I haven't blogged in weeks, I haven't written poetry in months and months. I'm a day behind in celebrating April Fool's Day....but I'm celebrating.

The journey of the Tarot begins, or perhaps ends, with the Fool---the zero. The Herbal Tarot deck is still my favorite out of the several that I own. The Fool in this deck is positive, moving forward, smelling a rose while she walks to the edge of the precipice, her sacred bundle flung on her back, a ray of sunshine illuminating her face.

Starting with the Fool, I plan, again, to work through the entire Tarot deck, card by card.
Certainly not daily, but step by step to the precipice.

Because I haven't been writing I've wondered whether to continue here or whether to continue writing at all. But then, I receive an e-mail from a reader who tells me that she keeps a copy of one of my poems in a special box, coupled with a photograph she took. That alone will keep me continuing on this writing quest...even if currently the muse is quiet. The Fool must be a sort of ShapeShifter....

ID: 1163351   (Rated: E) ShapeShifter  a poem for my 55th birthday--10/31/06--Happy B'day to me! by ridinghhood--new knees

Tomorrow I plan on attending a seminar on Centering Prayer...just another step in the Fool's journey.

What I suspect, and what the Fool is whispering to me...is that I have been far too serious, and too adult. Whimsy, fantasy, the mystical, the mysterious....they are what I need to carry in my bundle...and they are IMPORTANT....but perhaps, not serious.

A Happy Belated Fool's Day!
 

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I am still healing.....my left hand gets better, slowly, day by day---and I'm slowly, but surely recuperating from a cold that turned into bronchitis.

From time to time I reconsider what I'm doing on this writing site----feeling often uninspired and uncreative. Then I check my blog stats and see I've had over 3,000 views....not staggering...but impressive none-the-less...at least to me.

Or like today...someone comments on a piece of poetry I'd forgotten about.....and I do an edit...and think about using some writing in a new way.

And so decide to stay....

I took an extra vacation day from work---and the last day off before I return---I have a nasty little head cold. Interesting that I pulled the medicine wheel---need good juju and medicine---and the slippery elm bark that's the plant associated with this card.

This is the 10th card of the Tarot---more commonly known as the wheel of fortune---the title of my blog!

As it is the 1st day of Lent, I also see the symbolism of the turning wheel, the start of a pilgrimage, a journey through these 40 days of Lent culminating in the defining moment of Christianity---Christ's resurrection.

To honor the Lenten season over the past few years---I've used it as a time to abstain from foods I overinduge in and find hard to resist---breads and sweets. This year instead of a particular abstinence I'm going to instead make a committment to begin my exercise program again--daily for the next 40 days. I do the most simplest version of Oxycise---but have been away from the program for some time. I need the exercise and deep breathing now to help my post-fracture hand to heal and to generally begin feeling better. Also, at the end of March my employer is beginning a corporate-wide weight-loss challenge and I've signed up to participate.

I'm also planning to begin incorporating water aerobics into my exercise regime.

We'll see as we travel the ever-turning wheel....
 

Today, I am feeling strong, centered, and energized. And I pulled the Strength card!

The Roerig Tarot I've been pulling from depicts this with a regal lion and a beautiful, ecstatic woman...this is strength that comes from the overpowering force of love....and I am reminded of the beautiful words that Elizabeth Alexander wrote for Obama's inaugural.

President Obama came to SW Florida today to speak of his economic recovery plan and to hold a town meeting. It is wonderful to listen to a President that can string a coherent thought together...and I suppport his programs and initiatives.

The lion in today's strength card is surely synchronistic----following last night's glorious full Leo moon. David and I were both off from work yesterday...and took the time to take the convertible and visit Ft. Myers Beach----it was renewing and a mini-vacation for both of us. Because I am an old. wylde, mermaid I bought some inexpensive mermaid curios at an antique store on the beach. They are my humble offerings to Yemaya---great Mother of the Sea..

My mermaid sister Fran--has requested a Valentine poem....so here you are, Fran, dear...may the force be with you!

A Valentine for Fran

She could have become a saint
but liked the streets too well
so became a born-again Bodhissatva
claiming that even hell has borders
and even you will reach them.


Valentine's Blessings!
 

My damn purple cast came off on Tuesday last! I am left with some pain and much stiffness---I was surprised by this---but after googling the prognosis for a colles fracture---this is not uncommon. I'm supposed to get therapy 2X a week for 6 weeks---but at $40.00 a copay per session, I don't see that happening. I've been given a home exercise program and will work with that, time I think, and Reiki will be the great healers. The day after the cast came off it was warm enough to go to the pool---that seems really beneficial----but it has been too cool for that this week-end. Hope it warms up soon! I'm certain that floating in the Gulf would be healing, too,
but I don't see that happening at least till April!

The Two of Cups is today's card....love, goodness, and prosperity. Recently finished reading Jack Kornfield's newest book on Buddhist psychology...he makes a wonderful statement about prosperity...challenging the "New Age" faddists ...ala "The Secret"...that prosperity is chiefly about material riches. Kornfield asserts that prosperity and abundance are what we are surrounded by now...the goodness and fullness of human existence...that becoming quiet and still helps us to recognize the bounty we have already present in this moment. I believe Jesus was always saying about the same thing.

Jack Kornfield also clarified for me the Buddhist concept of "egolessness"...something that this Western mind could never grasp. His point is that as we grow and mature we certainly must develop a strong, central core, an ego...but that in human development this is not an endpoint.
There is a greater capacity within human beings, something that all spiritual traditions point toward, of recognizing our oneness, our connectedness to each other , the cosmos, the Atman, the Godhead, Christ Conciousness.

I've also recently finished reading The Accidental Santera...a novel about a modern woman,a scientist's journey back to her roots and embracing her familial religion of Santeria. It is a wonderful account of the intricacies of that religion and clears much of the bias and superstition that surrounds Santeria. Though I don't intend to ever practice Santeria or Voudun, I am intrigued by their panoply of saints and deities, and feel connected to Yemaya....an association with the Great Mother of the World. Santeria and Voudun deal with archetypal energies and are not the crazed, superstition-filled, simplistic religions that they have been portrayed as.

There is mystery and depth, I believe, at the heart of most of the world's religions. Not sure about Scientology, though. I guess I'm just more in tune with saints, and herbs, seashells and crystals, crosses and roses, than E-meters!

As Steven Colbert sang in his post-modern Christmas carol...."there are worse things to believe in".....Blessings!

 

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Kåre Enga i Sverige 30.mai says I should write a poem about my damn purple cast------two weeks left in it---need to think about that!

When it's gone and I'm two-fisted again I'm going to make SEED BOMBS!

google it or look it up on wikipedia

http://www.lizchristygarden.org/lcbh_files/seed_bomb.html


It's such a lovely idea!

People in our neighborhood took the time to transform a bare patch of dirt into a flowering beauty--while that's not the same as SEED BOMBS----the general idea is there....

happy guerrilla gardening!

I thought for a while that I would work with the images of the queens in the tarot deck---yesterday drawing the queen of wands.

The moon is moving toward full--waxing gibbous--97%full----a time for the watery and intuitive queen of cups.

I have been thinking, though, as I move further into cronehood----that my rapport is not as intense with the full moon as it was when I was younger.

I now longer have the rushing menstrual tides that would monthly flood my bodily tissues----I am more sere, less expansive, more contracted. I feel more of a kinship these days with the tiniest sliver of the new moon...or the last slice of the waning moon.

I no longer believe that everything is possible....but that one must now narrow one's choices to the best and most desired....time in this body isn't limitless...though perhaps the spirit is.

I am learning to be content within the tiniest slice of time....which often is all there is these days.

I need to be the change I would like to see in the world....and for my present job situation...perhaps that means creating a culture of kindness amidst a corporate culture that values profit above all.

I won't be wishing under the coming full moon....instead to be content with being...and what is....

Blessings!
 

The queen of wands in the Rohrig Tarot resembles the author of one of my favorite blogs http://www.perfumeposse.com---beautifully brunette and wearing red lipstick.

The blog is a guilty pleasure----wonderful prose about fripperies like perfume and make-up.....interspersed with jewels of insight about life, love, and G-d.

http://www.hebrew4christians

Because I'm on a financial diet and trying to avoid unneeded spending I've had to curtail my buying of extravagant perfume samples from the site-----but I remain sorely tempted.

On the tarot card are the words SELF-KNOWLEDGE, SYMPATHY, CHANGE....


teach us to care and not to care Teach us to sit still....from T.S. Eliot's Ash Wednesday............my meditation for today


My tiny tarot book tells me the queen of wands is telling me to believe in myself and not be afraid to take the lead and that dealings with authority figures go well.

Yesteday at work I sat down with my Executive Director and stated the missgivings I have about my immediate supevisor...nothing substantial occurred....but at least my feelings are on the table.

The card recommends to write letters, make calls, send faxes and that answers arrive when you talk things out with friends.

The current job market here, even for nursing, is thin. But yesterday while my husband was doing a catering delivery he ran into a former co-worker of mine from the job I resigned in June. She resigned 2 weeks later. She has been thinking about me and may have a potential job offer. Nothing definite....but even whispers are nice. E-mailed my resume this morning.

I'm not working today...enjoying the sun at my back while I write...will probably do some minor errands...and will roast a perfect chicken.

Tomorrow is grandson Jase's 4th birthday---and we will be celebrating at Chuck E Cheese.

2 1/2 weeks left for this damn purple cast!

I'm going to put on red lipstick and a spray of expensive perfume!

Blessings!


 

I finished reading The Shack this morning. It is a quick, easy read-----but it contains a theology of love, hope, and inclusion that is both simple and profound. It is less about Christianity with a capital "C"-----than about living in relationship with God ---and how that might look.

It is about going beyond our limited human constructs of right and wrong, good and evil, political systems and idealogies.....it's a good read and provides much for thought....there's even a bit of quantum physics thrown in...fractals, concepts of time.


...a gospel of inclusion....
 

This tarot card is traditionally represented as the Pope---the symbol of authority, dogma, and the exoteric aspects of formalized religion.

Pope Benedict this Christmas unfortunately railed against gay, transgendered people in his Christmas message. And I am supremely disappointed that Barack Obama has chosen Rick Warren to deliver the benediction at his inaugural. He may like and respect Pastor Warren, but this is a man who is anti-gay, and a fundamentalist to boot----smells like a political cop-out to me.

I'd prefer he have chosen someone like Bishop Carlton Pearson who preaches a gospel of inclusion or even Bishop Vashti Mackenzie Murphy.....or Rev. Sara Miles-----Rick Warren is such a cop-out choice!

In many circles it is believed that Peter as the first Pope was called to carry the tradition of the formal, rigid, exoteric teachings of Christ and the Church. But there exist believers that the more mystical, esoteric teachings were entrusted to John, and represent the inner teachings of Christianity. You can search the web for Johannine Christianity and find some interesting philosophies.

I've just begun reading "The Shack"----and it will be interesting to see what this book has to say about God.

A gospel of inclusion.....

Blessings