Beautiful!

Reflections on War, Patriarchal Mind, Despair and Hope

"GAIA" (1086)

"Yesterday as I watched the M.L.K. gathering on T.V., I couldn't help but wonder what Obama was feeling. Here he was lauding M.L.K.'s creed of non-violence, yet we as a country are ready to fight violence with violence and the drum beat of war grows ever louder in the distance. Talk about cognitive dissonance! As with the last two wars in the mid-east I wonder if this one is the beginning of the end.  Maybe we'll draw back at the last minute like Kennedy did with the cuban missile crisis. 

We can hope. We can pray."

Valerie J. (from today's email)

As I responded to my friend Val's recent email, I questioned who "we" were.  Because I share a common bi-pedal humanity with the forces that inflict war after war on humanity, I don't believe that I, and many others, are included in the "we" when speaking of what our government is  preparing to do as once again the bombs will fly, and another war will open.  Polls show that only 9% of the population wants another war, and just like in the past, what control do we have over what our militaristic government is doing?  As Val points out, ironic indeed. I've marched against Vietnam, and against the invasion of Iraq with hundreds of thousands, and seen little happen.  As I listen to news about the alarming melting of Antartica, and write about waves of radioactivity washing into the Pacific ocean, truly global concerns, and read speeches about the non-violent actions of Martin Luthor King, whose bravery and dedication made possible the very president we have now............Why do we still have no control over the militarism of our country?

When I was in Bali years ago used to go to the Temple of Hanuman to feed the grey monkeys that lived in the forest there.  It was a common sight to see the little females struggling to forage with an infant on their breasts, and an older child hanging on for dear life to their backs.  One day I turned up with a bunch of bananas, and a very big alpha male monkey sauntered over, walking very much as a human bully would, bared his considerable teeth at me, and grabbed the whole bunch out of my hands.  I wasn't going to argue.  He sauntered away, sat down with the entire bunch, and all the rest of the monkeys gathered around, hoping he might drop something.  I remember thinking, damn, I sure hope, as a very large tribe of naked monkeys, we can evolve beyond this.

Hollywood churns out distopian movies now that are all about a ruined world, with roaming bands of warriors fighting for alpha male status - endless mythos of a "hero" fighting it out, and ending up, like that grey monkey, for a while, with all the bananas and the best females.  Until, of course, the next alpha male turns up with bigger firepower.  This is the adolescent male fantasy that absorbs virtually all "action" films, and tragically, all it can imagine for the future is endless war and competition. This is the mythos that millions of boys (and girls) now additively act out with video games, video games that will prepare them someday to push buttons that launch drone bombs to far away places, never seeing in their minds or hearts the face of the children, women, old people upon whom they will fall.   How, in any way, does this prepare us for the future we face now?

Pray indeed for our country, and for the millions of innocents who will experience our bombs along with the violent tyranny of their own country, and the thousands of American youth who will not become doctors, or parents, or artists, or gardeners, or environmental activists, but who continue to  die as soldiers.  And as they go, we will continue to watch, entranced, numb, bellowing about "revenge" or "jihad" or "freedom" as the future dies.

When I feel stressed, thanks to Netflix, I now escape into Star Trek.  Yes, there's a lot of fighting there, but there is also, especially in the earlier versions, a lot of hope that I no longer see in our media. Inherent in the series was the image of a noble crew and captain, and a society that sought to explore "where no one has gone before" with the Prime Directive because they left behind a world without poverty or injustice. The recent "Star Trek" movie, featuring new actors portraying younger versions of Kirk and Spock, features brilliant special effects - but nowhere is there the effort to teach some kind of morality, ethics, or human interest that was a concern in Gene Roddenberry's earlier series. It's like a video game - endless bang bang and blow 'em up.  I imagine most young people find the "moralizing" of old Star Trek shows boring indeed.

We all know now we're not going to the stars.  2001 has come and gone, and unlike the vision Kubrick had, we didn't go to the moon.  Instead we went to war, again, and then again, and again.  And we have learned very little about how to live together on, and preserve, our beloved Mother Earth.  Mostly I cry for the loss of so much that is beautiful, and I cry for the future, for our children and their children, who are not going to the stars or the moon, but rather will struggle to simply survive the debris of our  civilization, a civilization with so many wonders, so much possibility.  Here's another  email I recently received, from Ariadne:

"I'm not hopeful about the future. It's clear that this civilization will not survive the effects of climate change and the many other consequences of our pollution, overpopulation, greed and lack of empathy. Nor should patriarchal civilization survive, but it's unlikely to die without a catastrophic collapse. The survivors will be trying to scratch out an existence in a biologically depauperate world.

To me, Goddess is Nature -- the Universe and the Earth. She does not need us; we need Her. But I think the evolutionary experiment on Earth of combining large brains with testosterone has been a fairly quick flop -- managing to exist for only a quarter million years before evolving to extinction.

It's a big universe, and no doubt there are other experiments in "intelligence" under way elsewhere. Life will go on here on Earth for hundreds of millions of years after we are gone."

Should I mince my words, for fear of offending, not share the anger and despair of people like Ariadne?  We all know what individuals are capable of - we celebrate Martin Luthor King for what he accomplished, and the many who followed him to make a better and more just world. People who represented that evolution beyond patriarchy, an evolution toward cooperation.   No matter what, we must hold on to these principles, these possibilities.  I do not believe in mindless "positivity", but  I do believe in finding ways to go forward with love,  if not always hope.

"Dove of Sophia" by Hrana Janto.

***

I have always found it a great irony that few people realize that non-violence was fundamental to the origins of Christianity.  In fact, the theology began to change politically when Christianity became an important religion in Rome, and the army was confronted with converted soldiers who left the army because it was against their creed.  The sign of a cross, a sign representing violence and humiliation to early Christians as well as Pagan Romans, was not the symbol of early Christianity - it was a fish, representing the fisherman Peter,  a Disciple of Jesus of Nazareth and one of the founders of the early Church.  The Cross did not appear as a symbol until the later, ironic (and yet practical for Rome's army), militarization of Christianity in Rome, when Roman soldiers would paint the cross upon their shields.  So in many ways, the adaption of the Cross meant the beginning of justification of war in Christian theology.

Someone I've always admired, who has  endeavored to follow the non-violent original teachings of his Faith is former President  Jimmy Carter. 

ww.politico.com/story/2013/08/jimmy-carter-syria-peace-summit-96087.html#ixzz2dYvaK72S

Update on Fukushima

Source:  
http://enenews.com/study-shows-fukushima-nuclear-pollution-becoming-more-concentrated-in-pacific-as-it-nears-u-s-west-coast-plume-travels-a-nearly-straight-line-to-america-appears-to-stay-together-with-little-dis

A Chinese study shows Fukushima nuclear pollution becoming more concentrated as it approaches U.S. West Coast — Plume crosses ocean in a nearly straight line toward N. America — Appears to stay together with little dispersion.

 Source: Science China Earth Sciences; Volume 56, Issue 8, pp 1447-1451
Authors: GuiJun Han, Wei Li, HongLi Fu, XueFeng Zhang, XiDong Wang, XinRong Wu, LianXin Zhang,  Date: August 2013

 View the study online here (UPDATE: Free via http://femalefaust.blogspot.com)

More info:

http://www.whydontyoutrythis.com/2013/09/11-facts-about-the-ongoing-fukushima-nuclear-holocaust-too-horrifying-to-believe.html

Wendell Barry

"There are, it seems, two muses: the Muse of Inspiration, who gives us inarticulate visions and desires, and the Muse of Realization, who returns again and again to say "It is yet more difficult than you thought." This is the muse of form. It may be then that form serves us best when it works as an obstruction, to baffle us and deflect our intended course. It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.”

 ― Wendell Berry

“Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.

And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.

When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.

Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.

Listen to carrion — put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world.

Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.

Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep of a woman near to giving birth?

 Go with your love to the fields.

Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.

As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn’t go.

Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.”

― Wendell Berry

Fukushima, and the Pacific Ocean

What happened in Japan in 2011 is a continuing worldwide tragedy, and has been denied by the media.  I return from my trip to these articles forwarded by  Dr. Carol Wolman, a long time nuclear activist  in Northern California. 

Dear Friends,

The bad news continues- see headlines below.   I took part in a conference call with the director of Nuclear Affairs- Tom Cochran at National Resources Defense Fund (NRDC) yesterday.  I was asking him to support a call for making Fukushima declared an international catastrophe.  He declined, saying essentially that the discharge into the ocean will be diluted and won't affect us or the rest of the world- it's a Japanese problem.  I pointed out that the corium has hit the groundwater, so pollution of the ocean will increase- he ignored this.

Please continue circulating this petition  http://www.change.org/petitions/west-coast-senators-investigate-the-ongoing-danger-from-the-fukushima-nuclear-reactors .   We need to break through the denial of how serious this is.

Peace,
Carol Wolman

 please sign the petition to put pressure on our Senators.
http://www.change.org/petitions/west-coast-senators-investigate-the-ongoing-danger-from-the-fukushima-nuclear-reactors

 Here's the news:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/05/fukushima-leak-emergency_n_3707075.html

8-8 http://enenews.com/ktxl-sacramento-now-the-threat-of-radioactive-water-rushing-our-way-traces-of-radiation-found-in-area-fish-not-dangerous-expert-says-video

http://enenews.com/nuclear-official-radioactive-leaks-getting-out-of-control-and-creating-a-state-of-emergency-at-fukushima-emergency-is-accelerating-due-to-faster-than-expected-swelling-underground

8-9 http://enenews.com/top-official-the-current-situation-is-extremely-severe-at-fukushima-plan-to-reduce-contamination-flowing-into-ocean-relies-on-untested-methods-and-technologies-that-have-not-been-develop

8-10  http://enenews.com/tv-very-likely-that-some-of-the-melted-cores-have-moved-into-the-earth-at-fukushima-its-beyond-containment-right-now-video

Farewell to the East Coast.............

Well, hit the road today, leaving as I always seem to do from Lilydale first and last.  Now there's a sign you won't see everywhere..........but maybe it would be a much better world if you did.

I leave with great gratitude at the friendships I've revisited and new ones I've made, and the places I love that I also revisited, old friends that have given me new and sustainable courage.  I leave with much affirmation and encouragement to just keep on doing what i love to do - as Joseph Campbell famously said:  "Follow your Bliss, and doors will open where you don't expect them to."   And to quote from  a younger woman who was myself somewhere along the road:  "We live in a house of Doors".  

I was pleased with my show, which gave me a chance to share the original paintings from the  Rainbow Bridge Oracle as well as doing readings from the deck, something I haven't done in a while and find I still do well.  I was also pleased with the turnout my friend Berkanna got for showing "The World According to Monsanto".  There is some information to update on this issue, but don't have time to post right now. 

“What might we see, how might we act, if  we saw 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 

Perhaps I also always leave from Lilydale because I want to leave remembering that we're  provided with "invisible means of support".   It doesn't work in simple ways, and we don't always get what we "think we want", but I have always found that I get what I need, and synchronicities, dreams, and friends continually offer guidance along the way.

I don't know if there is a cure for evil such as the greed and destruction that drives a corporate monster like Monsanto.  But I do know that if we really understand, in our daily lives, how  intimately  connected we are to the vast multiplicity of life around us...........we would live with empathy, and act with empathy, because what we do to the earth and to all Her Beings,  is what we do to ourselves.  Ironically,  I believe that's the essence of what Jesus of Nazareth taught long before the church became the strange phenomenon it is now, long before doctrines about heaven and hell, being "saved", Christian soldiers, "God Fearing",  crusades, inquisitions, holy wars, and so on.  As I prepare to pass through the often scary "Bible belt" I find myself reflecting  on the loss of  Christianity's Gnostic beginnings.......well.   The origins of the U.S.A. included religious freedom, and the right to free speech, so in that spirit, my bumper stickers stay on the back of my car.  Including the one that says "God is Coming, and Boy Is She Pissed!".

For myself, I began this trip feeling very unsure of where to go now, what to do, and I leave the adventure with all the answers I need - serve the Goddess, serve kindness, beauty, and "a webbed vision", and all I really need will be provided.  

As I was saying goodbye to the "stump cathedral" in Leolyn woods, I saw that people had left all kinds of offerings/mementos on the "stump", and I remembered something I've been carrying around in my purse since the trip began - a plastic replica of a sheaf of wheat.  Admittedly, not something all that impressive, but back in April I was looking all over the Internet and Michaels for plastic wheat, which I wanted to use for a Demeter mask.  I was not successful, and finally gave up on the idea of finishing the mask.  So, it was a funny thing to discover a plastic "wheat sheaf" on the ground at a rest stop in Flagstaff as I was headed east. No big deal - but I had to laugh, and say "thank you".   

Oh..........and watch out for those Dragons!

Danger on the Beach (thanks to Joyce Weiss)

Ravenwood Forest

"Root People" - water color by Valerianna Claff

Yellow spider on a very yellow flower

It was my pleasure to spend a few days with  Valerianna at her studio and home in Ravenwood Forest, in Chesterfield,  Western Massachusetts. Valerianna is an artist, a teacher, a sound healer, and a ceremonialist, and she is also, truly, the stewardess and friend of her forest home, which abounds with the numinous  presence of elemental beings.....as well as the physical presence of birds, deer, bear, and butterfly.  

It was good to meet an artist who speaks so  elequently about  the Numina,  the intelligence one feels emanating from the trees, the stones, the land.  An intelligence conversant and responsive to the artist  as she offers reciprocity and love with her art and her music.  I especially responded to her  recent series of  watercolors that envision the  luminous energy  felt within the forest, sensed but rarely seen, the living essence one feel is dancing somewhere in the distance, rising from the  forest floor or flickering among the dark branches of tree and root, enchanting and mysterious as the call of a songbird in the silent wood.

"Earthlight", watercolor on paper, 15in X 22in, VClaff 2013

To me, the artist captures beautifully that invisible, but potent, Numina, brilliant and intense, humming within the soil, perhaps rising at certain auspicious times,  distant luminosity.   Thank you for a magical weekend!  To learn more about the artist and her work, as well as her classes, visit her website:  www.ravenwoodforestarts.com

RavenWood Forest  - water color by Valerianna Claff

RavenWood Forest  - water color by Valerianna Claff

I especially responded to Valerianna's paintings of what she calls "Root People". She  says  she sees the trees often morphing into faces......something I often experience myself.  Faces in the stone, faces in the roots.    (As if the elemental beings  occasionally manifest a face, a human form, a voice,  just so we can know them, briefly, in our own terms.........)And perhaps, from those brief moments, the mythic world emerges, the Fey folk dance at twilight, the Green Man makes his play.  And at the roots live those beings, that wonder. 

"Root People" - water color by Valerianna Claff

I walked among the trees
I wore the mask of the deer
I am that laughing man
with eyes like leaves

You will feel my breath, warm at your neck.
I will rise in the grass, a vine caressing your foot.

I am the blue eye of a crocus
  opening in the snow
  a trickle of water, a calling bird,
  a shaft of light among the trees.

You will hear me singing
among the green groves of memory,
the shining leaves of tomorrow.

I'll come
with daisies in my hands,
we'll dance among the sycamores
once more

"GreenWood", watercolor on paper, 15in X 22in, VClaff 2013

 

Pasha investigates my car

Magical garden