Just a brief note to let you all know
I am still among the living...this icky
stuff I have going on in my body is
still hanging in there, but I have been
diligent in taking care of myself and
staying under the covers for the most
part...life happens and you have to
deal with it the best way you can...
like I had to run some errands today
even tho my body was screaming at me
to stay in bed...but I am headed back
to the quilt in just a few here.
Thanks for all the well wishes and love
being shared...it is very much appreciated
by this old girl! :) I hope to be back soon!
Have a glorious Dreamtime tonight and
make sure you get out to see Grandmother
shine in all of Her Glory! Last night she
was sooo beautiful!
Grandmother, Grandmother, shining bright,
in the night, I love you so!
Grandmother, Grandmother, shining bright,
in the night, show me which way to go!
This is my own chant I sing to Herself
whenever She shares Her beautiful face
with me...make up your own tune and
sing it with me...She will hear us and
smile that big smile She always has...
Peace and Blessings on the Gentle
Winds to all of you!
xxxooo
Please check this site out...you will love it there!
Today Kola's I am taking a break...I am sick with Sinusitis and just
plain feeling yucky all over...suffice it to say, I think it is in direct
relation to my vision over the weekend and now things are being
purged.
So I am going to sleep and eat when my body says to do so, maybe
watch a movie...(if you haven't seen The Blind Side yet make sure
you rent it...it is such a great example of Love!) I have a few others
here I can watch too. In general, a day of laying under the blankets
and taking care of self. It feels like the flu...oh Dog! Later on this
evening I will do a pan of sage from the Rez simmering on my stove
and purge the Great Room I live in...
Wishing you all sunlight and blessings on your journeys today!
A'HO!
To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places (and there are so many) where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."
Days have gone by now...days that
have blurred and run all together
as one...awake yet dreaming, and
in that dream this is what I saw...
I was laying in the midst of a circle
of women...they had arrived one by
one. Each bringing her unique and
special 'healing' gift. Some were
tending my body, and as they did so
they wrapped me in an old quilt,
a quilt made of love by old hands,
hands that were ancient, wrinkly,
liver spotted and gnarled, but so
soft that I knew the Star Quilt of
The Grandmother would feel like
the softness of Her gossamer wings,
the velvety flannel of a cattail,
and would be structured with thread
so strong, that it would infuse my
body with the silk of her web...the
web and circle of the women who
now were deep into the healing
of my deeper self. I slept.
I slept for three weeks...and during
the dreaming I could 'see' as if from
above my body...and looking down,
there they all were still...and I was
amazed. These women were such
astounding individuals that were
giving of their hearts and time...and
I could feel the love spinning and
whirling within the lodge...bouncing
off the chamois skin walls like stars,
as that is what the energy was...pure
energy stars...lighting up the lodge
with crystalline brilliance. There was
no need of light. Each woman's aura
strong and full of God/dess Light.
The fire had been lit with the hot ash
from another Needfire...and one woman,
The Firekeeper, Dancingfire, had lovingly
tended it and kept it going throughout
the healing...breathing her healing aspects
into the hot coals to be transformed into
my body...the fire was to be used for
the steeping of herbs, sage, and the
sacred teas that were gently lifted to
my parched lips by Ruby Moon, The Wise
Woman and Keeper of the Sacred Herbs
and the notions and potions of all time.
The waters were then set upon the fire
to keep my body bathed, and again, one woman
alone tended to me. I watched Sharon Rain
sprinkle me with the Holy Water that had been
infused with sacred oils...Patchouli, Sandalwood,
Frankincense and Myrrh...the dwelling and
my body was filled with earthly and heavenly
scents...and all the while she sang...the others
called her Gimiwan and she brought the
healing rains forth to parched lands and
bodies when needed. She also read the stars
and planets and knew this was my great time
of healing.
One by one the other Sisters kept arriving...
Terri who carried the bone sighs within her
medicine pouch and one by one she would
pull them out to reveal them and shed light
upon any and all within her energy. The
bone sighs who spoke for all women
everywhere.
Mary who was like the Mother of Jesus...
loved with a love that was so sweet and
miraculous one could feel that love pour
forth in miraculous ways...ways that the
skin and psyche were quick to take in.
We all took it within. She not only was
the Beatitudes she lived the Beatitudes.
There was the Wise Woman Pam who
was the village wordsmith, who spoke
to the plants, animals and stone, and
recognized the kindred spirits of each
one, so that even those elements had
given in the healing...she would place
stones strategically around me, the
stones the Stone People had shown her
that would bring relief to my body. Pam
was also the village drumkeeper and aligned
all of our heartbeats with that of The
Grandmother...The Moon, Unci.
Quietly the flap opened and in walked
Forest Ama...The Skywalker...she had
healing clouds and stars in bundles,
and when she opened them, they spun
out into the lodge touching each woman
delicately, bringing smiles to all the
faces within the lodge...all were hushed
now as she went to the head of my body,
sat down on the buffalo pelt where my
body layed in deep sleep and gently
placed my head in her lap...closing her
eyes she began her special means of
healing...and my body began to move
ever so slightly, so slight that only a
trained eye could see it, but it was moving
and the wise one kept her knowings to her
self but kept busy to the end...always
stroking, whispering in my ear and little
by little my body would move a hair's
breath more, the tears started to dry that
had been flowing non-stop...even during
the deep sleep.
There was also Sorrow Woman...who
knew my sorrow, had experienced her
own, many ways and many times and
she sat quietly off to the side of the
fire and prayed...lifting her healing
prayers up ...
There were many more there...some of
them inside and some of them out...
all with specific healing modalities of
their own but my heart swelled in love
for the miracle and beauty of their
compassion in my time of need.
All at once, the Drum grew louder, the
Fire sparked and sputtered, the women
began to murmer softly, and I was thrown
back into my body with a start! My
eyelids began to flutter and all could see
I was coming around now...
All were waiting with breath held close to
heart...and Wise Old Ama gently sat me up
against her breast, Gimiwan wiped my brow
and face with a worn and soft cotton cloth,
Ruby Moon held the sacred sage tea to my
lips to drink and drink I did..as if I had
been parched for a million years. Wise
woman Dancingfire started a sage smudge
which we all began to use to purify the lodge
and our bodies and threw the rest on the
Needfire and then she began to call in The
Ancient Ones to surround us in Holy Love
and Pure Light...and Mary the Beloved...led
us all in a Healing Chant.
It was then that Sister Sorrow got up from
her quiet place...walked over to me and
reached down her hand and pulled me to
my feet...speaking softly to me, and telling
me it was time now...time to leave the
sorrow behind, to dry up the tears, to let
Love reside within my bones, and because
I knew she knew, I let her lead me outside
of the lodge, where the nightsky shone
with a million stars from all dimensions
everywhere...
I slowly became aware of what had just
taken place...and as I turned to each
Sister and Wise Woman there, I knew I
had just experienced something pivotal
in my 'be'ing, and while I felt totally empty,
I also felt the emptiness was there for a
very specific purpose and would be revealed
to me over time. I had just been awakened.
Awakened...and the Sorrow had vanished.
It was then I heard Camille The Joykeeper
start to sing...and one by one the women
joined her and for the first time in a long,
very long time I believed the words...
“Imagine a Woman II” is copyrighted and may not be used without permission. Please send us an email at permissions@imagineAwoman.com to request to use, print, or distribute the “Imagine a Woman II” poem in any format.
With great delight, we give you permission to post the poem
at your blog with this brief description and link.
Since 1995, the "Imagine a Woman" poem has circled the globe, inspiring books, screenplays, videos, life transitions, professional portfolios, ministries, coaching practices, relationships, virtual communities, social networks, and organizational missions. This year Imagine a Woman International is celebrating the poem's 15th year anniversary with a new website and new programs and opportunities for personal growth and professional enhancement. You're invited to the "Imagine a Woman" poem's 15th Birthday Party throughout 2010 at www.imagineAwoman.com. We'll be partying all year so get your party clothes on, invite your friends, and come on over.
*********
Thank you!
WomanSpirit Blessings, Patricia Lynn Reilly
I posted this today because I can see so many women I am connected to using this wonderful site to promote your creations...it is as simple as a click away? So many of you have so much to share with the world ... won't you please consider it?
Pilamaya!
Akasa
Blessings on Your Daily Journey
To Your Own HeartSong!
Sweet Spirit of Sleep, who brings peace and rest to weary bodies, Empty us of aches and pains, for we struggle as seeds through unyeilding earth. Bring to us the timeless nature of your presence - the endless void of our slumber. Make us aware of the work we can do while in your time Make us to know our dreaming, where past and future are reconciled. Come let us honor sleep, that knits up the raveled sleeve of care, the death of each day's life, sore labor's bath, balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, chief nourisher in life's feast.
~Congregation of Abraxas~'
Sleep well my Beloved Friends... I leave you with this video to take you into yourself and the starlit night.
Of This Place Her heart ran in the wilds of deserted plains. Sun-etched land barren of clouds and singing water. If she listened closely her hand would call and signal its thoughts upon her brow. But in this place she could only offer her arms to the sky like a tree its branches and a flower its leaves.
In this dusty basin, silence gathered like smoke clearing the mind of the scoundrel. The infidel of thoughts. Blots of yellow leaves and white bark could be seen hiding in pools of life surrounded by red rock spires. Clustered sand monuments held together by some other life form. She wasn't sure. Perhaps one life is the same as another only tilted sideways. Caught from underneath by some invisible hand that animates even the coldest stone of this place.
A smile emerged and perched upon her face. drinking the sun's clear ways. She could spear a million miles of air in a glance and send the window of her flesh into the cloudless sky. Upon this ocean a hawk sailed ever closer. She watched the silver speck spiral overhead dreaming through its eyes. Feeling the winds gild her wings in the softest fold of time. A tree of pine sent its sky roots deep within the air to weep its sweetness. She entered, gliding through branches to every needle in their factory of air.
So strange to feel the pull of earth in flight, but she knew the antagonism well in the splendor of this place. She knew it had settled deep, lodged like permanent ink in the heart of her. Under skin, muscle, bone it fought the single path. What madness calls her away? What dream is stronger than this? What heart beats more pure?
Of this place, it is so hard to know which is host and which is guest. Which is welcome, which is pest. Which is found, and which is lost. Which is profit, which is cost.
She gave her prayers to the skypeople and waited for a cloud n her signal to leave. She should return home before dusk settles in and the golden eyes peer out against the black code. In a single breath she held the ancient ways that never left. She turned them inside out and then outside in. Again and again. Waiting for her signals in the sky. If not a cloud... then perhaps a shooting star. (Besides, it was too dark for clouds anymore.)
When the first star fell she held her breath afraid she would miss its spectral flight. She wondered with whom she shared its final light.
What other eyes were heaven bound in that secret moment? Was this their signal home as well? And what was it they found buried so deep in a whisper of light that none can tell?
She waited with solemn eyes for more stars to fall, to gently sweep her away from the magnets of this place. If she listened to her hand it would scratch a sign in the sand for another to take her place. It would touch the land in honor of its grace and wisdom, and become a tree, rock, hawk, or flower.
The extreme delicacy of this Easter morning Spoke to me as a prayer and as a warning. It was light on the brink, spring light After a rain that gentled my dark night. I walked through landscapes I had never seen Where the fresh grass had just begun to green, And its roots, watered deep, sprung to my tread; The maples wore a cloud of feathery red, But flowering trees still showed their clear design Against the pale blue brightness chilled like wine. And I was praying all the time I walked, While starlings flew about, and talked and talked. Somewhere, and everywhere life spoke the word. The dead trees woke; each bush held its bird. I prayed for delicate love and difficult, That all be gentle now and know no fault, That all be patient - as a wild rabbit fled Sudden before me. Dear love, I would have said (And to each bird who flew up from the wood), I would be gentler still if that I could, For on this Easter morning it would seem The softest football danger is, extreme... And so I prayed to be less than the grass And yet to feel the Presence that might pass. I made a prayer, I heard the answer, "Wait, when all is so in peril, and so delicate!"
I don't think embracing change is ever easy for any of us. At least in my experience that is certainly true... We embrace what seems on the surface to be working for us, as what should always be the case, and then wham! Some 'thing' comes along and changes that perspective all up and suddenly we are pitched headlong into denial, self-doubt, questioning our intuition, and I keep asking myself why I do that?
Since last Saturday my guts have been churning as Firekeeper had to go with his Dad for Springbreak. Order of the court. Why God, why God, why God? I keep asking myself that question over and over and over again. This isn't even fair to allow this child to be in a place that in the past has not served him at all. It has been painful, scary, emotional, abusive, and yet we have to follow the law of the land. Why God, why God, WHY GOD? Justice is blind!
So okay...yesterday Firekeeper had to go to his appointed time with his doctor/therapist/psychologist whatever, and he has always been taken by my Daughter...his Momma...but THE FATHER then decided now HE was going to take him? HUH? What is up with that? I had to take huge gulps of air....
After stepping back I heard in my soul... 'isn't this what you have been praying for?' You wanted this relationship to heal in all areas...and still there is doubt. Why? Because in the past whenever THE FATHER made moves like this and I would pray, it never was about his son...it was about him exerting more control and him playing the game to get what HE WANTS. He always would fall into the proverbial pile of chit and come out the victor and Firekeeper and the rest of us would be left holding the bag, scratching our heads as we walked away, with war wounds once again, and crying from the depths of our souls....so right now I feel like the dangling participle...
I believe that all prayer is answered. I believe it may not be the way I would like to see it happen. I know that. The bigger question for me now is do I believe that THE FATHER has Firekeeper's best interest at heart? Not only no, but HELL NO! His history refutes it. Can people change their life stripes? Yes...do I think he will change his? I hope...get that? HOPE he will open his eyes and truly see, hear with his ears and truly hear, feel with his heart and truly feel, embrace with his heart, apply with his heart, the Love he should have been giving this precious child all along. We shall see ....
In the meantime I am still crying on the inside, as my heart hurts for my Grandson...but HOPE still remains in me. I want more than anything total and absolute healing for my family and for THE FATHER and his family.
Please God, Please God, Please God let this be so!
And then the other thing is.... I've been reading over at Terri's blog how Bo had passed and it sent me into sorrow over my own dog having to be put down and I couldn't even leave a comment...I didn't know what to say, and here is this special woman in my life that I just wanted to hug hugely and could not. I felt paralyzed. And then yesterday I was reading her blog and she was sharing her story of Carol and all I could do was cry. I then went over to Dani's blog and all I could do was cry, I cried when Mary included me in as one of her Sister/Friends, I cry when I read the wisdom of Pam and so many others.
So what is up with all of this emotional sorrow I am feeling...it is as if it is coming up from the very depths of me. Triggers going off and I find myself curling up in a ball. I did not feel at all well the past few days...Fibromyalgia can leave one feeling ill-equipped to handle little...and then all of this crap on top of it all was just too much. So I slept, and then slept some more.
Now all I want is to get on that yacht with all of my new Sister/Friends I am making here, within the circle that is growing, and feel the sunshine on my skin, feel the air blowing all of this away from me, smell the salt of the water, hear the laughter and tears and stories of my Sister/Friends, dance, drum, sing and sup with one another and feel the Holiness from embracing...embracing change as it comes to me. Embrace Akasa...it is as easy as opening up your arms and taking it in. I have sighs in my bones.
And I am waaay past menopause, so where, oh where is all this coming from?
