Ēostre/Vernal Equinox - Joyful Vows for Water

Joy of Clean Drinking Water

“Burn on, big river, burn on.” ~ Randy Newman

Walk between the raindrops by Donald Fagen

The River of Dreams by Billy Joel

CAYA is focusing on the element of water this year. I have decided to go along for the rafting ride by using their themes for my wheel celebrations.

 

Last Friday, S and I were standing on the porch after book club.  It had just started to rain softly.  I took a breath in and smiled.  The rain had finely changed its wintery scent.  I looked over at S and said:  “Smell, spring is here.  The rain has changed.”  We moved out from under the porch and into the rain, both breathing in its earthy fragrance. 

I was listening to NPR this past week.  The US Federal EPA put out their report on mercury levels in lakes, rivers and streams.  Ohio’s rivers were on the list.  There were officials playing down the report and others stating it wasn’t strong enough.  There was a group discussing how much this clean­-up was going to cost and how much the burden of cost was placed on businesses for preventive mechanism.  Health officials told about health conditions due to mercury exposure: neuropathies, hypertension, and kidney failure and memory loss.  

This story to me is familiar.  It reminds me of the stories that preluded the 1969 Cuyahoga River Fire.  The river had been polluted for decades from industries along the river.  Cleveland became associated with water pollution.  But one thing the public forgets, this was the tipping point.  People put aside their differences and the nation developed and implemented clean water standards.   

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Stink Spirit before the bath and soon to
reveal that it is actually ancient river spirit

All the Stuff that came out of the River Spirit

In Hiyao Miyazaki’s animated movie Spirited Away (2001), a stink spirit comes into the bathhouse.  The main character, Chihiro is forced to take care of it by treating it with respect and by giving it a bath regardless of the smell.  Chihiro showers the spirit with clean water and realizes that something isn’t right.  She begins pulling on what appears to be a stick piercing its side.  The stick turns into chains, bike, car…. And the stink spirit is transformed into an ancient river spirit.    We learn that water pollution has done this to the spirit of the river.     The spirit rewards Chihiro’s kindness with a healing biscuit.

Photos by: http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc51.2009/SpiritedAway/2.html
 

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We can all agree water is essential to life.  However, I believe many in my country have forgotten the joy that comes from having clean water.  We stick our glass under the faucet and take a drink.  It’s automatic like blinking.  It’s just like our easy access to a flushing toilet and a hot shower.  Call it taking it for granted or it’s something we don’t have to be concerned about – it’s something only those other places have to worry about.  Places where contaminated water cause severe diarrhea and death from Cholera, dysentery and parasites happens daily.  

I know several people who have been a part of the Marion Shallow Well Project in Malawi.   The purpose this project is to bring clean water by installing a shallow well and a pump in rural villages.   The overall project costs around $400 (US Dollars) and $5.00-10.00 yearly for maintenance.  The wells are built and maintained by the villagers.  The Project assists with the materials and training they can’t afford.  One of my friends described the celebrations that occurred every time when the clean water came out of the well for the first time – dancing, singing, music making and feasts.  There were joyful tears from parents who didn’t have to worry anymore for their children.       

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I have been following the blogger AskaWolfSong – author of Stone Soup and Heart Song.  Her posts describe how our waters are becoming so polluted and we need to sit-up and take action to help the spirit of our planet.  Recently, I read her essay about how the First Nations are calling for international healing prayers for our waters.  It is distressing to learn that our waters are becoming so polluted from farm run-off, industry and our unwanted stuff (i.e., plastic water bottles, Styrofoam cups, pop cans, and plastic bags). 

I think back to the Cuyahoga River Fire.  There is no joy in water without life.    

AskaWolfSong shared this wonderful concert by R. Carlos Nakai with me from Youtube recording.

R. Carlos Nakai at National Geographic's "Water Is Life" celebration on Martha's Vineyard. THIS FULL ONE-HOUR version includes rare video of Nakai sharing his LIVING PHILOSOPHY about the evolution of humankind and the flute music of various civilizations through time - along with an expanded selection of his Native American Flute music to flow with this celebratory water event
 

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Vow: Solemnly promise to do a specified thing ~ Merriam-Webster Dictionary
 

Joyful: Feeling, expressing, or causing great pleasure and happiness ~ Merriam-Webster Dictionary

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My joyful vow this year for water is to appreciate it more.  When it rains this summer, put the umbrella down or put my feet in a cold steam and give thanks.  I’ll be mindful each time I take a drink that I can drink safely.  I also vow to save $5.00 a week for others to have the joy I have.  The money will be placed under my CAYA “water jar” and shared with the Marian Shallow Well Project at the end of the year. 

 

Friendship – starting with yourself

Girl Looking in The Mirror by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1912)

Maker's Moon - What wants to be conceived/born/shaped/made from our own minds/hearts/loins/hands? - CAYA Moon Question

“We are not humans having spiritual experiences, we are spiritual beings having human experiences.” ~ Teilhard de Chardin

 

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” ~ C.S. Lewis

“A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow.” ~ William Shakespeare

 

 

To be a friend is hard work.  To be friends with yourself is even harder work.  I believe I heard this from my creative journaling teacher Nettie.  If not, it would be something she would say. 

 

This week I’ve started this blog entry over twice, because the theme “friendship with yourself” kept coming up.  You might say I got zapped by it from 6 different places this week:  Hildegard mandalaclass, 21 Day Meditation Challenge, Wild Woman Project, Findhorn Inspirational message, my New Moon Goddess Card of the month, and a fragment from a Hallmark Channel Movie due to channel surfing between basketball games.  Since I’m a firm believer in the law of synchronicity; I scraped the gardening piece for this topic. 

 

When I talk about being a friend to yourself, I’m not talking about being a narcissist.  That type of self-love in which one believes that they’re better than others and have a desire to tear others down in order to feel successful.  No, the one I’m talking about is giving yourself the same compassion that you give to others you are deeply in love with.  This was the message I kept getting zapped with.

 

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Audacity: 1.bold courage; daring   2.shameless or brazen boldness; insolence ~ Webster New College Dictionary.

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It has been my experience that the foundation of magic is belief.  You must believe in order to create or make something.  And, you must continue to believe all the way to the end.  More often than not, we find that our creative and magical endeavors become prey to sabotage by our own inner voices.  These voices have a way of squashing our passion and what ends up happening is the majority of our spells, creations and ideas our sitting in the basement in a box unfinished.

In talking to friends this week about the inner voices, we all came to the same conclusion.  We’d never say the things our inner voices say to someone that we love.  And, we’d probably wouldn’t say this to someone we don’t like.   My voices revolve around not being able to complete projects, perfectionism and fear that I’ll be rejected, self-judgment, education lacking by not having taken the right course work or involved with the right project.  These all seem to twist and haggle inside my head to the point I often stop.  Bottom line, I’d never say these things to a friend; I’d do the opposite.  I’d cheer them on.

March’s New Moon Wild Woman Project theme focused on having the audacity or courage to love ourselves.  We used one of Louise Hay’s mirror exercises.   The exercise asks us to call to mind a person that we deeply love.  We were to imagine looking in their eyes with compassion.  The last part of the exercise was to look into the mirror and with the same look of compassion see ourselves.  When I did this, my heart was crushed because I have never done this.  I have never looked into my eyes with that same look of charity. 

Kristin Neff, Ph.D. writes in her book about how self-esteem and self-compassion are intertwined.  Her research showed that a person with high self-esteem didn’t berate themselves when they were failing.  They did the opposite, they were kind to themselves.  These people in her research were able to embrace themselves with all their flaws and outperformed the opposite group.  Neff describes the science behind this.  When we berate ourselves with our inner critics, the flight and fight hormones are released.  Despite what our culture says, these hormones don’t drive us to the finish line they make us angry and cripple us from moving forward.  When we treat ourselves with kindness and sympathy, endorphins are released and we feel motivated to try again.  The endorphins make us feel good. 

Neff also found that the more we were able to keep our hearts opened for ourselves, the more we have available to give others and pursue our creativity.  She states that when the critics pop up 1) we should face them and tell them to soften.  Then provide kind, empathetic words to ourselves.  2) To look at the full picture and ask: how am I the same as others?  (e.g., Yes, I haven’t gotten this spell down pat but others have been here like me.)  3) Practice mindfulness and being in the present. 

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Ho’oponopono

Hawaiian Prayer

I’m sorry.

Please forgive me.

Thank you, I love you.

This prayer was shared by one of my mandala classmates when I began describing how I was critical of my mandalas.  I was wishing to soften my judgment.  This is the prayer she tells herself when her inner critics begin to talk. 

Embers – la Chispa

Juliette Gordon Low center founder of Girl Scouts

Maker’s Moon – What wants to be conveived/born/shaped/made from our own minds/hearts/loins/hands? – CAYA’s Moon Question

“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without spiritual life” Buddha

 O ignis Spiritus by Hildegard of Bingen

"Scouting rises within you and inspires you to put forth your best."  Juliette Gordon Low

According to Mrs. Z, in order to make a good campfire you need: patience, a good foundation, fuel and a mechanism to start it.  Oh and using safety precautions. 

Mrs. Z was my Girl Scouts Leader from juniors through senior scouting.  She was a hands-on leader – meaning everything we did she did.  My first fire building experience started with a 30 minute training walk in the woods.   We gathered three different types of fuel: tinder, kindling (finger to wrist size), and fuel (bigger that your wrist).  She was very keen on the “bleached out wood.”  This type of wood was found without its bark on the floor of the forest.  It appeared to me looking more bone like in color.   Mrs. Z described how this particular kind of wood had been aged and now had a minimum amount of moisture in it.  This would allow it to burn well.  Mrs. Z also liked it because it didn’t give off a lot of smoke. We would next bring the wood back and stacked in its categories next to the bucket of water which of course was several feel away from the stone circle campfire. 

Mrs. Z was a purist.  She didn’t believe in chemicals to start a fire.  Her idea of a Girl Scout was someone who was concerned about the air and taking care of nature to show to our Grandchildren.  This would always lead to a discussion about factories and acid rain falling in Western PA and the poor Cuyahoga River catching fire.  We were to use one of the following, dryer lint, pine needles or saved wood shavings from making marshmallow sticks to get the fire going.  Her favorite fire structure – the tipi. 

I was always amazed at how Mrs. Z had a knack at getting the fire started from something unsuccessful.  I can still picture her blowing gently on the embers.  Coaxing it with a little more lint to leap up and ignite the rest of the wood.  She’d rebuild the wood structure to let more oxygen in giving the revived embers the best wood - that “bleached out wood.”

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O Comforting Fire of Spirit

By Hildegard of Bingen

O comforting fire of Spirit,

Life, within the very Life of all Creation.
Holy you are in giving life to All.

Holy you are in anointing

those who are not whole;
Holy you are in cleansing
a festering wound.

O sacred breath,

O fire of love,
O sweetest taste in my breast
which fills my heart
with a fine aroma of virtues

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Sometimes my creative spirit becomes like an ember dying.  It’s a half burnt wood with a tiny glow that’s just hanging.  The reality is that my creativity hasn’t gone away.  I haven’t tended it by giving it fuel or a gentle puff of air to get it going.  I haven’t found space to allow it to grow.  Often, I’ve allowed the nasty voices to get in the way that extinguish my creative passion.

The same can be said about my spirituality.  I find it easy to conform to other’s truth rather than lacing up my hiking boots for my own unique journey.     

Sometimes you don’t know where your journey will take you.  Last year I became a member of the PBP, and I’ve been lead through many different twists and turns.  I accredit my 2013 Lenten study of Hildegard, creativity and mandala making from a fellow PBP.  It was through them I read a quote about the sacredness of nature and I followed it back to the source.  I crossed over through a door to a community made up of women from many different traditions.  They were discussing and practicing creativity and spirituality.  It was a group I never knew existed.

A new type of wood has been laid.  The fire is crackling.    

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The Three-FoldFire of Brighid

Fire in the forge that

 shapes and tempers.

Fire of the hearth that

 nourishes and heals.

Fire in the head that

 incites and inspires.

Fish Fries – Lenten Journey 2013

BEMS@2013

I’ve been a little parched and in need of some nice gentle rain – Hildegard speak.  Despite the crisis at work, my family and I have journeyed off to two more Lenten fish fries.  I’ve sought out nourishment for my body but also boost for my spirit.  I’m going to a church event right?

The original intent for eating fish during Lent was about fasting from the flesh of meat.  This is done in memory of Christ.  But, what is the real purpose of these fish fries?  Keep the fishy smell out of your house?  According to the Knights of Columbus, it is a way to bring families together and provide a social for parishioners.  To me this could be viewed as another way of saying party?  Yes, I know the Lenten season is all about self-reflecting on our dark areas.  Having a party could be perceived as not conducting ourselves in the right spirit of Lent.  Or is it? 

My church has been studying Luke. If you don’t know much about this guy, long story short, it is believed that he was an Antiochian Doctor.  He is accredited for writing his Gospel (Luke) and Acts and followed Paul on several trips.  His body parts, like many of the saints are stored in several locations throughout the world.   Despite this, what strikes me about Dr. Luke's writings is 1) he was a man who was a great story teller and 2) he was all about having a party. 

Dr. Luke’s stories, the Lost Coin and the Lost Son, both end with a party.  The story is an analogy about one having lost their connection to the Divine.  When they find their way back, Motherfather Spirit throws this blow out party.  I’ve been wondering – couldn’t a fish fry during Lent be an occasion to throw a party. This party’s purpose would be to uplift the spirit for those of us who are lost, confused, hurt, sad, stressed (name your emotion) and who have found their way back to Motherfather Spirit.  The party would be welcoming and joyful time to give to others. 

Okay just a thought. 

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A Jewish Blessing

Mi-sheberakh avoteinu v’imoteinu, Avraham v’Sarah, Yitzhak v’Rivkah, Ya’akov, Rachel v’Leah hu y’varekh et (insert names here) v’yavi aleihem refuat hanefesh u’refuat haguf yachad im kol cholei amo Yisrael. Barukh atah Hashem, rofeh ha’cholim.

May the One who was a source of blessing for our ancestors, bring blessings of healing upon (insert names here), a healing of body and a healing of spirit. May those in whose care they are entrusted be gifted with wisdom and skill, and those who surround them be gifted with love and trust, openness and support in their care. And may they be healed along with all those who are in need. Blessed are You, Source of healing.

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BEMS@2013

Last Friday, 2/22 T and I went to 71916.  This appears to be a much smaller congregation that 18151222 and run by the Knights of Columbus members.  The men showed a friendly comradely.  71916 is a very basic fish fry: fried fish, coleslaw, mac and cheese, and a wide assortment of fries (i.e., regular, pepper and cheesy) or bake potato.  The coleslaw was definitely better than 18151222.  The fish had more of a beer batter and was a little oily to my taste.  T felt that the mac and cheese was a little soggy.  We accredited this to being one of the last customers.   Dessert?  Texas Sheet Cake.  The frosting was melted into the moist cake.  I immediately thought of my mother-in-law’s cake.      

The highlight of the evening was being invited into the sanctuary.  I’ve never have explored for Wow sites in Columbus, but here it was.  The door open and you could feel the energy across your face.  T pulled me back and asked if I felt it.  I wanted to stay, but we needed to pick up Z.

BEMS@2013

At 7193, they’ve changed things up.  Instead of a fish fry, this congregation holds an all you can eat pasta “fry.”  Z had been anticipating this “fry” by not eating anything after school in order to have room to go for seconds.  He told me it was to get his money’s worth.  They served baked Ziti with a mild tomato sauce, bow-tie Alfredo, Mac and Cheese, green beans with onion, salad and bread.  Everything was very tasty and carbo rich.  The dessert table was filled with baked goods.  The lady wearing a green apron labeled “women’s circle” told me they were from the best cooks in the county.  T chose a cherry pie and I had a chocolate marbled cake with chocolate butter cream.  Yum.      

Out of the three churches, I’d have to say this had the most “party like” feel.  People were more willing to say hello and talk to you.  Maybe it was how the tables were arranged: long close rows where you couldn’t help but bump into people. 

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 “The great sea ...”

By Uvavnuk Uvavnuk
Translated By Jane Hirshfield

The great sea

frees me, moves me,
as a strong river carries a weed.
Earth and her strong winds
move me, take me away,
and my soul is swept up in joy.

Enthusiasm

BEMS@2013

Maker's Moon - What wants to be conceived/born/shaped/made from our own minds/hearts/loins/hands? - Caya's Moon Questions

Enthusiasm today isn’t the enthusiasm of the past.  The word has changed its definition.  Today we know it as having great interest, excitement and enjoyment in what we do.  Many would agree with me it is a needed ingredient if you are trying to create something crafty or not.   But, the original definition meant that one was inspired or possessed by the Divine or to be in private communication with the holy.

BEMS@2013

Cassandra was said to have enthusiasm after being in the presence of Apollo.    And, when she chose not to have sex with him ­ - he cursed her.  Cassie’s prophesies would never be believed.  In fact, Homer writes that she was scorned.

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BEMS @ 2013

This past week I don’t think I have had much enthusiasm for anything.  My life has been consumed by a crisis at work.  This crisis has drained my creative side to the point of being parched.  I’m barely able to appear on paper, much less keep up with my mandala drawing class and knit. 
 

The following mandalas you might say have had divine intervention.  I have had to force my self to pick up the colored pencils rather than stick my nose in a book - the easy less effort way to deal with stress.  I was enthusiastic when I drew them.  Motherfather Spirit was the driving force - not me.

Designing a Garden

BEMS@2013

Silent Moon - How can we find silent time to restore and regenerate our enthusiasm for our lives/work/relationships? ~ CAYA's Full MoonQuestions.

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. ~ Margaret Atwood, Bluebeard's Egg

Love which planted a glorious garden redolent with precious herbs and noble flowers--roses and lilies--which breathed forth a wondrous fragrance… ~ Hildegard of Bingen letter to the Monk Guibert, 1176

It’s getting close to spring.  I can see the days getting longer.  The sun is above the trees when I drive home after work.  I’m anxious for that change in the rain smell.  I’ve been getting e-mails daily from all the seed catalogues enticing me with 2 for 1 deals.  And, I paid my fee for my community garden plot.

Last night my Gurney’s Seed Catalogue came in the mail.  I flipped through it relining on the couch.  The cover shows three bright photos: Ka-Bluey Blueberries, Big Beef Tomatoes and Biggie Sweet Chilies.  I’m pulled into the size and redness of that tomato.  My mouth waters as I imagine its July sun sweetness – right off the vine - sliced between a baguette with fresh basil, mozzarella cheese, salt and fresh cracked pepper.  My finger itches to press its seeds into the dirt.

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Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) is considered to be a master gardener and herbalist. Her two treatises on medicine and natural history were widely read even today and probably have influenced modern pharmacology.  In her Causae et Curae, she catalogue over 47 known diseases during her time period (i.e., cause, symptom and treatment).  The treaty also provided lists of 300 medicinal plants and their use in treatment. 

The abbey Hildegard was prioress would have followed the Benedictine tradition by being self-sufficient. There would have been a vegetable/kitchen garden, farm fields, orchard, and physic garden.  Her medieval kitchen garden would have included: turnips, parsnips, onions, leeks, various legumes, mint, basil, wormwood, borage, mugwort, nettle and melons.  Whereas the physic garden would have traditionally grown sage, rue, aloe, rosemary, southernwood, poppy, mint and pennyroyal, parsley, gladioli and marigolds.

Hildegard was also a woman ahead of her time.  She adopted a way of eating that was based on color.  She believed and wrote about how foods offered specific viriditas associated with their colors.  She encouraged eating a multi-colored food diet as a way to promote well-being - mentally, physically and spiritually.  Today her “diet” for healthy living is better known as the Rainbow Diet, the Chakra Diet or My Plate 

Hildegard held the emerald colored foods above all.  Today we know that these dark green leafy vegetables are the powerhouse of the vegetable.  They are rich in minerals (i.e., iron, calcium, potassium and magnesium) and the B vitamins.  It is written the fennel was her favorite green colored food.  The herb is known to help with digestion and improve sight.  Eaten it tastes a little like anise.
 

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"... Only gradually did I discover what the mandala really is: 'Formation, Transformation, Eternal Mind's eternal creation' (Faust, II). And that is the self, the wholeness of the personality, which if all goes well is harmonious, but which cannot tolerate self-deceptions." ~ C. G. Jung

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BEMS @ 2013

My class on Hildegard also includes learning to draw mandalas.  Up front, I’m not an experienced mandala drawer and consider at the most an amateur mandala coloring in the lines person.  

What I’ve learn so far is that some people consider mandala is like a garden temple or sacred space.   In many traditions it is used as a tool where one can use for meditation or trance.   It can assist the meditator on their journey for inward towards their sacred center for healing and commune with the Divine one.

Each day I focus on one of Hildegard’s writings and let my creative side take over. 

During my silent times of coloring, cutting and pasting, I’ve been inspired to move away from the boxy 9”x9” squares in my community garden to circles and fluid lines.  My research landed me on sites discussing mandala and keyhole garden structures.  These kitchen garden structures are non-linear and fluid.  They are considered more ecological and kinder to the soil.  Additionally, the design is said to be more pleasing to the eye - meditative. I can picture the rectangle I'm renting to look more like a mitochondria - the powerhouse organelle of our cells who's DNA is from our mothers.   

My mind contemplates the possibilities and my finger itches to press seeds into soil.

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Recipe for rainbow eating – inspired by Martha Stewart and BonAppetit

Blood Orange, Beet, and Fennel Viriditas Salad

Ingredients

2 medium 1 red and 1 yellow beets, tops trimmed and roasted and peeled and sliced

3 blood oranges, peel, pith cut off and sliced into segments  (Make sure you catch the juice)

1/2 small fennel bulb, very thinly sliced crosswise on a mandoline

1/4 red onion, very thinly sliced on a mandoline

Small container of greens

2 Tbsp orange juice

2 Tbsp of olive oil

1 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar

1 small container of feta crumbled

Into salad bowl, greens then beets, fennel, orange, onions.  Mix orange juice, olive oil, and vinegar together and dress the salad.  Add feta cheese and serve.