A Bright Spirit Passes -

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/news-leader/obituary.aspx?n=ramona-sue-colvard&pid=146242926&sms_ss=favorites&at_xt=4cca180633a32281,0

While I am truly sad that my aunt has passed, I am grateful she is no longer in the pain she endured for the past 4-5 years.

The family struggled with the life support option, but in the end she was sound of mind to make clear she wanted none of that.. she was ready to go on her terms.

She will be greatly missed!! She touched so many lives, including mine.
She had devoted her life to God, and was truly devoted to living her convictions. She was always a kind ear and was always willing to share her views, but would never force them on you..

For as long as I can remember she loved playing music, the piano, and singing. Her and Bob (her husband of 50+ years) made several recordings than I recall.

One that kept running through my mind at the funeral goes , I don't know the title, "Little boy in the field why do you cry, can't you hear your mother say, I'll see you again someday". Then I heard them queue up "wind beneath my wings". That's when the fountains turned on in my eyes. :)

The graveside service was spectacular as well. We let balloons soar on the wind (I know, not enviromental but...). ..

One thing this also brings to mind is how, no matter what spirituality you practice, the idea that the spirit lives on is often shared between them... Something to reflect on this Samhain

Reality: Destiny or Perception

here is a poem I wrote while we were camping this week.. Hope ya'll enjoy it

Red, Yellow, Brown, Green

The color of the leaves raining down

Cool nights, warm sunny days

A kiss of warm wind, sun at my back

Fall is upon us, but what is fall?

It sounds so daunting

Impending death or promise of renewed life, come spring?

Squirrels frantically gathering food for winter.

Is winter something to dread?

Or is winter perhaps a time for reflection?

A look at the past for lessons learned and a look to the future, planning.

Is the glass half empty or half full?

What is reality?

Are we just a cog in evolution, tied to a preplanned

destiny?

Or is our reality our perception?

Something we can change at will?

Isn’t that the very definition of magic?

Are we responsible only to ourselves?

Or are we also responsible to our global community?

How do we help others to heal when we ourselves are hurting?

What if we don’t come together as a community?

What will happen to Gaia?

Will humans become the next “endangered species”?

We are inseparable.

We are Gaia and Gaia is part of us.

What we do to her we ultimately do to ourselves

Place of Power (Remember)

Here's another poem I wrote at VWC this year


Green trees
majestic mountains
the clouds
darling some places
while letting sun through to others
more of the latter, blue sky
The whisper of the wind, her breath
the rain her tears
a mountain stream her healing waters
The sun

And through these images we see our lives
more light than dark
more joy than pain
more hope than desperation

But we can also hear her cry
a cry for help, Listen

Her breath speaks of oxygen depletion
her streams of mercury poisoning
why are we so careless, do we not care?
Do we not see we are killing ourselfs and our children?

magic is all around us, everyday, everywhere we look.
Awake before it's too late!! Remember!!

Chant

Behold there is magic all around us
Behold there is magic all around us
Behold there is magic all around us

Awaken, Rejoice and Sing!!

HuckleFaery Video

HuckleFaery and I met at VWC this year, and already he is a close friend. The Hagalaz group we were in was close knit and there was a lot of magic there. Very transformative for sure.

This video is very awesome advice no matter what hostile environment you may find yourself in.

It's nice to see people out there that can be true to their beliefs regardless of where they find themselves.

I know a lot of what I call "sabbat pagans" or "sunday christians" (ie. those who only follow tradition during those times).

That is not the impression I get of Huckle.

Here's to continued strength to make it through any dark times you maybe facing.

Love & Light,

Don

Love is the answer

Love is the answer
Sounds cliché doesn't it?

But when you stop to think about it, here are some of the things we say/think on a semi-regular basis

In perfect love and perfect trust
Unconditional love
Peace is the way

Lets take a look at each one

In perfect love and perfect trust -- what does it mean? How can anything be "perfect"? What baseline do
we use to determine "perfect". Is it simply an ideology? I feel that the word perfect here would better be replaced with unconditional.. Then it takes on somewhat tangible meaning, clarity if you will.

Unconditional love -- now this one is given lots of spin but, in reality, it's just been that. We talk about people who have "unconditional love" for one another, though we usually find that they have taken a vow to "forsake all others" and are expected to live by some moral rules that someone else has made for them, usually the church, but sometimes one's culture. So how is this Unconditional love? It's not.. It's basically saying I love you as long as you do/don't do whatever prescribed thing is being discussed. Not that boundaries are "bad" but this shouldn't be considered unconditional..

Peace is the way -- This one gets a lot of play as well. But the world really doesn't want peace, not really, there's no money in it…

If we really wanted peace then would we be taught hate? Think about it… We are taught to hate other cultures,
hate other people, hate our bodies, hate hate hate!!! There's no peace in that… only bloody war..

If we really want peace then we've got to wipe away the hate and promote love, in all it's forms. We've got to get the state and the church out of our collective pants. Is this to say that sex is the way to peace.. Not in and of itself.

What I am saying is that we should be free to love one another, be it sexually or otherwise, this is how communities are formed. This is how things have been in the past and how, I feel, things will need to be in the future if we plan to survive after the system crashes.

I think industrialization, globalization, the interstate highway system, etc are what put an end to a lot of community.. If you follow the sustainable, local, CSA movements you can get a picture of "how it use to be" and what , I feel, we need to get back to.

To be fair, most of us aren't aware of all this. We've been prone to our inculturation.. Which basically says, we are individuals, it's everyone for themselves, consumerism, follow archaic moral codes.. etc

So imagine the surprise when we discover something different!! Very eye-opening, very refreshing..

I'll end this entry with a few quotes I find inspiring. These were taken from the book "Polyamory in the 21st century - love and intimacy with multiple partners"


ZEGG Community

"At ZEGG, free love is considered an essential step toward a new culture of peace, partnership, and sustainability." Their belief is that the only way to a free society is to create a world where love is freed.


Samuel Widmer

"We are lovers. Our guru, whom we serve, is the power of love. We are no longer in competitive relationship with each other, we have envy and jealously behind us. We have learned to rejoice in the happiness and success of others. That is why love and intimacy between us is possible, a common flowering, in which we share all the happiness and love together. Those of us who have become a vessel of love are kings and queens. Because they are the love, they are our gurus, our teachers."

Dane Rudhyar

"What is needed now … is a new type of group relationship in which the individual ego-patterns, and the conjugal tensions can be absorbed, smoothed out and harmonized by a sense of common dedication to a vital social-cutural and spiritual purpose -- a transforming purpose. What is needed is a group of a few adults, perhaps from four to ten, which can provide a varied and loving, but not possessive and complex-ridden environment in which children may grow up in multiple interplay … The seed group should not be conceived in terms of 'hedonistic' purpose -- ie, for the sake of pleasure and comfort -- but rather in terms of what I would call a heroic determination to help create a new type of social consciousness based on an open, unpossessive and polyvalent love."

John Lennon - Mind games

We're playing those mind games together,
Pushing barriers, planting seeds,
Playing the mind guerilla,
Chanting the Mantra peace on earth,
We all been playing mind games forever,
Some kinda druid dudes lifting the veil.
Doing the mind guerilla,
Some call it the search for the grail,
Love is the answer and you know that for sure,
Love is flower you got to let it, you got to let it grow,
So keep on playing those mind games together,
Faith in the future outta the now,
You just can't beat on those mind guerillas,
Absolute elsewhere in the stones of your mind,
Yeah we're playing those mind games forever,
Projecting our images in space and in time,
Yes is the answer and you know that for sure,
Yes is the surrender you got to let it, you got to let it go,
So keep on playing those mind games together,
Doing the ritual dance inn the sun,
Millions of mind guerrillas,
Putting their soul power to the karmic wheel,
Keep on playing those mind games forever,
Raising the spirit of peace and love, not war,
(I want you to make love, not war, I know you've heard it before)

Music is dance for the soul

Music is dance for the soul

ok so most of us are moved by some form of music. But what about the music moves us?
Is it the words? the rhythm? or is it something else entirely?

when you hear a song for the first time, what do you hear? How about on subsequent listens?

How do you feel? Does this also change? Say once you know the words and the beat? or depending on the mood you're in? or the setting?

Is music just background noise to you? or do you connect/believe in a deeper meaning? Do you find yourself trancing when your listening?

Personally I find I am most moved by music I can relate to on some level. Typically music that is both aesthetically and lyrically pleasing and conveys some matter of my beliefs on whatever subject/level.

Typically that means Pink Floyd. :) David Gilmour is both an excellent lyricist and guitar god. His word put together with his "singing and flying" solos can take me on a round trip from depressed to joy…
I often find myself trancing out to them. Inner journeys. This is the music I listen to when I want to relax at the end of the day.

One thing I find about music is there is something new I experience each time I listen. I typically hear a song rhythm the first time, then listen again for the words, then decide if I like it enough to listen again and try to put meaning to it. sometimes I get to stage two and just enjoy it for a while. Maybe get the meaning over time.. savor it.

Mood and setting absolutely has to do with how I feel about a song or music in general. If I'm pissed I might want the music loud and unruly (Pantera), or muted and calming (some Floyd). On the other hand if I'm meditating or doing magic or spiritual work I might want Anugama. I typically don't like songs I know well that have word when I'm doing this kind of work.. because I end up singing instead of trancing..

Music can be background.. as in the setting above… but it is a major part of my life. I can't play or read mind you.. but I love to listen..

So to me music is dance for the soul.. anything than can so radically change my mood or thoughts is powerful.. and welcome

But then again.. I'm crazy!!

we are stardust we are golden and we got to get ourselves back to the garden

The words we Speak become the house we Live in.. Ahh!!

But what does this mean? How does it apply to our lives, our world, our spirituality?

The words we Speak become the house we Live in..

Thoughts and actions..

When we reflect on this phrase we see that speech is, quite literally, our "inner-face" between our thoughts
and actions. "The house we live in" then represents our perceived reality. This reality is also how others perceive us, as in the phrase "walking your talk".

With all the issues we, as a world community face today, it is difficult to keep a Positive attitude. It's to easy to feel hopeless and start that downward spiral into negative self-talk.. to the point of depression, hopelessness, and beyond. I speak from experience!! While I still struggle with this (old habits die hard), I am working to recover.

Witchcamp this year was a true eye opener to me. I had lost most of my trust in people and hope for the situations we face as a planet. I took "The Bardic path" at camp. I've go to be honest, I was scared shitless to take this path. I'm not a person who is comfortable around people nor do I like to share my work/views with others, mostly because I've kept myself so closed off from the world, I was tired of being hurt. I knew Alphonsus was one of the path leaders and so I took a chance. I'm so glad I did!! The work we did was so profound. It was nothing I'd consider esoteric, but it was not you're typically daily thought patterns either. I come away with the feeling that words are indeed important, as is silence, and play as important as work..to get at what really matters.

So was it coincidence then,that I was part of the Hagalaz rune group? I knew change was imminent and though "oh shit!! Just what I need, more chaos in my life". Again, it turns out it was change for good..

I had an epiphany: Love IS the answer and Music is the dance of the Soul.

Yet again, Something so simple but so isolated in thought and action today.

I've lots more to write but I'll end with a quote from by FM Esfandiary

"The single individual who is relatively free of imprinting can function with versatility, freedom, and autonomy, and can begin to express a new kind of commitment - commitment not to a specific individual, not to an attachment figure, but to a much greater environment. If it is possible for us to identify with and be committed to a specific person or group, it ought to become possible for us to reprogram so that we can begin to identify with and be committed to ALL HUMANITY!! If we can transcend imprinting, it is possible to empathize with everybody… Individuals who are committed to their creative work, to causes, jobs and movements, are already moving in this direction of greater commitment. Ultimately, commitment to planet and all humanity will replace commitment to clan, family, or nation."