk hand in hand with hunger we have abundance. In a world where too many walk in fear we can speak as our hearts lead us and show our faith freely. In a world where too many are alone, even in a crowd, we are rich in family and friends.

 

I’ll be honest. Except for the very poor among us, Americans have it so good we don’t even realize it most of the time. Outside of the US, most folks still get around by the power of their own muscles. I suspect that at least half the world’s population still doesn’t live in houses with plumbing and electricity. If you need water, you walk. If you need food that day, you walk. If you have a job, you walk. If you want to go to school, you walk, that is if there’s even a school within walking distance. And that’s if your family can afford it. Too many kids in the family? Maybe the boys get to go to school and the girls don’t. You get the picture.

 

If you live in a war zone, you’re taking your life in your hands just about every time you take a trip to the village pump. Even if it’s not a war zone, access to a reliable supply or clean water or food, something we take for granted, may be next to impossible. For slum dwellers in many Muslim nations, the religious schools run by the fundamentalists are the only schools available. And it would take a very long history lesson to explain why so many of these countries just happen to be the ones where US aid was funneled into the military or grandiose public works projects meant to glorify the leaders, not help the led.

 

If we are so blessed, let’s give thanks for what we have instead of focusing on what we don’t. Let us be thankful that most of us can walk down the street without having to dodge a mob or a bullet. And remember that even in this country not everyone has that privilege. Hug your families, and your friends and remember that there are too many inthis world that never know if they are hugging someone for the last time when they leave the room.

 

As usual I ended up where I didn’t expect to. My little mental candles are still around, by the way. I caught myself thinking of mom, our family, those I know through my journal and some of those little candles starting truckin’ out the door. Actually, the first one didn’t truck, it took off like the Roadrunner with Wile E Coyote in hot pursuit. And, uh, I don’t think about sending them, at least not at first. They just go. So, Lisa, Russ, Cin and anybody else who has dropped by, don’t be surprised if you find a little cockeyed glimmer knocking at your door.

 

PRAYER FOR HEALING

Lady and Lord of Creation you formed my being in the beginning.

You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

You gave the breath of life to my flesh and blood.

 

Renew me this day in Your love.

Let Your faith in Your Creation support my life.

Let my journey by Your light.

Give me hope to sustain me.

 

Make a mantle from these threads as sign of your gift of healing.

When I am weary, may it warm me.

When I begin to lose hope, may it surround me.

When I am in pain in body or spirit may Your care encircle me.

 

Mother and Father of beginnings support our bodies and spirits.

Mother and Father of all that surrounds us heal our bodies and spirits.

Mother and Father of all that is to come,

     help us to become all we should be.

 

If we have family who are ill, help us support them.

If we have friends who grieve help us comfort them.

Let our prayers go out for those we know and

Those whose faces we do not see where ever they may be.

 

So may it be, now and forever.

 

Inspired by a healing prayer in Knitting into the Mystery.

THE DIPPERS

The Big Dipper and the Little Dipper from the Astronomy Picture of the Day website. I have managed to see the Little Dipper a time or three. We live next to a hill which takes out about half the sky and hills on the horizon all around us. I suspect this shot is enhanced. The Little Dipper has never looked this good and Polaris, the North Star, isn't that bright a star. But, it's a really pretty shot.

CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS?

I haven’t been writing about politics much lately. Not from lack of interest. Definitely not from lack of interest. It’s more a case of intense frustration. I'm not even sure the word I want is frustration. There may not be a word for what I'm feeling right now. The more my heart moves towards the non traditional ways of seeing the world, the more out of focus the traditional way of “seeing” the world around us becomes. And the more cynical too many of our political and religious leaders appear.

 

Are they really as blind as they seem to be? Or are they so invested in the current power structure that they’re willing to ignore the slow collapse of our global house of cards.

 

In a country where too many families can’t make it even if both parents work at multiple jobs is gay marriage really the most pressing problem our society faces? When did the only freedom our elected hired hands seem willing to defend to the death become the freedom to buy what the corporations are willing to sell? When did the refusal to buy become a radical act? When you keep running across posters whose only answer to opposition of any kind is to threaten others with the same fate as Saddam Hussein, can we really say that our culture reveres life?

 

People who undergo surgery to lose weight are discovering that yes, they do lose the weight. But, it doesn’t cure the reason they gained the weight in the first place. After thousands of dollars in medical bills they find themselves in AA, credit counseling, or addicted to gambling instead of chocolate.

 

In a world where our oil addiction funds the terrorists sworn to destroy us, how many malls and Wal Mart Super Centers are enough? In a world of overfilled garbage dumps, is more “stuff” going to fill the emptiness in our souls?

 

Oregon was the site of two separate tragedies in December. Both groups have come under intense criticism on the boards for their poor choices. Yes, it took tax money to search for these people. Outside of overtime, most of it would have been spent anyway, and not nearly as much as the rumor mills claimed. But, when it comes down to poor choices impacting on the pocket books of our neighbors, how many of us could stand close examination? At three thousand US casualties, thousands injured, Creator knows how many Iraqi and Afghan dead and injured, and a ballooning deficit, how much is our addiction to overseas oil costing our neighbors?

 

If we’re willing to sacrifice lives and spirits to political or religious ambition when does the price become too high? A million, a hundred thousand, ten thousand, a thousand, one? Or, going the other way, if you’re willing to sacrifice one life or spirit, when do you stop?

 

Are those sacrifices acceptable as long as they don’t share our skin color, language or faith? Is it more ok as long as the casualties don’t live in our country, state, or city? Is the sacrifice more bearable because it isn’t someone from our own family?

 

I’m starting to believe that we’ve reached this fork in the road after taking generations of wrong turns. I suspect that it started when someone, somewhere discovered that you could get others to do what you wanted them to do by threatening to harm not the person in front of you, but their families and friends. Very few of us have the strength to say, “I will not serve” if it means death or injury not to ourselves, but those closest to us.

OTHER KINDS OF WEALTH

This is from Rae Beth's The Hedge Witch's Way.

Great Mother Earth and Green God of forests and all living beings, I invoke you. May your abundance and natural justice prevail for all of us. Help us to know how we may live in harmony with all the creatures and with each other, in wealth. Grant us all true riches – good food, a beautiful country that is healed of damage, and freedom from scarcity. May all the nature spirits have these riches. May all the animals, birds, fishes, insects and reptiles have these riches. May all the plants of every land have these riches. And may all we who need enough wealth for adventure and creativity have all these riches, and it harms none. So may all thrive and celebrate life! So may it be

No, I'm not ready to start casting circles and dancing under the full moon. But, reading some of her prayers helps me to see things in a different way. Our society seems only to see wealth in human terms. To think of even insects and plants as having wealth is so far under the radar it doesn't even register. So may all of us have the wealth we need, even the crickets and the dandelions.

STARRY VEIL

Some ten thousand years ago a star in the region of the constellation Cygnus went nova. When the star faded to an ember it left this starry veil to mark it's passing. It's about fourteen hundred light years away from earth. Right next door in the stellar neighborhood.

ORION'S BELT

The three massive blue white stars, Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka, in the belt of the constellation Orion. This is how they might have looked about 1,500 years ago. The plate is a composite from shots taken between 1987 and 1991 by one of the telescopes at the Mt Palomar observatory and shot through a series of color filters.

PRAYER TO MOTHER EARTH

This is a suggested prayer to ask for healing for the human spirit. Creator knows we need it.

Our Mother Earth, Great Lady of Creation, you who have given birth to every land and all creatures and plants, and all peoples we call upon you. We know that you can heal and restore the balance of nature, as you have done before. We know that after every human catastrophe, you have clothed the land again, in flowers. After each abuse, or after war, you break down poisons. Over years, you cover buildings and battlefields with plants and creatures and bring back the beauty. We ask you to change us, restore us, within our spirits. Let your wise magic make us new in harmony, that we may live in peace, and creativity, and in adventure, with harm to none. Bring us to wisdom.  

 

by Rae Beth

ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY

Spiral galaxay NGC 4526 with supernova remains in the lower left hand cornor. The galaxy is part of the Virgo cluster. Shot was taken in 1994.

RING OUT THE BELLS

Another journal posted the lyrics to this song too. It's the wonderful "Ring Out Solstice Bells" by the group Jethro Tull in their album Songs of the Wood . It came out back in the seventies. And I'm looking for the cd to replace my old vinyl.

Ring Out, Solstice Bells


Now is the solstice of the year,
  winter is the glad song that you hear.
Seven maids move in seven time.
Have the lads up ready in a line.

Ring out these bells.
Ring out, ring solstice bells.
Ring solstice bells.

Join together beneath the mistletoe.
  by the holy oak whereon it grows.
Seven druids dance in seven time.
Sing the song the bells call, loudly chiming.

Ring out these bells.
Ring out, ring solstice bells.
Ring solstice bells.

Praise be to the distant sister sun,
  joyful as the silver planets run.
Seven maids move in seven time.
Sing the song the bells call, loudly chiming.
Ring out those bells.
Ring out, ring solstice bells.
Ring solstice bells.
Ring on, ring out.
Ring on, ring out.

So ring out those bells, the sun will be coming back. We should have some crocuses by the end of January. The elder is budding, and the winter heather is blooming. The fields around town have greened up and are so bright when get that rare sunny day. Go ring a bell. :-)

SOLSTICE IS COMING

Mary Barker's Heather Flower Fairy

Although this is the darker time of the year the heather is just beginning to bloom. Not a very warm time of the year for the little fairies. I think ours may be wearing their long johns instead of those cute little shorts.  

Brightener of Darkness, hail!

    Keeper of Clearness, Opener of the depths.

        Gifts of plenty are arising,

            Winter wonders, white snows fall.

 

Joyful be the hearts within us,

    Open wide the guesting door,

        Wisdom waken in abundance,

            Warm our beings to the core.

by Caitlin Matthews in the Celtic Devotional

ANOTHER VOICE

Bide the Wiccan Law ye must, 
In perfect love and perfect trust,
Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill, 
An' ye harm none, do what ye will,

What ye send forth, comes back to thee, 
So ever mind the Rule of Three,
Follow this with mind and heart, 
And Merry Meet and Merry Part!

TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR THE EARTH

Working on Ernest Callenbach's Ecotopia Emerging. An excellent book (in my opinion). What's scary is that it was first published in '81 and set around the turn of the century. It's not as bad as the book, yet. But it's interesting to see how on the mark the author was. Mr. Callenbach wrote this version of the Ten Commandments in 1990.

THE EARTH’S TEN COMMANDMENTS

Thou shalt love and honor the Earth for it blesses thy life and governs thy survival.

Thou shalt keep each day sacred to the Earth and celebrate the turning of its seasons.

Thou shalt not hold thyself above other living things nor drive them to extinction.

Thou shalt give thanks for thy food to the creatures and plants that nourish thee.

Thou shalt limit thy offspring for multitudes of people are a burden unto the Earth.

Thou shalt not kill nor waste Earth's riches upon weapons of war.

Thou shalt not pursue profit at the Earth's expense but strive to restore its damaged majesty.

Thou shalt not hide from thyself or others the consequences of thy actions upon the Earth.

Thou shalt not steal from future generations by impoverishing or poisoning the Earth.

Thou shalt consume material goods in moderation so all may share Earth's bounty.

Ernest Callenbach