WHEN THE SPIRIT MOVES ME....

...Turtle Mother

2012-01-29T02:05:00.000-08:00

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?

...bloggers beware

2012-01-19T11:36:00.000-08:00

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....

2012-01-18T14:06:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-10T17:01:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-04T14:32:00.000-08:00

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

......????

2011-12-28T17:21:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-23T11:20:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-04T20:41:00.000-08:00

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!!

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

2011-12-02T13:37:00.000-08:00

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

....thank you!

2011-11-23T13:14:00.000-08:00

Appreciation is the highest form of prayer, for it acknowledges the presence of good wherever you shine the light of your thankful thoughts.

Alan Cohen

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues.

-- Cicero

Maybe we're not supposed to be happy.

Maybe gratitude has nothing to do with joy.

Maybe being grateful means recognizing what you have for what it is.

Appreciating small victories.

Admiring the struggle it takes simply to be human.

Maybe we're thankful for the familiar things we know.

And maybe we're thankful for the things we'll never know. At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing

is reason enough to celebrate.

Meredith Grey

If you can't be content with what you have received, be thankful for what you have escaped.

-- Author Unknown

To educate yourself for the feeling of gratitude means to take nothing for granted, but to always seek out and value the kind that will stand behind the action. Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course. Everything originates in a will for the good, which is directed at you. Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude.

-- Albert Schweitzer

May my feet rest firmly on the ground
May my head touch the sky
May I see clearly
May I have the capacity of listen
May I be free to touch
May my words be true
May my heart and mind be open
May my hands be empty to fill the need
May my arms be open to others
May my gifts be revealed to me
So that I may return that which has been given
Completing the great circle.
The Terma Collective

Wishing you a wonderful day of thanks...
xo

......come and see us

2011-11-22T19:39:00.000-08:00

Please, please come and see me...

This is one great show. Great food, music, and phenomenal art.

We can debate the difference between art and craft,

but the work at this show is both.....

just wonderful.

I am honored to be part of it.

AND

The show is for a good cause.

A fund raiser for

Free Speech Radio

KPFA

94.1 fm

Berkeley

They take no corporate advertising money. And in this economy they are struggling to keep meaningful programs on the air.

I 'm going to be sharing a booth with extraordinary digital artist joyce Whycoff.

The two of us in San Francisco for 3 days.

We will be at the show two of those day but we will be free in the evenings to explore that beautiful city and have some amazing food.

I do hope you'll come...you'll like it...

and if you know you are going to be in the area and want to attend,

I have 2 tickets to give away...

contact me.

.....believe

2011-11-13T13:55:00.000-08:00

....the tide is turning

Borrowed from Running 'Cause I Can't Fly

http://coyoteprime-runningcauseicantfly.blogspot.com/

.....11/11/11

2011-11-11T12:44:00.000-08:00

...my dream for warriors everywhere

...seems so obvious

2011-11-10T16:25:00.000-08:00

"When you become wise,

your life is controlled by your

HEART,

not your head.''

Don Miguel Ruiz

....kpfa crafts show

2011-11-10T10:24:00.000-08:00

This is the show I am getting ready for now...
I was fortunate to jury in again this year...loved it last year.
Met many really nice people

and sent a few of my Spirit Figures out into the world...

This year I will be sharing booth space with joyce Wycoff...amazing digital artist.

I hope you'll put the date on your calendar and come to the show.
It is such eye candy...so many wonderful artists and craftspeople...

the clothes, oh my. Great place to holiday shop for unforgettable gifts.

ps...I'd love to see you...met you...
and it's for a good cause...the show benefits Free Speech Radio

....occupy

2011-11-07T09:53:00.000-08:00

Well, here I am....I want to blog...I do...but I want to blog political stuff a lot and this is not a political blog...is it? ...it's about an artist, me...but then I am also a citizen. I vote and pay taxes..I am one of the 99%...and it is impossible for me to ignore what is going on in the world...I think we, are dancing on the Titanic..and I am deeply concerned.

I spent some time in Berkeley recently...

I was there during the first week of Occupy Oakland.

On Wednesday evening, of that first week, I took BART into downtown Oakland with my daughter and our friend Shane. We planned to visit with a young friend who was camped out in front of City Hall, and to see what was going on...get a feel of the energy. And there was a strong and steady hummmm of it....it was dinner time and many were lined up to eat, there were groups making signs, people were bundling trash...there were makeshift clothes lines...it had rained hard for two days...There was an info booth. a first aid center, a kitchen, and porta-potties had just been delivered..
a donation from a local hip hop artists.

This was an assembly night, the first assembly.

People where talking about what Occupy Oakland was about.......the air was filled with excitement....
kind of a cross between a refuge camp and a company picnic....
There was a feeling of hope...
hope that change could be brought about through civil disobedience...

We made our way to the amphitheater....
my interest shifted to who was there...
Who were the people who were camping, and who were the people filling the park to see what Occupy had to say?

Yes, there were people there who looked like life had beaten them pretty hard.
A few were homeless no doubt
Drug Addicts maybe
People with medical conditions and maybe even mental problems...
and why shouldn't they be part of Occupy?
They are the ones the cruel side of the system has failed most miserably....
There were families too.....

Most of the people looked like you and me.
The signs told me they were teachers, nurses, veterans, community activists.
lot's of young people who aren't liking the looks of the world they are being handed....
they were people who care about what is going on in government and wanting their voices heard by a government that has become deaf to us...the People.

Some of the people were very articulate about what needs to be done to turn things around...and others not so much.
But they all seem to realize that we are hanging on by a thread...
the American Dream has nothing to do with reality.

Oakland 2011

A really good article about the Occupy movement.....
xo

http://www.alternet.org/story/152874/gandhi%E2%80%99s_wings%3A_occupy_wall_street_and_the_redistribution_of_anxiety?page=1

....prayer xo

2011-10-25T18:26:00.000-07:00

Hi dear friends...I apologize for my absence without any explanations to you. One morning I woke up and all I wanted to post about was the state of the world...sad, scary stuff.

One morning I woke up and lot's of things were happening in my personal and art world, including the sudden deaths of two people I cared about deeply.

So I took a break...one I didn't even think about...just needed too

...my brain was on overload

But today is a new day...

and I hope you will come and read, share your thoughts again as I return to sharing mine..

xoxo

julie

and now my first offering in a very long time

hope you like it as much as I do.

Syriac Aramaic Manuscript of the Gospels...

This is a translation of the Lord's Pray from Aramaic....the test was translated from the

O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos,

you create all that moves in light

O Thou! The Breathing Life of all,

Creator of the Shimmering Sound that touches us.

Respiration of all worlds,

we hear you breathing-in and out - in Silence.

Source of Sound: in the roar and the whisper,

in the breeze and the whirlwind,

we hear your Name.

Radiant One: You shine within us,

outside us - even darkness shines - when we remember.

Name of names, our small identity

unravels in you, you give it back as a lesson.

Wordless Action, Silent Potency -

where ears and eyes awaken,

there heaven comes.

O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos!

....we

2011-09-11T17:26:00.000-07:00

“A Brave And Startling Truth”

We, this people, on a small and lonely planet

Traveling through casual space

Past aloof stars, across the way of indifferent suns

To a destination where all signs tell us

It is possible and imperative that we learn

A brave and startling truth

And when we come to it

To the day of peacemaking

When we release our fingers

From fists of hostility

And allow the pure air to cool our palms

We, this people, on this small and drifting planet

Whose hands can strike with such abandon

That in a twinkling, life is sapped from the living

Yet those same hands can touch with such healing, irresistible tenderness

That the haughty neck is happy to bow

And the proud back is glad to bend

Out of such chaos, of such contradiction

We learn that we are neither devils nor divines

When we come to it

We, this people, on this wayward, floating body

Created on this earth, of this earth

Have the power to fashion for this earth

A climate where every man and every woman

Can live freely without sanctimonious piety

Without crippling fear

When we come to it

We must confess that we are the possible

We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world

That is when, and only when

We come to it..

~ Maya Angelou A Brave and Startling Truth

thanks to Coyote Prime and Alex Noble

....from her heart

2011-09-08T18:53:00.000-07:00

A few Fridays ago my daughter Erin and I went to the local elementary/junior high school at lunch time to give the children an opportunity to sign a banner to ask the Japanese government to put a stop to the taking of dolphins for captivity..... to stop the slaughter of the dolphin not pretty enough to perform in marine parks around the world.

Close to 400 children signed...kids love dolphins...see the magic in them...we heard that repeatedly from the little and bigger girls, "ohhh, I love dolphins!"....

Well they need our help.

September 1 was the beginning of this horror at the cove in Tiaji, Japan.

Erin has turned over a lot of her energy to putting an end to the annual 6 month slaughter.

Last Thursday, the day they beginning killing the dolphins in The Cove, she arrived in San Francisco for the peaceful protest she was responsible for putting together in front of the the Japanese Consulate.

The petition some of you may have signed, along with the kid's banner, was put into the hands of the gentleman who came out to receive them.

There was an excellent turn out. Erin worked hard at putting the information out there.

And needless to say I am very proud of her.

From a FB reader....

Hi Erin, I was so touched by some of your posts recently and the heart felt passion you have for protecting life on our planet.

I appreciate the depth of your emotion...

it feels sometimes that we are just "dust in the wind".

I want to share this recent note I posted on my wall just hours ago...it was about a synchrononistic find I happened upon while going through old documents on my computer... It is a bit long but truly valuable information that will help energize you.

Erin, Thank you for your big beautiful wide open loving heart....all earthlings rejoice each time it beats! Be empowered, my friend, because your expanding love is what will save the world...love never fails!!

Dolphin Smiles and Whale Hugs,Lanis

the note

https://www.facebook.com/notes/lanis-loveday-chidel/lifes-journey-the-rules-of-road-13-principles-of-spiritual-activism/236871153023919

.....finding our Tribe

2011-08-25T11:47:00.000-07:00

My totem is the Turtle
I found my Turtle Tribe...postcard from SL

"A Gathering of the Tribe"

by Charles Eisenstein

"Once upon a time a great tribe of people lived in a world far away from ours. Whether far away in space, or in time, or even outside of time, we do not know. They lived in a state of enchantment and joy that few of us today dare to believe could exist, except in those exceptional peak experiences when we glimpse the true potential of life and mind.

One day the shaman of the tribe called a meeting. They gathered around him, and he spoke very solemnly. "My friends," he said, "there is a world that needs our help. It is called Earth, and its fate hangs in the balance. Its humans have reached a critical point in their collective birthing, and they will be stillborn without our help. Who would like to volunteer for a mission to this time and place, and render service to humanity?"

"Tell us more about his mission," they asked.

"I am glad you asked, because it is no small thing. I will put you into a deep, deep trance, so complete that you will forget who you are. You will live a human life, and in the beginning you will completely forget your origins. You will forget even our language and your own true name. You will be separated from the wonder and beauty of our world, and from the love that bathes us all. You will miss it deeply, yet you will not know what it is you are missing. You will only remember the love and beauty that we know to be normal as a longing in your heart. Your memory will take the form of an intuitive knowledge, as you plunge into the painfully marred earth, that a more beautiful world is possible.

"As you grow up in that world, your knowledge will be under constant assault. You will be told in a million ways that a world of destruction, violence, drudgery, anxiety, and degradation is normal. You may go through a time when you are completely alone, with no allies to affirm your knowledge of a more beautiful world. You may plunge into a depth of despair that we, in our world of light, cannot imagine. But no matter what, a spark of knowledge will never leave you. A memory of your true origin will be encoded in your DNA. That spark will lie within you, inextinguishable, until one day it is awakened.

"You see, even though you will feel, for a time, utterly alone, you will not be alone. I will send you assistance, help that you will experience as miraculous, experiences that you will describe as transcendent. For a few moments or hours or days, you will reawaken to the beauty and the joy that is meant to be. You will see it on earth, for even though the planet and its people are deeply wounded, there is beauty there still, projected from past and future onto the present as a promise of what is possible and a reminder of what is real.

"You will also receive help from each other. As you begin to awaken to your mission you will meet others of our tribe. You will recognize them by your common purpose, values, and intuitions, and by the similarity of the paths you have walked. As the condition of the planet earth reaches crisis proportions, your paths will cross more and more. The time of loneliness, the time of thinking you might be crazy, will be over.

"You will find the people of your tribe all over the earth, and become aware of them through the long-distance communication technologies used on that planet. But the real shift, the real quickening, will happen in face-to-face gatherings in special places on earth. When many of you gather together you will launch a new stage on your journey, a journey which, I assure you, will end where it began. Then, the mission that lay unconscious within you will flower into consciousness. Your intuitive rebellion against the world presented you as normal will become an explicit quest to create a more beautiful one.

"In the time of loneliness, you will always be seeking to reassure yourself that you are not crazy. You will do that by telling people all about what is wrong with the world, and you will feel a sense of betrayal when they don't listen to you. You will be hungry for stories of wrongness, atrocity, and ecological destruction, all of which confirm the validity of your intuition that a more beautiful world exists. But after you have fully received the help I will send you, and the quickening of your gatherings, you will no longer need to do that. Because, you will Know. Your energy will thereafter turn toward actively creating that more beautiful world."

A tribeswoman asked the shaman, "How do you know this will work? Are you sure your shamanic powers are great enough to send us on such a journey?"

The shaman replied, "I know it will work because I have done it many times before. Many have already been sent to earth, to live human lives, and to lay the groundwork for the mission you will undertake now. I've been practicing! The only difference now is that many of you will venture there at once. What is new in the time you will live in, is that the Gatherings are beginning to happen."

A tribesman asked, "Is there a danger we will become lost in that world, and never wake up from the shamanic trance? Is there a danger that the despair, the cynicism, the pain of separation will be so great that it will extinguish the spark of hope, the spark of our true selves and origin, and that we will separated from our beloved ones forever?"

The shaman replied, "That is impossible. The more deeply you get lost, the more powerful the help I will send you. You might experience it at the time as a collapse of your personal world, the loss of everything important to you. Later you will recognize the gift within it. We will never abandon you."

Another man asked, "Is it possible that our mission will fail, and that this planet, earth, will perish?"

The shaman replied, "I will answer your question with a paradox. It is impossible that your mission will fail. Yet, its success hangs on your own actions. The fate of the world is in your hands. The key to this paradox lies within you, in the feeling you carry that each of your actions, even your personal, secret struggles within, has cosmic significance. You will know then, as you do now, that everything you do matters. God sees everything."

There were no more questions. The volunteers gathered in a circle, and the shaman went to each one. The last thing each was aware of was the shaman blowing smoke in his face. They entered a deep trance and dreamed themselves into the world where we find ourselves today."

※※※

"Who are these missionaries from the more beautiful world? You and I are surely among them. Where else could this longing come from, for this magical place to be found nowhere on earth, this beautiful time outside of time? It comes from our intuitive knowledge of our origin and destination. The longing, indomitable, will never settle for a world that is less. Against all reason, we look upon the horrors of our age, mounting over the millennia, and we say NO, it does not have to be this way! We know it, because we have been there. We carry in our souls the knowledge that a more beautiful world is possible. Reason says it is impossible; reason says that even to slow -- much less reverse -- the degradation of the planet is an impossible task: politically unfeasible, opposed by the Money Power and its oligarchies. It is true that those powers will fight to uphold the world we have known. Their allies lurk within even ourselves: despair, cynicism, and resignation to carving out a life that is "good enough" for me and mine.

But we of the tribe know better. In the darkest despair a spark of hope lies inextinguishable within us, ready to be fanned into flames at the slightest turn of good news. However compelling the cynicism, a jejune idealism lives within us, always ready to believe, always ready to look upon new possibilities with fresh eyes, surviving despite infinite disappointments. And however resigned we may have felt, our aggrandizement of me and mine is half-hearted, for part of our energy is looking elsewhere, outward toward our true mission.

I would like to advise caution against dividing the world into two types of people, those who are of the tribe and those who are not. How often have you felt like an alien in a world of people who don't get it and don't care? The irony is that nearly everyone feels that way, deep down. When we are young the feeling of mission and the sense of magnificent origins and a magnificent destination is strong. Any career or way of life lived in betrayal of that knowing is painful, and can only be maintained through an inner struggle that shuts down a part of our being. For a time, we can keep ourselves functioning through various kinds of addictions or trivial pleasures to consume the life force and dull the pain. In earlier times, we might have kept the sense of mission and destiny buried for a lifetime, and called that condition maturity. Times are changing now though, as millions of people are awakening to their mission all at the same time. The condition of the planet is waking us up. Another way to put it, is that we are becoming young again.

When you feel that sense of alienation, when you look upon that sea of faces mired so inextricably in the old world and fighting to maintain it, think back to a time when you too were, to all outside appearances, a full and willing participant in that world as well. The same spark of revolution you carried then, the same secret refusal, dwells in all people. How was it that you finally stopped fighting it? How was it that you came to realize that you were right all along, that the world offered to us is wrong, and that no life is worth living that does not in some way strive to create a better one? How was it that it became intolerable to devote your life energy toward the perpetuation of the old world? Most likely, it happened when the old world fell apart around your ears.

As the multiple crises of money, health, energy, ecology, and more converge upon us, the world is going to collapse for millions more. We must stand ready to welcome them into the tribe. We must stand ready to welcome them back home.

The time of loneliness, of walking the path alone, of thinking maybe the world is right and I am wrong for refusing to participate fully in it... that time is over. For years we walked around talking about how wrong everything is: the political system, the educational system, religious institutions, the military-industrial complex, the banking industry, the medical system -- really, any system you study deeply enough. We needed to talk about it because we needed to assure ourselves that we were not, in fact, crazy. We needed as well to talk about alternatives, the way things should be. "We" should eliminate CFCs. "They" should stop cutting down the rain forests. "The government" should declare no fishing zones. This talk, too, was necessary, for it validated our vision of the world that could be: a peaceful and exuberant humanity living in co-creative partnership with a wild garden earth.

The time, though, for talking merely to assure ourselves that we are right is coming to an end. People everywhere are tired of it, tired of attending yet another lecture, organizing yet another discussion group online. We want more. A few weeks ago as I was preparing for a speaking trip to Oregon, the organizers told me, "These people don't need to be told what the problems are. They don't even need to be told what the solutions are. They already know that, and many of them are already in action. What they want is to take their activism to the next level."

To do that, to fully step into one's mission here on earth, one must experience an inner shift that cannot be merely willed upon oneself. It does not normally happen through the gathering or receiving of information, but through various kinds of experiences that reach deep into our unconscious minds. Whenever I am blessed with such an experience, I get the sense that some benevolent yet pitiless power - the shaman in the story - has reached across the void to quicken me, to reorganize my DNA, to rewire my nervous system. I come away changed.

One way it happens is through the "gathering of the tribe" I described in this story. I think many people who attended the recent Reality Sandwich retreat in Utah experienced something like this. Such gatherings are happening now all over the world. You go back, perhaps, to "real life" afterwards, but it no longer seems so real. Your perceptions and priorities change. New possibilities emerge. Instead of feeling stuck in your routines, life changes around you at a vertiginous pace. The unthinkable becomes commonsense and the impossible becomes easy. It may not happen right away, but once the internal shift has occurred, it is inevitable.

Here I am, a speaker and a writer, going on about how the time for mere talk has ended. Yet not all words are mere talk. A spirit can ride the vehicle of words, a spirit that is larger than, yet not separate from, their meaning. Sometimes I find that when I bow into service, that spirit inhabits the space in which I speak and affects all present. A sacredness infuses our conversations and the non-verbal experiences that are becoming part of my events. In the absence of that sacredness, I feel like a smart-ass, up there entertaining people and telling them information they could just as easily read online. Last Friday night I spoke on a panel in New York, one of three smart-asses, and I think many in the audience left disappointed (though maybe not as disappointed as I was in myself). We are looking for something more, and it is finding us.

The revolutionary spark of our true mission has been fanned into flames before, only to return again to an ember. You may remember an acid trip in 1975, a Grateful Dead concert in 1982, a kundalini awakening in 1999 -- an event that, in the midst of it, you knew was real, a privileged glimpse into a future that can actually manifest. Then later, as its reality faded into memory and the inertial routines of life consumed you, you perhaps dismissed it and all such experiences as an excursion from life, a mere "trip." But something in you knows it was real, realer than the routines of normalcy. Today, such experiences are accelerating in frequency even as "normal" falls apart. We are at the beginning of a new phase. Our gatherings are not a substitute for action; they are an initiation into a state of being from which the necessary kinds of actions arise. Soon you will say, with wonder and serenity, "I know what to do, and I trust myself to do it."

- http://www.realitysandwich.com/gathering_tribe

....but we better not tax them...sigh

2011-08-22T22:50:00.000-07:00

this is just wrong...and has been for too long for too many

just a little food for thought.....

The overwhelming majority of the US population is unaware of the vast wealth at hand.
An entire generation of unprecedented wealth creation has been concealed from 99 percent of the population for over 35 years.
Having never personally experienced this wealth, the average American cannot comprehend what is possible if even a fraction of the money was used for the betterment of society. Given modern technology and wealth, American citizens should not be living in poverty.
The statistics demonstrate that we now live in a neo-feudal society. In comparison to the wealthiest one-tenth of one percent of the population, who are sitting on top of tens of trillions of dollars in wealth, we are essentially propagandized peasants.

The fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans are struggling to get by,
while tens of trillion of dollars are consolidated within a small fraction of the population,

is a crime against humanity.

The next time you are stressed out, struggling to make ends meet and pay off your debts, just think about the trillions of dollars sitting in the obscenely bloated pockets of the financial elites. I still cling to the hope that once enough people become aware of this fact,
we can have the non-violent revolution we so urgently need.

Until then, the rich get richer as a critical mass of increasingly dire economic prospects desperately struggles to make ends meet"

for the complete article as well as other important things you may not know about,

but probably should, check out Running 'Caus I Can't Fly

.....love, love xo

2011-08-21T11:54:00.000-07:00

So silly these days...everything that touches my heart makes me cry...

and this does it...when I think of you.

xoxo

....a gem

2011-08-19T02:01:00.000-07:00

my beautiful friend Bettina sends what she calls Gems to me everyday..

.and everyday they resonate....

Want to share this one..

.xoxoxo

Like Attracts Like

Thursday August 18, 2011

The law of opposites attracting may apply in the physical world, but in the spiritual, it’s like attracts like.

Imitating the Creator’s unconditional love for humanity is how you bring love into your life, and create harmony between yourself and other people, and between humanity and the natural world.

On this day of your life, dear friend, I believe God wants you to know...

...that you should never be content with so little when you can reach out for something big.

Charles L. Allen asked a question about that, wondering why so many people settle for so little. You do not have to place yourself among them. The world is an abundant place. Abundant with opportunity, abundant with good fortune, abundant with ideas, and abundant with love.

Reach into that abundance and take what is rightfully yours. It is your inheritance, gifted to you by God. Let yourself have it. Do not fail to reach for it for fear that it will not come to you. How can it come to you if you do not reach for it?

Do not be content with so little. Reach, stretch, for something big.

Love, Your Friend....Neale

.... just some snippets for you

2011-08-15T17:12:00.000-07:00

In the end, it's not going to matter how many breaths you took,

but how many momenst took your breath away...

Isn't life strange?
A turn of the page
A book without light
Unless with love we write
to throw it away
to lose just a day
The quicksand of time
you know it makes me want to cry, cry, cry
...the Moody Blues

"Long you live and high you'll fly and smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry and all you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be." ...Pink Floyd

Boom, boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?
Boom, boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?
Giddy and foolish the whole day through
Boom, boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy?

Bella, you beautiful Luna
Oh Bella, do what you do
Bella Luna, my beautiful beautiful moon
How you swoon me like no other
...jason Mraz

Happiness runs in a circular motion
Thought is like a little boat upon the sea
Everybody is part of everything anyway
You can have everything if you let yourself be
Happiness runs, Happiness runs.
Donovan

Fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars...
let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars...

Beauty, truth, friendship, love, creation..these are the great values in life. We can't prove them, or explain them, yet they are the most stable things in our lives.
....jesse Herman Holmes

My, my, my, let your bright light shine...Rob Thomas

It's true that we don't know what we've got until we lose it, but it's also true that we don't know what we've been missing until it arrives.

....little things

2011-08-13T10:37:00.000-07:00

The Star Thrower

There was a man who was walking along a sandy beach where thousands of

starfish had been washed up on the shore. He noticed a boy picking the

starfish one by one and throwing them back into the ocean. The man observed

the boy for a few minutes and then asked what he was doing. The boy replied

that he was returning the starfish to the sea, otherwise they would die.

The man asked how saving a few, when so many were doomed, would make any

difference whatsoever? The boy picked up a starfish and threw it back into

the ocean and said "Made a difference to that one..."

The man left the boy and went home, deep in thought of what the boy had

said. He soon returned to the beach and spent the rest of the day helping

the boy throw starfish in to the sea....

Loren Eiseley T

....what are we allowing?????

2011-08-12T13:46:00.000-07:00

I had a different post in mind today...and uplifting poem, with a pretty picture.

But this came to me from a friend...changed my day.

I don't want to be sad...

and I don't want to put sad in your life either.

But my God, we should be beyond sad for the state of the world and it's children.

What are we doing?

How can we allow this?

What is going on?

There are a zillion articles and stats about child solders, children who work as slaves, children fending for themselves in the streets worldwide, child sex slaves, children dying of abuse and starvation...horrors...and it's not just There, it's Here.

Yet television news seems to indicate we care more about stars in reality shows than just about anything else. Is that really who we are...? Does television represent who we are?

Every day children suffer things we can't even imagine, yet nothing seems to change.

I don't know answers.

Send money if you can and pray the corrupt governments let it get where it needs to go?

I think it is our voices that need to be heard more than anything...if we care we have to demand change. Don't we?? Do we care?

And I know about charity beginning at home...this planet it home?

Is it is very hard to go about my day because I'm as guilty as the next person.

I watch and say, it's a tragedy, I cry, and do nothing...because I suffer from apathy.

There are days when it is hard to believe that anything will get better...

instead I think it is going to get a whole lot worse.

Everyone seems to be looking the other way

I lay it at the feet of the 'grownups' in the world..

as well as at the feet of world leaders, corporations and banks.

And I wonder would we care more if they were white children?

But this I do know...what befalls one of us, can befall all of us.

And if you look at what is happening here in America, drought, corruption, greed, ignorance, poverty, joblessness, lack of medical care, war machines, rage and fear and complacency .....it seems a very real possibility.

World poverty today: S-S Africa

A child dies every four seconds from HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty often before their fifth birthday. 15 children die every minute. Over 22,000 children die worldwide every single day. About 8 million children die every year. (Source: UNICEF)

More than one billion people do not have access to clean drinking water and water for domestic purposes. Water problems are worse especially in Africa. (source: World vision)

About 4 million newborns die worldwide during their first month of life. About 2.5 million children die every year because they are not immunized. (sources:World Health Organization)

Can you imagine?

......daughter and dolphins of Taiji

2011-08-09T21:26:00.000-07:00

Erin and Ric O'Barry

sign the petition please

My beautiful daughter Erin is an animal rights activist....Not too long ago she and I attended a showing of the

movie The Cove in San Rafael, CA. where she met many of the activist she has only known via the internet.

Including Ric O'Barry founder of Save Japan Dolphins Earth Island Institute. He is also the director of Save Japan Dolphins a campaign conducted by the International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island Institute. The work of O'Barry and the Save Japan Dolphins team were featured in the Oscar winning documentary The Cove as well as in Animal Planets Channels Blood Dolphin$ series..I think Mr. O'Barry feels a deep guilt because he believes that the tv show Flipper is in a large way responsible for the huge attraction captive dolphins have become all over the world. He was Flippers trainer.....the original Flipper died in his arms...he says from depression caused from a life in captivity. These beautiful creatures are meant to live free, swim deep and be with their pod. A healthy, attractive dolphin trapped in the cove will sell for $200,000...and bring millions to places like Marine World. They ones not chosen are slaughtered in the most horrendous and cruel, bloody ways possible....you can hear them crying out in pain and fear in the movie. The mercury laden flesh is then sold to the unsuspecting consumer as tuna.

Erin became involved with the plight of the dolphins about 2 years ago...her goal was to go to japan.this year and stand wittness to the slaughter of the lessor dolphins and the sale of the pretty ones into a life time of captivity. But the meltdown has caused her to change her plans The annual slaughter begins in September...This year my amazing daughter is chairing the peaceful protest on September, 1 in San Francisco where she will present the Japaneses consulate with a petition to stop the killing and the sales of the Taiji dolphins. Her event is being coordinated with the International Day of Awareness for the Dolphins of Taiji Events....It will be held in front of the
General Consulate of Japan
50 Fremont Street #2300
in San Francisco from 1pm-4pm

And I would really be happy if you would
sign the petition...
could you?

and if you live in the Bay Area please join her....
xoxo
tell her I sent you
she would love your support....and so would the dolphins

....your loving is a miracle

2011-08-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

I've been in a place of being close to tears a great percentage of the time....it's recent...last week or so...and it will pass. Not just sad tears, or tears of loss...I thought of our twins the other day and my sweet daughter's pain...... I've cried for joyful things too...friendship, love, sunsets and a fawn I saw in the early morning hours....so many gifts.. I've been in one of those places when the connection with a true kindred spirit can allow me to open because I know they 'get' me....

emotion doesn't scare them....

I've been told all my life that I am just too sensitive...

this mostly from well meaning family members....

as I child I would cry so hard during animal movies

people would leave their seats to come and comfort me...

I'm not that free with where and when I cry now......

many, many people aren't comfortable with displays of emotion.... I spent much of my life trying to numb my too sensitive self....for yearsI tried to drink my feeling away... now sober and wiser I realize how important it is to have safe people and places to let those feelings out....the good stuff and the hard stuff.......

and my emotions have been on display these past few days...

and Saturday night...

oh, Saturday night was so amazingly, lovingly, of the earth, magically.....emotional...

and so safe.

I attended a spoken word performance/art show at one of the local galleries....

it was amazing...and so many friends where there. I so wish I had some of the poetry to share here....they were wonderful enough to publish and share with the world....

.they were about human emotion....love, dying, letting go, making love, time, Buddha, nature, God...

And so spiritual....not surprisingly since so many of the performers were my Positive Living Center family members. The poems that touched me most were about letting go.....letting the river, the wind, move fear and loneliness and sorrow and expectation down and away to where ever the river flows.

My sister/friend Sheyla touched me so deeply that the tears begain to flow almost without notice. She is a minister at PLC...wise and beautiful...and her words went straight to my heart. Our eyes met and she knew. Later, during the intermission, she found me outside, put her hand on my heart and said, 'sweet julie, too tender for the world'...

but she didn't mean it as a fault...but as a gift.... as an understanding....

Love...it is what makes the world go round.

the lovely goddess Claire Blotter...the muse for the event. She is an amazing spoken word performance artist who resides in the Bay Area. This is the 3rd time I've seen her perform.

Artist/friend jon Bock...our host and one of the performers

Sheyla

The cast and artists..

Marie...two of the dancers/models, I apologize for not remembering their names, they are beautiful...Michael, joyce.....

joyce, Sheyla, jon, Claire, Kim, Ed, judy, David behind judy, Franka....

I don't know the man on the end, sorry.

Still high from the night of release and opening I got up Sunday morning and went to The Positive Living Center for a little more connection.

Our quantum physics speaker explained it all in 20 minutes...the power we have. The energy that flows between us. He spoke of the power of our thoughts and how when we come together with the same goals and project them with laser sharpened intensity things can't help but manifest. He pointed out how time and time again scientist have tried to prove that we don't have this energy flowing between us and around us, and how time and time again they can't.

We have truly wonderful musicians show up at our Sunday gatherings and today one of the songs was

'How Could Anyone?'

As joe sang and played his guitar we were asked to sing along and direct the words to the person sitting next to us.

Not being a singer, I decided to just take the hand of the woman sitting next to me...someone fairly new to plc, I don't know her well...but as our eyes met, her face changed and I could see that she was also holding back tears that need to be shed....

and I realized once again how important honest, heartfelt connection is to us all...

and how rarely we chance letting it happen.....indeed, even fight it....

What is that about anyway?

....believe

2011-08-05T08:32:00.000-07:00

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.
Thomas Jefferson

It's difficult to believe that people are still starving in this country
because food isn't available.
Ronald Reagan

It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.

Henry Ford

As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.
Voltaire

I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpation.
james Madison

I can not believe that war is the best solution. No one won the last war, and no one will win the next war.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable - a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.
Abraham Lincoln

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.
johann Wolfgang von Goethe

....xo

2011-08-02T21:35:00.000-07:00

...there is something that wants to love against all odds

....a second life?

2011-07-31T22:45:00.000-07:00

I did something I told myself I wouldn't do..
I allowed a friend to entice me to join Second Life

that's me at the empty church...it really was beautiful...the angel was amazing...

For those of you who don't know about Second Life
and I wouldn't have if I didn't visit Alex Nobles wonderful sites to read her really, really excellent and thought provoking writing....spiritual and otherwise...
she often uses "postcards" from her travels through Second Life...
between what I've seen there and my friend's encouragement
I decided to check it out myself.

this was fun, you know I love to dance....he sync'd us

Second Life has a zillion member created virtual worlds,
with 40,000 or so members traveling through those worlds....
I've only seen a few.

I've teleported to a meditation garden where a BIG Teddy Bear seemed to be in deep meditation...a church, not a soul around.....a couple of dance clubs..Machu Picchu, drum circles, clothing stores and bookstores, coffee houses.....a fairy crossing where I left my avatar to sleep for the night and found her the next night stripped of her clothes??
.....all but the dance clubs were virtually empty.

meditation garden

Creativity abounds and at the moment that is my fascination....the creativity and the wonderment that people spend hours and hours and hours creating, and living in their second lives...

The Fun
When you arrive in Second Life you get to create your avatar...
the being who will live your second life..
You get a basic model and get to redo everything, eyebrows and eye color, lips and nose size, you can be a My Little Pony or a Teddy Bear, pretty much anything you can imagine. You can lift and shape your breasts, your butt and mold your hips, flatten your tummy, lengthen or shorten your legs, arms and neck, choose your foot size, choose the style and color of your hair....or from what I can gather you can buy a 'skin' and turn yourself into a very sexy Barbie doll....it seems to be 'the look', but of course I want my own look so
one of my daughters and I created my avatar and it was quite entertaining...
endless combos and possibilities.
There seems to be no way to make yourself old...lol

...that's me in another incarnation...the hair and skirt move as though it's real...only better.

When you arrive in Second Life and are given a limited number of things, but you can shop.
So the first thing I did after trying to learn to walk
.(harder than you might think..dancing is much simpler, as is flying. I still have the newbie 'duck walk'....not sure how you get rid of it)
was to look for stores with free clothes...
You can buy clothes and people do use real money to buy a virtual wardrobe as well as land and homes and the things to make them livable....

All you have to do is push a button to 'teleport'' your avatar to a store or any location...
Unfortunately once she lands she has to walk.....I've walked her into walls and through walls, off of bridges and into ponds, off of cliffs.....she can fly...but flying presents landing issues...
She's landed in the ocean, flat on her face and butt first on another avatars head...
if he noticed he didn't make an issue of it...lol.
It seems opportunities to embarrass my avatar abound and there is judgement there just like in the real world.

I landed here unexpectedly....is the Universe giving me a message??

But back to shopping.....just teleport to a store.... click what you like and it goes straight to the closet or if you choose onto the avatar......for this woman who loved to play dress-up as a child, this part of Second Life is fun.

and look at this invitation....

'Afterhours at the Fitzgerald subscrib o matic' has sent you a message from Second Life:
BEATLES ENCORE @ AFTERHOURS AT THE FITZGERALD 8-10PM SLT!!!
Our SEXY DJ BRIDGIT is doing a Beatles Encore. The timeless, well-known music that we all love and brings back such wonderful memories. Put on your finest formal wear and come join us for this great event beginning at 8pm SLT until who knows when Bridgit will stop! The limo is running and just waiting for you to slide in for a trip to a fabulous evening with loved ones, friends, and maybe even enemies!

Now tell me that isn't tempting?...dancing the night away to the Beatles....?
but I would have to shop for a gown....

I think I found the end of the earth..

.However, fun or not, Second Life is a real life time sucker, complicated for someone like me who has trouble with my Face Book page...
it also feels a little lonely...
my friend hasn't been there since I joined...
Second Life also feels a little sad........
but it is a curiosity...

and I feel the draw to investigate it a little more...
I'll send postcards.
xo

.....soul sister

2011-07-31T22:12:00.000-07:00

Sister Wind

Brother Soul

Sister Soul

Brother Wind

Where do you come from?

Where do you live?

And where do you go from here?

I can hear you Sister

I can feel you Brother

..but grasping....

you can't be held....

pasesi paeses

...happy, happy, joy, joy

2011-07-27T11:35:00.000-07:00

Happy is having someone buy a Spirit Figure….a call from Timberline saying, “one of your dolls just sold to a….” Joy is when I am actually part of the experience…when I am there to connect with the person who has connected to one of my figures…..

Joy and happiness are different.

Happy can be faked….I often put on a happy face to go out into the world…and I suppose that is a good and acceptable thing to do. Art shows and social events are an example of putting on a happy face. Art shows can be hard, and I’m basically a hermit so social events can leave me drained. But I’ve also discovered a time with my happy face on can lead to happy. A rewarding experience…faking it can lead to real moments of happiness.

But joy, joy is different. For me it is a full body thing.
Not too very long ago I visited Yosemite Park….We went to Glacier Point….maybe you’ve been there?

It is one of those places that brings me to tears, makes me shake a little…
I can feel Spirit from my nose to my toes.
It brings me to a place of joy even as it makes me feel so small, insignificant in my petty worries and fears,moments of loneliness….it is a release.
And somehow it is a filling up with love...joy…an invisible connection to all that is….A recognition that we are all in this together….humans seeking connection…it is connection that brings me joy.

Joy is the connections with others on this crazy ride..
It is when the shield between us comes down.

Isn't it what we are all seeking, rather or not we put it into words?
Those moments when we look into each others eyes and see that they really see us? And we can see them? When the soul shines through and you know you are not alone. When you feel that trust and love of knowing we have shared experiences of life and love. When you know for however briefly that they have experienced the same hopes, dreams and fears, joy and sadness? The times when we know we are more alike than separate?
When you feel each others hearts?
Trust and believe.
See their truth.

Lately I’ve been doing a little experiment…I’ve been looking into peoples eyes….when I walk down the street I try to make eye contact….it’s been interesting….Some people will look away quickly…if feels almost fearful. Some people will look but not acknowledge any change…but then there are those people who will nod or smile and there is that momentary connect…’hey, fellow human, what a journey, huh?’….
it is a little moment of joy that almost makes me skip…

And this is part of the experiment too…I’ve started to really look at those people who serve me when I go about my day. The ones that are often invisible to me.....he cashiers and waitresses, the clerks and the service people…I've been looking in their eyes and really asking, “How are you today?”
It’s leading to some really interesting conversations…people want to share....and I'm finding some of these people aren't at all who I thought they were.

You might ask why this experiment? Well it is interesting, and for someone as curious about so much it engages me.
But on a bigger scale it is connection that I see so absent in the world.
In my view we have become a world of US and Them and until this changes there will be no peace on earth….I need to start seeing the humanity in others…having those heart to heart, eye to eye moments more often…
it brings joy. little joys can fill me up....Make it easier to find my happy face.

....flash mob

2011-07-20T23:07:00.000-07:00

I belong to a group of four...

we are all artists...

digital collage

mixed media collage

fiber artist

and me

mixed media fiber artist

We are planning to do a four woman show next year...

We are meeting on a regular basis to explore different ways to promote ourselves and the amazing number of really phenomenal artists here in the foothills near

Yosemite National Park

There are more of us here per capita than anywhere else in California.

We've tossed around many ideas...

and decided our first event will be a Flash Mob...

all artists and art lovers are welcome and wanted....

So please mark your calendar

come and support the arts.

You'll have a good time and so will we.

No telling who might show up to take your photo, paint your portrait, dance, play a flute, ask you to model.

and there will be food!!

See you there??

Gallery Row

north of Oakhurst on Hwy 41

....a man??

2011-07-19T22:03:00.000-07:00

A real woman always keeps her house clean and organized,

the laundry basket is always empty.

She's always well dressed, hair done.

She never swears, and behaves gracefully in all situations and all circumstances.

She has more than enough patience to take care of her family,

always has a smile on her lips, and a kind word for everyone.

Post this as your status if you too,

have just realized that you might be a man....

from FB

I'm sorry, so sorry, please accept my apology....

2011-07-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

I had to make an apology yesterday...

What made the apology particularly important is that I had hurt someones feelings...

it wasn't what I had said, it was my attitude, it was a lack of grace on my part....
preoccupied with my own thoughts and feelings, I displayed annoyance at the uninvited interruption.

and it caused the person I hurt to flee..

I had time to think about how I'd behaved while I waited for my opportunity to say,

"I'm so very sorry''

I know enough not to do the 'I'm sorry but," apology, but I was curious about what makes an apology a chance for growth...... what's a good apology made of...?

I found rules...
apology rules...there is an apology website...
where I found the following..

a proper apology should always include the following
..A detailed account of the situation
..acknowledgement of the hurt or damage done
..taking responsibility for the situation
..recognition of your role in the event
..a statement of regret
...asking for forgiveness
..a promise that it won't happen again
..a for of restitution whenever possible..

and some quotes

A stiff apology is a second insult. The injured party does not want to be compensated because he has been wronged; he wants to be healed because he has been hurt.

~G.K. Chesterton\

Never ruin an apology with an excuse.

~Kimberly Johnson.

It takes a great deal of character strength to apologize quickly out of one's heart rather than out of pity. A person must possess himself and have a deep sense of security in fundamental principles and values in order to genuinely apologize.

~Walt Whitman

A good apology is like antibiotic, a bad apology is like rubbing salt in the wound.

-Randy Pausch

and when my opportunity to make amends for my thoughtlessness came, I covered all the rules...and we both felt better....
closer
a sweeter kind of close as I listened to their expression of the experience...
and they knew I cared.
amazing how some rules work sometimes
lol

Apology is a lovely perfume; it can transform the clumsiest moment into a gracious gift.

~Margaret Lee Runbeck

...love as the sum

2011-07-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

Maybe that’s what it all comes down to….
love, not as a surge of passion,

but as a choice to commit to something, someone,
no matter what obstacles or temptations stand in the way….

and maybe making that choice again and again, day in and day out,

year to year, says more about love than never having a choice to make at all…

Love is the sum of our chooices, the strength of our commitments,

the ties that bind us together…

Emily Griffin

....prayer

2011-07-17T19:02:00.000-07:00

she lost the boundaries between herself and the prayer.....

mixing together they became the same thing....
rather than confusing her,

it changed her and she was never the same again.

terri st. cloud

be still.....

2011-07-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

be silent

no language

be still

no movement

sister friend

bother friend

arms at sides

silent
still

listen

put down your weapons

words and guns

wash your hands

still

silent
death
stop

be done

stop silent still

sesi paes

.....we are the possible

2011-07-14T11:30:00.000-07:00

“A Brave And Startling Truth”

“We, this people, on a small and lonely planet
Traveling through casual space
Past aloof stars, across the way of indifferent suns
To a destination where all signs tell us
It is possible and imperative that we learn
A brave and startling truth
And when we come to it
To the day of peacemaking
When we release our fingers
From fists of hostility
And allow the pure air to cool our palms

We, this people, on this small and drifting planet
Whose hands can strike with such abandon
That in a twinkling, life is sapped from the living
Yet those same hands can touch with such healing, irresistible tenderness
That the haughty neck is happy to bow
And the proud back is glad to bend
Out of such chaos, of such contradiction
We learn that we are neither devils nor divines

When we come to it
We, this people, on this wayward, floating body
Created on this earth, of this earth
Have the power to fashion for this earth
A climate where every man and every woman
Can live freely without sanctimonious piety
Without crippling fear

When we come to it
We must confess that we are the possible
We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world
That is when, and only when
We come to it.”

Maya Angelou
“A Brave and Startling Truth”

....listen to Her heartbeat

2011-07-13T10:34:00.000-07:00

from my sister friend Angela at

A note from your Mother

...rumi, the moon and me

2011-07-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

At night, I open the window and ask the moon to come and press its face against mine.

Breathe into me

Close the language door and open the love window.

The moon won't use the door, only the window...

Rumi