...Turtle Mother

This mural is on Euclid in the Berkeley hills, where my daughter lives...
I've driven past it many times while visiting the area.

Whizzing by in a car isn't the best way to see it...
But the other day I walked past it ...
close up and taking time is the way to view it..


So today I grabbed my little Berkeley companion Gus
and we walked back down the hill to take a few photos..and so I could see it again.




Not the perfect photos...
Gus did a little pulling on me, and there was foot traffic and car traffic..
but I believe you will be able to feel it.
.
Here is the story...

It's wonderful...
the care and the color..

I hadn't seen the Turtle any of the times flying by in a car.
Since the Turtle is my totem you can imagine my delight...
actually it stopped me in my tracks....
the face of the Turtle.
Her eyes.

The Turtle, 
Mother Earth, 
birthing divine feminine energy into the world.

How beautiful is this?

xo

...bloggers beware

The SOPA bill is bad...

and we can stop it.

The internet is the greatest exchange of information we have..

don't let the government monitor it...don't let them censor it..don't let them control it..

don't let them stop the free exchange...

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/763537/what_is_sopa_here_are_5_things_you_need_to_know/

what you can do...

http://americancensorship.org/

January 2010 revisited....

On Wednesday the 11th I was sitting up on the hill with my canine tribe where I like to chill and think.

This is Shylee...she was jillian's dog  and when jillian  moved Shylee was suddenly in need of a home.  I said I'd  care for her for a couple of weeks until a new home was found...  
She's still here 2 months later.





Zoe...blind, deaf and overweight..but every night she insisst on being outside for watchdog duty.
All heart...all of it loyal.





Maia....my heart, my love...A gentle giant of a girl...137 pounds of patience and love.  
Turning so grey..sigh


I went up on the hill after reading a friend's blog post challenging other bloggers
 to post an entry from January 11, 2010. 
She thought it would be interesting for us to see what was on our minds way back then.


My post nearest that date is below.
There has been some progress.


My life doesn't feel as cluttered...thankfully....I have eliminated some things I have gathered others.


I no longer do art shows I don't enjoy..
I have slowed down in many areas of my life...every day I take time to breathe.....
I find I have stopped doing a should more often in order to do a want...
Life is short.


I think I've made some headway with co-dependency too..other peoples stuff doesn't tip me over as much.  
I finally realized that so often after taking on stuff that really had nothing to do with me....
I would be all in a tizzy, and they, the one whose stuff it was, 
had moved on from it leaving me still holding it.


Procrastination...well I know it's a form of self sabotage...


Deadlines and double booking and all things marketing...
I struggle with the business side of being an artist all the time.
It seems I only have the energy and discipline to do one or the other...create or market..
my goal for this year is to learn to love marketing....
I'm taking workshop next month
It will create a vision for the year in the area of going forward with my art.
it will include a vision board.
I haven't made one for my personal life.
Yet I have a vision.

And as it usually is it appears quite self-centered.
This life journey is one of self-discovery
finding out what makes my soul sing and trying to incorporate those things more fully into my life.
Finding a peaceful place that is always with me...
and knowing how to access it no matter what.



Excuses....I have few reasons to give another person excuses these days...
but I sometimes give them to myself...
but I don't fool me.


Ritual...the one that serves me most right now and has for awhile is the ritual of dance..


The loss of the twins is still painful..tender.


Doubt...well..
the only thing I really know for sure is I am exactly where I am supposed to be.


Where were you a year ago??





I have not taken the time to do a vision board for 2010 yet because it seems to me that I need to look at what I do not want and purge it so that there is a clear path
from me to my desires…. not cluttered. 

That is a bit how I feel right now…cluttered with ideas but knowing myself well enough to know that I need to do the clearing it will take for me to really step into the new year with a new and exciting vision. 

This is what I am eliminating from 2010...Art shows I no longer look forward to....pass em up 
Rushing, rushing, rushing...breathe 
Codependency...gotta go! 
Procrastination....please, please, please 
Over booking or forgetting a booking….opps! 
Missing a juried entry date….bummer! 
Doubt...be gone! 
Excuses....serve no one!! 
Saying yes, when I should say no….
I think it’s called setting limits and boundaries…
makes me lol! 

Being conscience of how these negative behaviors work against every thing I’m striving toward is a good thing…..it’s all about time management and setting boundaries, and prioritizing….

sounds simple. ..Yes? Just do it! Onward… 

My daughters and I went to plc on Sunday…(the positive living center)…after the Sunday service people mingle a bit….we were mingling when several of our practitioners called us to come and partake in what I can only call a love circle…. they are very aware of how hard grieving can be and how tender we are still…. they formed a very small circle around the three of us … so small everyone was slightly touching. As my daughters and I held each other each practitioner in turn blessed us, treated for us, and showered us with healing love and light. 
It was an amazingly touching and uplifting experience. 

I didn’t want to leave that warm, love filled, healing, intimate space. They gave us a wonderful gift and I floated on that cloud of love all day, so did my girls and we felt lighter… 

I am blessed. 
Ritual, ceremony, feels important….I don’t know if we have enough of it in our everyday lives. I don’t think so. Things like the love circle, labyrinth walking, candle lightings and prayer…tending our altars, etc.
I’ve created a new ritual for myself in relation
to my list of things I want to be gone. The procrastination, etc. 
I’m gathering stones that feel good to me, walking my labyrinth each day with one in hand representing what I want to be done with. 

I will focus on how one particular behavior no longer serves me as I walk to the center… .once in the center I will lay down the stone and ask for help in releasing this thing that I feel holds me back and continually causes me to feel as though I’m
running to catch up….
not achieving my long term goals… 

as I walk back out I will open myself to a vision of me with new coping skills, calmly experiencing each day with new resolve, a clear vision and intent for the future, walking to my goal…… 
I will have quite a pile of stones which will then be infused with positive traits I want to incorporate into my everyday life…. I will label each stone with a trait, carry it from the center of the labyrinth and put in a basket near one of my altars… 
.
sounds simple… wa la… life changing. Then on to my visioning and the board.

....things that speak

Our theme at Timberline Gallery in Oakhurst this month and next is Animal Totems..
If you come to Timberline on January 14, you will be able to meet some of the artists..
Me, I'll be there for a few hours..





Turtle Woman


The turtle is my totem...and yes, it's a lot about being slow, but it's also about getting ''there''. 


 The Turtle is my always with me totem...

and when things get upside down she reminds me to breathe, meditate...

slow down

...take my time but keep moving...

Turtle is the oldest symbol for the Earth.
 It is the personification of goddess energy and the eternal Earth itself.
If you have a Turtle totem, you must be mindful of returning to the Earth what she has given you. 
Honor the creative source within you.
Use water and earth energies to create a harmonious flow in your life.
Ask the Earth for assistance and her riches will pour forth.
If a Turtle totem shows up in your life, slow down the pace of your life. 
Bigger, stronger, faster are not always the best ways to reach your goals.
Turtle is fine teacher of the art of grounding.When you learn to ground yourself to Earth's power and strength, you place focus on your thoughts and actions and use the Earth's limitless energies rather than your own to accomplish your will...and I know this about me and the Earth....me and Mother.  I can go to her when I am anxious or feeling out of balance...when I walk or sit on the Earth, or best of all lay down on Her, I always feel better...and when I already feel good I am better.

Turtle is also the keeper of doors and one of the ways into the Faerie Realm, so it's no wonder I also find inspiration while out in nature.

This figure is not part of the Animal Totem show...

She is ''The Gift''

and she is at Timberline

Miko's

A wonderful Totem piece by Valerie Runningwolf

''I am Woman''

The Shaman

Valerie's gourds

My work and Janet Wycoff's mixed

I love this owl...

Zygmund Zee

''Finding Center''

with a beautiful woven piece by Jacqueline Kurtt

Click on the story of Tex and it will be large enough to read.
He resides with artist Carolyn Hartling.

Did you know, that it's perfectly OK, even highly ideal, to claim all is well amongst doubt and confusion?  To be happy in spite of challenges?  To laugh at problems? Dance without a partner?  Sing without a rhyme?  Talk to inanimate objects?
Oddly most don't.
Yous so rock!!
The Universe
www.tut.com

....361 and counting

I'm sitting here, on the hill in the back of the house.  

Sitting in the sun with 4 of the dogs that share this land with me.  

All of us enjoying the warmth.  

It has been sooo cold here in sunny California, so for several weeks I haven't wanted to go out and nether have they.  It's been cold and very dry here...
no rain at all in December, a very rare thing..

There are a zillion acorns on the ground but they are just opening up and drying out...
no opportunity to sprout....

The pass over the eastern slopes of the Sierras through Yosemite is still open....

no snow...

I can't remember it ever being open in January.  

I heard, or read. that this nation should be spending our tax $$ figuring out how we will grow food on a warmer and climate shifting planet...
Seems it might be an issue.
Also seems that those who decide such things as how tax money is spent aren't giving it much thought.
Or maybe Monsanto has it covered.

365 Days doesn't sound like a lot and they go by in a blink.  

I read somewhere that time seems to go by more quickly the older we get...

Children are all about the moment..about right now....

We adults are usually looking ahead or behind.  Losing this time right now and saying things like,  ''I wonder where the time went?''

....and here I sit wondering about the future and what I want to do with the coming 361.  

I'm thinking with the way things are in the world I really want to get involved with Occupy or something political.  

Occupy would mean trips to Fresno...

or I could try to start a movement here in the foothills....

I could sit at the corner of hwys 41 and 49 with my, "I'm the 99%" sign in front of
 Chase Bank...

I wonder if anyone would join me? 

 Or I could do the Occupy Homes thing....sitting in front of homes being foreclosed on.....

Lord knows everyone up here knows someone who has gone to their mortgage holder to have their payments made more affordable only to have them raised and their home taken..

 It's crazy and so very, very, wrong.  


...but today it seems I am going to do little in any direction at all...
just be glad for this sunny day with my furry friends.
xo


If you were able to look back at your most brilliant successes, stunning comebacks, amazing catches, and smokin' ideas, julie, and were to find that virtually all of them seemed to materialize out of thin air, when you least expected them, and that they had exceeded even your greatest expectations at the time, how excited would you be about the new year and whatever else I've go up my sleeve?
Hubba, hubba
The Universe


ps.....If I've ever helped you before, julie, don't you think I can do it again...
and again...and again...ad infinitum?  
Actually, it ought to be even easier next time, with your new saunter.


www.tut.com

......????

Wow!  The last few months have been so busy...

Sierra Art Trails in Oct.

Then I had a little Money Doll workshop in November, hosted by the lovely and talented digital artist joyce Whycoff 

We gathered at her mountain home.

She made us homemade veggie soup...how sweet is that?

Everyone was busy every minute and I'm pretty sure they had a lot of fun.
I made new friends...
Everyone seemed really happy with what they created.
When we finished it was late and I wanted to get off and home before it was too dark.
 Winding mountain roads and all..so I took no photos....
but joyce did...


http://joycewycoff.blogspot.com/2011/11/money-dolls-work.html


 joyce's colorful little Money Doll





This little duo below went to the KPFA Art and Crafts Show in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago and speaks to how much easier a dream or desire comes into being when sharing it with another who wants the same thing.
They found a home.

This show is the biggest I do all year...

My half of the booth that I shared with joyce...

We really did well together..

the travel..

the evenings..

the set-up and break-down..

our time in the booth..

Shows can be a bit of a challenge...emotionally and physically.

It's really cool to have had it go so smoothly and create good memories.

Joyce's half..

My belief about shows is that if you go just for money you will miss a lot.

Of course money needs to exchange hands.

there are booth fees..

travel to and from..

hotel room..

food..

materials for new creations..

and always new items to use for display, etc.

So yes, we working artists need to sell our creations...find them homes....so we can keep doing what we are called to do.

But in there too is the opportunity to share why we do what we love....

and that is an amazing high.

Talking to the people who FEEL what my Muse and I offer.

It's hard for me to explain but something happens...magic..

joyce shared this on her blog...

As Saturday began, I started to see the effect of her art on others.  Time after time, women stopped by to tell her which of her spirit figures they had and how important they were in their lives.  I saw women spontaneously begin to weep when they entered our booth, touched by julie and her spirit and the figures that embody that spirit.  It was a great reminder to me of what art can be..more than a decorative object...

a talisman of connection between people and the universal spirit that connect us all..

http://joycewycoff.blogspot.com/2011/12/veni-vidi-no-vici.html

I am honored by her words...and by the women who open to my figures...

 and who share their stories with me.  

What a blessing.

Fun

Custom shoes

amazing craftsmanship

Georgeous

Stunning jewelry

Friendly neighbor all the way from Idaho

Friend and inspiration

the lovely Maggi Belle who comes and plays for both days every year.

We....Maggi, joyce, my daughter jillian, our friends Brian and Shane all headed for Market Street Saturday night when the show closed to share a meal at a tiny vegan restaurant.  Best burger ever!  

Yummy..

and what a joy to break bread with people I enjoy so much!!

These were show stoppers....just wonderful!

Food and coffee are upstairs...

on my way down with a cup of caffeine on Sunday the massage lady said..."deep discount for artists"

sounded good....

but no time and didn't want to miss anyone who might stop by to say hi.

She is called, 'It all leads back to you...'

....and now what?

2011 has been a year of reflection...

...and a year of many changes.

So, now what?

I like to start a new year with direction. 

 A vision.

....and right now I don't have that focus....not  for my personal life or my art...

So many things are interconnected...as you wise readers know...

nothing stands alone

 I am a believer that thoughts become things, that the more I focus, and the more steps taken in the direction I want to go, the more likely I will  experience what it is I call.

Yes, I know that sounds like a no brainer and it is..

 and that's why the need for a clear vision...

gotta get my 2 cents in...

need to let the Universe know my desires....

not just drift. 

 Drifting causes me anxiety.

And I have been experiencing that.  

Maybe everyone is..

The state of the world could definitely cause a bit of anxiety. 

 It's scary here on the little Blue Planet.

I read somewhere that WWW3 has already begun...and it's Man vs Mother Earth.

It's a war we can't win...

She will go on without us.

I know change is coming...and I know it can blow in from many directions....and a wise woman would be getting a little more centered and start moving in the direction of her dreams.

The direction that feels supported and as though the wind will blow against my back.

Focus.

Wishing you all a new year with the wind against your back, 

blowing you in the direction of your dreams.

xoxo

Happy New Year

.....you

If it's not yet obvious to you, the real reason for this, and all seasons, is you.  

A more perfect child of the Universe has never lived.

Until now, only celebrations cloaked in myth and mystery

could hint at your divine heritage and sacred destiny.  

You are life's prayer of becoming and its answer.

The first light at the dawn of eternity, drawn from the ether,

so that I might know my own depth, discover new heights,

and revel in seas of blessed emotion.

A pioneer into illusion, and adventurer into the unknown,

and a lifter of veils.

Courageous, heroic, and exalted bye legions in the unseen.

To give beyond reason, to care beyond hope,

to love without limit;

to reach, 

stretch,

and dream

in spite of you fears.

These are the hallmarks of divinity - traits of the immortal - you badges of honor.

May you wear them with a pride as great as the immeasurable pride 

we feel for you.

Your light has illuminated darkened paths,

your gaze has lifted broken spirits,and already your life has changed the course of history.

This is the time of year we celebrate you.

Bowing before greatness,

The Universe

Thoughts become things...choose to good ones!
www.tut.com

....gratitude

From my Sister Friend Megan at Praying Horse...

http://prayinghorse.blogspot.com/

it is so beautiful...I cried

I hope you can find time to read the whole article...
Thank you Megan!!

xo

The great open secret of gratitude is that it is not dependent on external circumstance. It’s like a setting or channel that we can switch to at any moment, no matter what’s going on around us. It helps us connect to our basic right to be here, like the breath does. It’s a stance of the soul. In systems theory, each part contains the whole. Gratitude is the kernel that can flower into everything we need to know.

Thankfulness loosens the grip of the industrial growth society by contradicting its predominant message: that we are insufficient and inadequate. The forces of late capitalism continually tell us that we need more—more stuff, more money, more approval, more comfort, more entertainment. The dissatisfaction it breeds is profound. It infects people with a compulsion to acquire that delivers them into the cruel, humiliating bondage of debt. So gratitude is liberating. It is subversive. It helps us realize that we are sufficient, and that realization frees us. Elders of indigenous cultures have retained this knowledge, and we can learn from their practices.

They were eager for me to see the recently built school where young Onondagans, who choose not to go off the Nation to U.S.-run schools, can receive an education. A teacher named Frieda, who was serving for a while as a clan mother, had waited after hours to show me around. The central atrium she led me into was hung about with shields of a dozen clans—turtle clan, bear clan, frog—and on the floor illumined by the sky light was a large green turtle, beautifully wrought of inlaid wood. “Here is where we gather the students for our daily morning assembly,” Frieda explained. “We begin, of course, with the thanksgiving. Not the real, traditional form of it, because that takes days. We do it very short, just twenty minutes or so.” Turning to gaze at her face, I sank down on a bench. She heard my silent request and sat down too. Raising her right hand in a circling gesture that spiraled downward as the fingers closed, she began. “Let us gather our minds as one mind and give thanks to grandfather Sun, who rises each day to bring light so we can see each others’ faces and warmth for the seeds to grow.” On and on she continued, greeting and thanking the life-giving presences that bless and nourish us all. With each one—moon, waters, trees—that lovely gesture was repeated. “We gather our minds as one mind.”

My eyes stayed riveted on her. What I was receiving through her words and gesture felt like an intravenous injection, right into my bloodstream. This, I knew, can teach us how to survive, when all possessions and comforts have been lost. When our honored place in the world is taken from us, this practice can hold us together in dignity and clear mind.

What Frieda gave me is a staple of Haudenosaunee culture. The Mohawks have written down similar words, in an equally short form, so the rest of us can have it too. Known as the Mohawk Thanksgiving Prayer, it begins:

http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3158&Itemid=247&limit=1&limitstart=0

....this and that

This is my favorite news guy....

he is brilliant at explaining world affairs and knows our Constitution backwards and forwards.  And he is entertaining. 

You can find his show on LinkTV & Free Speech TV and you can stream him online...I promise you will be more aware.

and I ponder this...

Fox News viewers
are less informed 
than people who don't watch any news at all...

a new poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

I had the pleasure of leading a Money Doll workshop a few weeks ago.  It was hosted by my friend and fellow artist joyce Whycoff

There were six attendees and they sat at her dinning table as I led them through the process...

What fun we had.

These Money Dolls have a five dollar bill and 20 cents as part of their construction. 

 Seed money...

The one above is joyce's...sitting on her little altar.

This little golden one is on of mine....

We honored Lakshmi the Hindu Goddess of abundance

There is a little ritual that goes along with the dolls

Lighting candles, ringing bells and chanting the mantra below for ten minutes a day for 40 days....with you need in mind.  

“Om Shrim Maha Lakshmiyei Swaha”.
Actually when I find that I drop my resistance and truly open for abundance the process works much quicker.

"Babies"

the movie

Watch it...it will make you smile..

In the late 60's I was a peace activist...

I still am, but then I was really active.

I watched this documentary the other day about the Weather Underground...a group of radicals who split from the Students for a Democratic Society.  They advocated that the only way to get a violent government to pay attention, change, end the war, was through violence.   To be clear, I don't advocate violence...but I do understand why it is almost impossible to have a peaceful revolution.  

And I do understand the frustrations of people living under governments that are corrupt and violent and don't serve the people.  That indeed seem to be intent on destroying any sort of quality of life for the people who live under them.

This is an interesting documentary.  

Not so much has changed in all the years since the Vietnam War or the civil rights movement, of which I was also a part of by registering voters in Texas. 

 A very scary time...scarier now I think.

 We have more war now, and elections are being made more and more difficult for voters to actually vote.

You might enjoy the doc...

History.

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable...

John F. Kennedy

xoxo