The Rainbow Bridge Oracle

  "I've always conceived of the Rainbow as actually being a circle. Half disappears into the ground, into an underworld realm, hidden, but present. Like the Goddess. Perhaps what she gives us now is the means to seed a rainbow vision."

Christy Salo, Artist

“Rainbow Bridge consciousness is a way of thinking and acting that allows us to hold multiple perspectives in our minds simultaneously....As the saying goes, there are always two sides to a story. Rainbow Bridge consciousness is unity consciousness.”

Brent N. Hunter,  The Rainbow Bridge

I'm pleased to announce that I've published my book about The Rainbow Bridge Oracle  !

I've been working on these cards on and off for about 20 years.  Originally I wanted to make my own Tarot deck, but it became apparent that the ideas were diverging from the Tarot after a while, so I just made what I wanted. A lot of friends have asked about them, but publishing the cards was never affordable, until recently, when I discovered a site for people who make games.  They print card decks on demand! So now I can offer the deck of 52 cards, with a velvet bag, for anywhere between $15.00 to $25.00.......I'm still sorting it out.

THE RAINBOW BRIDGE ORACLE

Softcover   $27.95
Hardcover, Dust Jacket   $41.95
Hardcover, ImageWrap   $45.95

118 pages

 Limited edition text and artwork - book only available through
Blurb.  For a preview of the book visit this LINK!

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"In the Tarot, the Higher Arcana is a progression through what mythologist Joseph Campbell called the "Hero’s Journey".  The first card in the traditional Tarot deck  is The Fool .  The Fool represents the utterly open innocence with with we incarnate into this world.  The Arcana progress through different  experiences, revelations, trials and initiations. The last card of the Journey is 
The World, the return Home. 

The journey is a Circle.

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Some New Cards:

          WEAVER

 "What might we see, how might we act,  if  we  saw with a webbed vision? The world seen through a web of relationships….”

Catherine Keller

A weaver  takes threads of many colors and skillfully weaves them together into a beautiful  tapestry.  We talk about "spinning a tale", meaning a storyteller takes "threads" of different characters and weaves them together into a good story with many inter-woven events. 

The name "Penelope" originally meant "with a web on her face", a term that was probably a title for an oracle, or perhaps a Goddess of Fate. But "webbed vision" can also have a contemporary meaning as  a way of seeing the world with a unitive eye, all people connected and in relationship to each other.  That kind of vision enables you to be a "good weaver" in your community, family, and life.  You are a person who helps others to "connect the dots" -  a true instinctual networker. 

Reversed:  You  may be having a hard time seeing the connections between people and/or events in your life, partly because you feel so disconnected  and isolated from others.  Get back "on line" with your life, and reach out to re-connect with whatever it takes.

 MANIFESTATION

"Remember that not getting what you want
is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck."

The Dalai Lama

"Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it" is an old folk saying that has much truth to it.   We have all dreamed of having great wealth, or being with the best looking boy in school, or any number of  wishes.  And sometimes we do get what we think we want, but ironically,  happiness can soon turn to misery and disappointment.  Sometimes getting what we think we want can be the worst thing that can happen to us, because what we want is concentrated on desires that are  immature, addictive, vindictive, greedy, or even unconsciously self-destructive. And sometimes getting what we don't want can turn out to be a great gift.

 The "Law of Attraction" demonstrates that we attract that which we focus upon,  and consciously (or unconsciously) what we  concentrate upon can manifest.  Loving and generous wishes attract loving and generous results. Negativity and pessimism generally manifests more negativity and pessimism, creating a self-fulfilling cycle.  Bearing all of this in mind, now is an excellent time to begin to manifest!

Reversed:  You're not able to manifest what you want because of either a lack of belief in yourself, or you are too negative in your worldview. 

VISION

In this immeasurable darkness,

be the power that rounds your senses

in their magic ring,

Rainier Maria Rilke

Among the Lakota, long preparations were made for the Vision Quest. Those who sought initiation fasted, prayed, and prepared themselves to "call for vision". They then went to a special place in the wilderness. When a young man returned with a vision it was shared with the tribe, and sometimes examined to see if it had prophetic or ceremonial significance for not only the individual, but for the entire tribe.

This is a tool we have largely lost. True visionary experience is "soul language"; like dreams and synchronistic experiences, a vision has multiple layers of meaning, and transcends time as we understand it. Visions, like dreams, communicate universal and personal truths, and whether unintended or intentionally induced in some way, can catalyze a spiritual path or a life's work. You are encouraged to "call for vision" in your own way. Do it in a sacred manner, and share and discuss your vision with others of like mind.

Reversed: Visions can be profoundly significant.......but sometimes there is a fine line between spiritual revelation and highly subjective schizophrenia. Practice discernment.

Instant Redial: New Peace Activists

  "When people in a democracy are not educated in the art of living --- to strengthen their conscience, compassion, and ability to question and think critically --- they can be easily manipulated by fear and propaganda. A democracy is only as wise as its citizens, and a democracy of ignorant citizens can be as dangerous as a dictatorship."

 Paul K. Chappell

The above portrait is of former solder and peace activist Paul Chappell.  Being a  portrait painter,  it caught my attention in some blurb from AOL yesterday shortly after posting about ETHOS the movie, and I liked it as a work of art, so I checked it out.  It's of peace activist Paul Chappell, who has stepped up to the issues of war touch on  in ETHOS.  It's good to see someone from his generation coming forward like this.  I've posted a video of his talk below - he's so clear and eloquent......and his comments on the psychology of warfare are well worth listening to! As someone who was trained extensively to be an officer, there's much to learn from his words. (And I do have to say, I hope the largely gray haired audience is not the norm for this important philosopher and activist.)

Lately I seem to get "instant redial",  sychronistically speaking........I just posted the previous article about the very important film ETHOS, the forfeit of democracy and the ecosystem to Corporatocracy (and me grousing about my good ole  days as a peace activist and how apathetic young people seem now, etc., etc.) when a young student from the U.A. came to the door collecting signatures for Arizona FairShare  and a conversation ensued about the organization he was collecting signatures for, and the film.  Encouraging! 

"Making critical investments in roads, bridges, rails, clean energy and education will put millions of Americans back to work while making life better for all.  We need our leaders to advance policies that will start creating jobs.  The American Jobs Act now in Congress would be a strong step forward, but many corporations and lobbyists are pushing back.  We can afford to create  jobs through smart investments if we make big corporations pay their fair share." (www.ArizonaFairShare.org)

 OK!  Thank you Universe!  I'm encouraged! 

ETHOS and "Corporatocracy"

 "Corporations are artificial constructions..........you might say they are monsters trying to devour  as much profit as possible at anyone's expense."  Howard Zinn

Recently my computer email was hacked, and "I" spewed thousands of links to all kinds of awful spam to my friends and mailing list.  It's hopefully over, but the sense of violation remains.  And frankly, it's an important lesson - something like that is a perfect example of the violation of the whole world by mindless capitalism.

I think it's pretty clear that we no longer have a true democracy.  What we have is a Corporatocracy.  I recently saw ETHOS,  and was stunned with how concisely and brilliantly the documentary explained the insanity of  "Government for, by, and of the Corporation".  This is one of the most important documentaries  I've ever seen. 

 Download the movie:   https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ethos-the-Movie/115151175221520

Join the debate on Facebook  - the filmmakers welcome comments and questions.

They are developing an e-book to help people make decisions about what companies to support, and also making the next film, ETHOS II.

Last year I blogged about  the history of the U.S. Department of Peace. (or rather why, after 200 some years, we still don't have one).    I was in the streets of San Francisco with 350,000 people in 1970 against the Vietnam war, which supposedly was to "save the world from communist China" (and now, who owns anything that isn't made in China?)......and yet it dragged on for 5 more years.  I marched again in 2003, again with some 300,000 people  against the invasion of Iraq.  Almost ten years later  the U.S. withdraws, and like Vietnam, who can say what it was really for?  Does anyone really believe it was for "freedom"?

"ENDING THE WARS:   I am going to give you a simple example. General Electric is an arms manufacturer. They make weapons for war. They make light bulbs too! They have their hands in so many things. They also own NBC news channel. But let’s stay with weapons for a minute.  If you are a weapons manufacturer you make billions, BILLIONS, of dollars whenever there is a war.  In fact if there is no war you make no money.  So, what we have here is a company that is in a position to support a war, Iraq or Afghanistan for example, on its news channel and then make BILLIONS of dollars if that war happens."

 The film makes it both clear and vital that we practice Voluntary Simplicity in our homes, lives, and what we do with our bodies as well.   The solution to rendering what's left of our democracy, along with the future, over to the soul-less "bottom line" of a global  Corporatocracy  begins in our wallets.

"The minute you change your behavior everything else changes. Our consumer behavior is monitored very closely. As soon as you change the way you consume it will be noticed immediately. Once you have started taking responsibility, getting more than one side of a story instead of just listening to the mainstream media, it becomes very difficult to fool you. Everything will change."

Anima Still Here**, and a Gaian Eulogy

 

I'm pleased to learn that Anima in Reserve, N.M. is still there, and with the fire still just over the horizon, Wolf and family found time to make a eulogy for a friend who died.

There's something very powerful about living like that.

Although I did not know  Gioia Tama, who was a dancer, I  found his words beautiful and wanted to share them.  His Eulogy so much speaks to what I feel, and what I believe ancient peoples felt.......we add to the great Conversation, and return to "the important dark as well as the tribal fire."

"We often hear people say that so-and-so is “gone now”,  an expression partly intended to spare us the difficult vernacular of death, as if avoiding the word could somehow keep the reality at bay.  But, I say, the amazing Gioia has not left for anywhere, she remains evermore a part of the earth she had no desire to leave, ladled back into the anima soup, the vital elements and miraculous energy from which new people – and even new species – are born.  Her cosmology was as eclectic and diverse as any I’ve known, but in every way it was an embrace of the cycles of existence, connection and devotion to the living land.  In her work to contribute to a new culture, she taught the values that nature teaches, in all its wisdom, diversity and splendor.  And when she danced, she danced grounded, with the power of a sentient, ass-kicking planet in every sure flamenco step.  Gioia has not gone, she is here in the important dark as well as in the tribal fire by which we see the path ahead, hear the duende we call mystery, and the eruptions of wildflowers of her beloved Guadalupita homestead. Don’t say “Adios“… always say “Adelante!”

-Jesse Wolf Hardin, Anima Sanctuary, June of 2012

 As I write this morning, I see that Grandmother Spider Woman has sent one of her skilled representatives to leave a message in the window above my desk.  She sits at the very center of a round web made of concentric transparent threads that glisten like a rainbow as the wind causes her creation to vibrate.  Ho, Grandmother Spider Woman!  Thank you!

I've felt a special bond with Jesse Wolf Hardin and family because, like the Web shimmering before me, the friendship demonstrates the mysterious way we're all, truly, connected.

I learned about Jesse's work when I read an article he'd written in Green Egg Magazine in 2000, shortly after I moved to Arizona.  My own article on sacred masks followed his, and the publisher had failed to let me know it had been published, so I found out only by buying a magazine.  I wrote Jesse to congratulate him on his moving article, and to let him know it had been published, just in case his situation was like mine.

That summer was very difficult for me.  I was involved in a kind of love relationship that was very psychic, perhaps karmic,  in its nature, and the situation gave me no opportunity to talk about it, not with the person involved, nor did I have anyone to talk to in my isolation in Tucson.  I was confused, not sure of anything, and self-destructive.  Although Jesse knew nothing whatsoever about me, he began to send me articles he had written about truth, magic, and integrity.  It was as if he knew somehow what I needed to hear  - he sent me a life raft.

The soul connections between us all are stunning sometimes.  Years later I was invited to submit poetry to an e-zine based in Pennsylvania called "The Divine Animal", and the editor  published some of my art and my poetry about Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love.  We exchanged correspondence, and I loved the stories she sent me.  She had lived in Tucson, and when I was doing a cast call for "Restoring the Balance" I wrote and asked her if she knew anyone who was a dancer/ritualist in Tucson.  She did, and that was how I met one of the women who helped "Spider Woman" weave her web during the closing performance!

We lost touch and the magazine ceased publication, but a few years later, I got an email from her that she was moving to New Mexico.  That was Kiva Rose,  one of Jesse's partners!  I so often find myself telling these stories because, well, I see the links sometimes.  I find it so hopeful. 

“What might we see, how might we act, if  we saw the world with a webbed vision? 

The world seen through a web of relationships…as delicate as spider’s silk,

yet strong enough to hang a bridge on.”

Catherine Keller "From a Broken Web" (1989) 

**Whitewater-Baldy Wildfire Now 4 Miles Away

At 420 square miles, the fire continues growing, with its most persistent spread being towards the Northwest… and towards us.  Fortunately the movement is relatively slow, but its westward movement has now positioned it due south of the Anima Sanctuary and only 4 miles away.  It is impossible to know how much of the new burns (shown in red on the map) were deliberately set, but with the rains still 6 weeks or so away, we will continue to be in danger until then.  Dan’l hopes to be able to show up more often now, and with the help of our two WOOF volunteers Mattie and Gina, the water pipes are getting buried, and the huge amounts of hazardous dead brush are being gathered for removal.

Donations to the fire fund have stopped coming in, though not before enabling us to get the last of the pipe and fire hose needed (thank you Dennis, for making the difference!).  It looks like there will not be contributions to pay for foil wrapping for the Gaia and Gifting Lodges, however, and they will burn with the trees if and when this or a future fire sweeps through here.  At the least, our main home/office structures have a very good chance of surviving a conflagration now, and the work for this land, our students and community will be able to continue unabated.

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Contributions

Thank you to those who have been able to contribute to the protection of the School infrastructure, it would be impossible without the donations last year and now. Contributions accepted for further fire protection needs.  To contribute to the Anima Fire Fund, either send a postal money order in any amount to:

Gretchen Geggis (Loba!)
PO Box 688, Reserve, NM 87830

or make a PayPal instant payment by going to:
 www.PayPal.com
Enter the amount as a personal “gift” and send to: TWHKiva@gmail.com

Update on New Mexico Fire

The folks at  Anima Center in Reserve, N.M. have not been in touch since the 1st, and I have not been able to find out what's going on.  I do know the Mimbres Cliff dwellings have been closed, so I assume the Mimbres community is also endangered. Residents of Mogollon have, however,  been allowed to return to their homes.

You know, the size of this fire is bigger than some European countries.  This really brings climate change home, literally.

To contribute to the Anima Fire Fund, either send a postal money order in any amount to:

Gretchen Geggis (Loba!)
PO Box 688, Reserve, NM 87830

or make a PayPal instant payment by going to:
 www.PayPal.com
Enter the amount as a personal “gift” and send to: TWHKiva@gmail.com

 

Reflections on Visioning

Do you have the patience to wait
till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
till the right action arises by itself?
The master doesn't seek fulfillment.
Not seeking, not expecting,
she is present, and can welcome all things.

 Lao-Tzu

 I've recently discovered a way to publish, inexpensively, my RAINBOW BRIDGE ORACLE cards, and so have given myself the luxury of working on a really nice book to accompany the deck.......this project has been in the works for 20 years, so needless to say, I never really thought it would get published, so this is a surprise.  Going back to these cards is like re-visiting a younger self, trying to  understand her.  I can't say I do.  But I do see that,  the minute I re-engaged with this (for me) ancient project, many colored (rainbow) threads of synchronicity began to weave around me!


The Goddess is all about creativity.  Begin to create, throw in some excitement to flavor the mix, and the universe will nudge you along.  So I entirely believe.

I've created 7 new cards, and am having a hard time writing about them.  I'm actually a visual thinker, and writing is always rather excruciating for me.  So, in the midst of a Bon Mot, wham, a power outage. When that happens, there's nothing to do but take a small vacation, so I went downtown to the studio to sweep the floor, since I'm trying to get it rented.

In walked Kristy, who is doing a series of paintings about the Tarot!  She wanted me to see her new painting in the series, and in the course of visiting her studio, she asked me if I was going to be in a show about Water (we think about water a lot, here in the Southwest).......it seemed I only had two hours left  to bring work to the gallery.

 I  rushed to Raices Teller, where a conversation ensued about my experience last year with the Waters of the World ritual at the Goddess Conference in Glastonbury.   I have a vial of the "holy water"  from the ritual, the White Spring and the Chalice Well.  One of the curators asked  if I had anything I could bring to the show about that experience.

Immediately a distinct vision of a little shrine popped into my head, and now I have two days to make it! 

I brought the "Waters of the World" with me on the plane, carrying the essence of those holy places and the joined waters from around the world to share its beautiful blessing.  Now I find myself thinking about "visioning". To be an artist is to make a career of it, but we are all the artists of our lives, and when we engage the mythic mind, we find ourselves woven into the rainbow threads of many other lives as well.  There's  a thread dangling around me these days, as I honestly don't know what to do with my life anymore..........I'm trying to catch it.......over the rainbow...........

Update on the Anima Center

 

I've so often written about Speaking to the Earth, how this is something we have lost as an unsustainable industrial civilization.  What Jesse Wolf Hardin, Loba, and Kiva Rose do at the Anima Center in New Mexico is to live that way, and their work is so very important.  I'm taking the liberty again of posting from their blog as forest fire continues to threaten the center for the second time in a row.  I know they have many friends, and do this to spread the word.

To contribute to the Anima Fire Fund, either send a postal money order in any amount to:

Gretchen Geggis (Loba!)
PO Box 688, Reserve, NM 87830

or make a PayPal instant payment by going to:
 www.PayPal.com
Enter the amount as a personal “gift” and send to: TWHKiva@gmail.com

  

Whitewater-Baldy Wildfire Updates 
(from Anima Center Blog)

300 sq. Miles and Growing – Largest in Recorded State History
Under 6 Miles Away From Us – But We’re Nearly Sprinkler Ready!

The growing Whitewater Baldy Complex Fire is now over 300 square miles in size, engulfing 250,000 plus acres as of the publishing of this post.  On the map below, its northernmost spur appears to have crept a little closer still to us, though much of the red on the Northwest edge is certainly indicating backfires set to slow the progression.

June 1st Whitewater-Baldy Fire Perimeter, Anima location marked top left

The winds have been largely blowing out of instead of towards the Northeast, resulting in more smoke in the mornings and more worry about the fire’s direction, though they thankfully remain under 20mph.  The perimeter nearest us and the village of Reserve seems secure enough for the time being, but another day of those earlier 50mph winds could easily push the front again our way.

 

The mountain across the river from our cabins, in thick smoke that fortunately moves away by 11A.M. so far. Whitewater-Baldy Fire Photo by Jesse Wolf Hardin

On the list if more fire donations come in, will be expensive protective foil wrap to enclose the two guest cabins.  If not, all that may remain is to get a small trailer outfitted for the pump so that it can be moved easier, and purchase some kind of fuel reservoir so the pump purchased last Summer will run unattended for more hours, pumping water up and to… yes, you guessed it!….

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Sprinkler Test #1 - Wolf and Rhiannon - Yippee!

Protective Sprinklers!

There is still lots of adjusting, routing and burying of the water pipes to go, but Trail Boss made sure the sprinkler system was ready to spray water on our main buildings.  What you see in the pictures is the excited first test of the system, with everyone (and even Kiva’s camera) getting a bit of a drenching.

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The walls of our rough built structures have a lot of gaps where the water could get in between the walls and cause problems with rot, so Dan’l will close them up as best he can as time permits.  But already, even unadjusted, the sprinklers up the odds that a wildfire doesn’t take out our funky little home and office.

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Projects Continue

Having the sprinklers working and close to ready means we’ve been able to think about other things besides the fire’s approach, including release of the recent 44 page long TWHC Newsletter, completion of the new 297 (!) page long Plant Healer Magazine… and the readying of The Medicine Bear novel with dear proofreaders’ help, a historically accurate story of not only the Southwest’s people but the land and lifeforms such as are suffering from the megafires today (www.TheMedicineBear.com). The flames, for second year in a row, have added to and rearranged our priorities, but they’ve also kept a fire under our arses so that everything that matters most gets done.  We were determined to be prepared for the fire, and determined that the magazine would be both more amazing than ever and go out on time.

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As with life itself, there are mornings when it can be hard to see through the smoke and obfuscation... but always, the glow of the cliffs somehow remains visible, as does our purpose, and the work and love ahead.

A Positive Side

Being hounded by record breaking wildfires two Summers in a row can seem like nothing but a repeat nightmare, the destruction of plant and animal, the damage or threat to human homes, and the awful image of this sanctuary being torched after such intense and prolonged efforts to replant, restore and rewild it.  Cottonwoods may or may not burn, but the roots they’ve established in our 33 years of protection will live and sprout again.  The giant Ponderosa pine forest facing us on the east slope is unlikely to regenerate under current climate conditions, but sad as that is, there will be a succession of green life forms brimming with the anima vital force and eager to use this home and opportunity to thrive.

And if this canyon happens to be spared yet again from the flames of a record fire, through the efforts of fire fighters, prayers of friends and supporters or the canyon’s own will and purpose, then we will have the benefit of a protective buffer of already burned or reduced fuel-load land now both the east and west of us… with this river canyon being a rich strip of biodiversity acting as the seed bank and mother roots from which new life will spread.