...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