Monday, August 21, 2017

{Sun & Moon & Harmony}

On this day of the "Great American Eclipse"a total Solar Eclipse that spans an area across the entire continental United States (the first since the country's birth in 1776 when a total Solar Eclipse was visible only in the continental U.S., according to astrologer Steffan Vanel)—is a great time to consider "appearances." 

In a blink of a moment, the small Moon only "appears" the same size as the huge Sun, obscuring its light. Or as Steffan explains: the more unconscious Lunar energy"instinctual programs of childhoodextinguishing the conscious Solar light of the Soul's essence." (However, it's only for a moment; so keep watch over your own heart!)

Where else in our lives are "appearances" having a great consequence? What's really "real" anyway? Stay awake, aware, conscious; fill yourself with your own light for those hazy, dark moments...and breathe your attention within, even as you gaze heavenward!

Sound shaman and clairvoyant Norma Gentile shares this about staying "true" to your best self:


The August 21st eclipse that passes over the U.S. is about breaking the societal enthrallment with what is now centered around politics. It is about breaking the entrainment that is drawing people away from seeing what else is happening in their lives. This eclipse opens our heart space and our own body of integrity, to whatever is true for each person to express into their lives and hence into our shared world.


And there's this celestial delight! Maria Popova's "sun and moon" post on her always-inspiring "BrainPickings" website is a lovely reminder about "ancient allegorical reflections on the universal themes of life, love, time, harmony, and our eternal search for a completeness of being." 

Gazing heavenward in cosmic wonder is always a fun way to expand our imaginations, connect with our essential self, and bring a sense of harmony to our lives! Maria features the charming book, Sun and Moon: Folk Tales by Various Artists, that will do just that:

“The dark body of the Moon gradually steals its silent way across the brilliant Sun,” Mabel Loomis Todd wrote in her poetic nineteenth-century masterpiece on the surreal splendor of a total solar eclipse. Nearly a century earlier, in his taxonomy of the three layers of reality, John Keats listed among “things real” the “existences of Sun Moon & Stars and passages of Shakespeare.” Indeed, the motions of the heavenly bodies precipitated the Scientific Revolution that strengthened humanity’s grasp of reality by dethroning us from the center of the universe. But, paradoxically, the Sun and the Moon belong equally with the world of Shakespeare, with humanity’s most enduring storytelling — they are central to our earliest sky myths in nearly every folkloric tradition, radiating timeless stories and parables that give shape to the human experience through imaginative allegory.






Friday, August 18, 2017

{The 19th Amendment....}

On this day in 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified, granting American women the vote.
"May we never forget the plight," reminds Maria Popova of 'Brain Pickings'....who also shared these anti-suffragette postcards from the early 20th century (yikes!) ...which she calls "a brief pictorial history of socially sanctioned sexism."

And may we never forget the courage of so many women.... Thank you!   

{Life Is Love....}


"Life is love. All else is imagined confusion."
-Byron Katie

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

{Love comes more naturally...}

Thank you, President Obama, for reminding us!
"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love. For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."
-Nelson Mandela


(On August 12, 2017, after the racists events in Charlottesville, Virginia, President Obama tweeted this quote; it became the "most liked" in Twitter history.)

Saturday, August 5, 2017

{First Girl President!}

I was visiting family in Alabama last November; I arrived a few days before the election (I had voted early in North Carolina) and my four great-nieces were so excited about the first woman president! Just turned 18, Ella was thrilled to be voting for the first timeand what a landmark time to vote. Six-year-old Ina showed me all the things she had written in her school notebook like: "Hillary! Our First Girl President!" drawn inside a big, pink pendant! 

When we all awoke that Wednesday morning to the heartbreaking news, I told Ina that Hillary didn't win, so "YOU may be the first girl president!"

I thought of that today when I read in Vogue, "In the Aftermath of Hillary Clinton's Loss, More Women Want to Run For Office Than Ever Before"—so maybe little Ina will not be first, but the 3rd or 4th woman president! (She won't mind!)

Senator Kamala Harris of California