UNICEF - GIVE THANKS FOR WHAT WE HAVE

In Praise of Water

Let us bless the grace of water:

The imagination of the primeval ocean
Where the first forms of life stirred
And emerged to dress the vacant earth
With warm quilts of color.

The well whose liquid root worked
Through the long night of clay,
Trusting ahead of itself openings
That would yet yield to its yearning
Until at last it arises in the desire of light
To discover the pure quiver of itself
Flowing crystal clear and free
Through delighted emptiness.

The courage of a river to continue belief
In the slow fall of ground,
Always falling farther
Toward the unseen ocean.

The river does what words would love,
Keeping its appearance
By insisting on disappearance;
Its only life surrendered
To the eventF of pilgrimage,
Carrying the origin to its end,
Seldom pushing or straining,
Keeping to itself
Everywhere all along its flow,
All at one with its sinuous mind,
An utter rhythm, never awkward,
It continues to swirl
Through all unlikeness,
With elegance:
A ceaseless traverse of presence
Soothing on each side
The stilled fields,
Sounding out its journey,
Raising up a buried music
Where the silence of time
Becomes almost audible

Tides stirred by the eros of the moon
Draw from that permanent restlessness
Perfect waves that languidly rise
And pleat in gradual forms of aquamarine
To offer every last tear of delight
At the altar of stillness inland.

And the rain in the night, driven
By the loneliness of the wind
To perforate the darkness,
As thought some air pocket might open
To release the perfume of the lost day
And salvage some memory
From its forsaken turbulence
And drop its weight of longing,
Into the earth, and anchor.

Let us bless the humility of water,
Always willing to take the shape
Of whatever otherness holds it,

The buoyancy of water
Stronger than the deadening,
Downward drag of gravity,
The innocence of water,
Flowing forth, without thought
Of what awaits it,
The refreshment of water,
Dissolving the crystals of thirst.

Water: voice of grief,
Cry of love,
In the flowing tear.

Water: vehicle and idiom
Of all the inner voyaging
That keeps us alive.

Blessed be the water,
Our first mother.

~John O'Donohue~

It is my fervent prayer and hope that we all can
assist in alleviating world hunger and lack of water.
It all begins with one small, simple step. Giving.
Giving from the Heart...as in one can of food, or
one gallon of water to your local food pantry or
by finding an online site who contributes to
Third World Countries. We stand poised on the
brink of creating huge change in our world, on
this our Planet......what say you? The time for
sitting on the sidelines is over...it is time to roll
up our sleeves and assist those in need. As I
watched this video my physical being cried out
in pain for these souls who have nothing...least
of all hope for a better tomorrow, much less
future. We can change it...we must change it.

A'HO!!!

It's A Blustery Day and Catching Up!

'Tis a blustery day here in Southern Wisconsin.
I've a nice pot of homemade Bean-n-Bacon
soup simmering on the stove and cornbread to
be made to go along with it, and right now it
is smelling soooo amazing!

The temp's have been just crazy around here!
One day it is 86 and climbing and the next it
will be rainy, windy, and a high of 60.  Today
it is just plain blustery, overcast, and around
55-60 degrees.  I've had to leave the house
several times this morning and all I want to
really do is hibernate and do my thing, albeit
I don't know what that thing for today is, lol.

I have been busy doing ceremony for the Water
this week as well as listening to the 13 Indigenous
Grandmothers speak, and creating an altar for
the Water/Full Moon...spending time setting my
Intentions, Praying, and Listening to Spirit.

I have had much Healing going on with my family...
As you know, from time to time I talk about my
Beloved Grandson Firekeeper...he's been through
some tough stuff over the past years and since
we have gotten him into some programs that are
very empowering to him, he very valiantly and
with much courage turned his father in for drugs
in the home, and for doing drugs around him.  This
was something that had been eating away it him
for a long time.  My Daughter and I have tried
many times to inform the Law and Families and
Protective Services, but unless we had absolute
proof it was just an accusation.  Well, they
finally caught him as Firekeeper told him right
where the drugs were.  He hated going over to
his Dad's as he is a Jerk with a capital J, very
mean and abusive to Firekeeper (I have to keep
my grandson's name out of this and since Firekeeper
is his spirit name that is what I use) and so this has
been a blessing to this wonderful young man, and our
family.  I am so proud of his stance to stand up
and be free of the chains that have bound him
to this man that calls himself Father.  Their is
nothing fatherly in this mans bones...but I keep
praying for him to finally see 'The Light.'  I pray
one day Firekeeper can have a real, honest to
goodness relationship with the man that he longs
to be loved by.  But for now we take what we can
get and leave the rest to Great Spirit to handle.
One moment at a time.

Having my Sister here with me has been a blessing
too.  We have had many long conversations about
our upbringing in an alcoholic home (with our Father),
about the roads it took us on as we grew up and
away from one another...her to another state, and
the geographical miles that kept us from truly being
together in a more intimate way.  She has been
partaking in my Waterway ceremonies and listening
to The Grandmothers speak as well as other things
which speak to my heart...our upbringing in the
church has not interfered with our greater love for
one another as we both have grown exponentially
in that we are open-minded enough to recognize
that all paths lead to Great Spirit.   Too, we have
just been having fun, which is a great healing aspect.
The silly, goofy things Sisters sometimes do that
one would not do in public!  Gasp!!!

We also spent Sunday with my Grandaughter...
'Little Grandmother' doing fun things...playing on
the computer, eating, playing the Memory game.
She is one smart little girl, that one!  You cannot
pull anything on her...she might be taken back a
minute but she can always figure out what you are
trying to trick her with.  She was doing magic tricks
for us and we were just having a time of it laughing.'

All my outside activity is done for another season...
everything has been cleaned up and put away till
next spring...I spent two whole days with my Sis
tearing down the garden items and putting things
in the shed...I have a couple of last minute things to
do but for the most part that is all finished and it
feels good to be done.  Now I look forward to getting
some pumpkins and mums, and planting some seed to
set it for spring.  I took out my Halloween deco's this
week and have begun hanging them and setting out
my collection of witches I have begun accruing.  I had
a few more but little hands and curious eyes got the
best of my little shelf-sitters and they crashed and
burned!  OH MY!  Such is life...something is always
changing and thank goodness or life would become
very boring indeed!

So here is wishing for you a day filled with Peace
and whatever makes your heart sing the loudest...
and while you are at it, sing out loud so the person
standing next to you catches the bug and passes
it on!  Happy Autumn and Many Blessings!!!!