The Gift

Photo from http://blog.sacredearthsevenelement.com/


A precious gift kept inside, tucked away safe from prying eyes. Our heart's desire lies within, waiting for us to open to it.

The Solstice gifts are many; light returns, the dreamer awakes, the spark is created,the seedlings are planted.

Through this turning of the wheel, we will sleep, and create, and nurture. Tonight we open our hearts to the dream within. We have come here to recognize in ourselves and one another, the desire that birthed us into this world.

Together, we build the circle of love necessary to bring a heart's desire to fruition. Each heart in unison, in service; to ourselves and to one another.

So tell me, what does the chamber of your heartspace ask of you? What are you willing to reveal? What gift do you carry? And most importantly, are you ready to unwrap it?

Entering the Heartspace

I spent some time this morning looking at some of my old notes from 2006 to the present, and reviewing some written information I'd received earlier this year from Nigel Taylor, Elizabeth Frediani, Tom Cowan, and Victoria Pendragon.

And today, I could see so clearly what I'd been circling around and yet still missing; all the truth lies in the heart. That's the heart-space, or heart-center...not the physical heart. So simple a place to be, and yet the space that scares us the most to enter and stay present within. It's the space where you can see whether or not you are coming from love, or from fear. Where faith, trust and 'the presence' are found.

Nigel Taylor speaks of a "closed loop" of the mind. Not just the mind, but of consciousness. And the way consciousness is bandied about by those on the path is still, ultimately, a product of the mind. There is an expectation of a critical mass of humanity, using new and exciting body/mind technologies, leaping to a new level of being by finding the courage and wisdom to overcome the problems we face. But can true solutions come from the same consciousness that produced them?

In the Dreamer's own words "It is not about changing the mind, it is about opening to love. There must be a discipline to rise above the mind and unleash the power of the heart through Pure Love."

In my work and my path, I have been brought to this point. Consciousness without a concurrent opening of the heart center is just another level of the mind. And there can be no true healing without being in a space of love.

The people who have come to recover this information and (re)teach it are all carrying the same message, regardless of race, religion, spirituality or belief system. This embodied wisdom has been lost within nearly every religion. Nigel Taylor is one of them. So is the Dalai Lama, though many of his followers are stuck within the trap of consciousness. Elizabeth Frediani has a book coming out next month, "Where Body Meets Soul", which contains simple exercises to assist you to find and be within the sacred heart center.

The ability to move beyond our stories and into the sacred heart center propels the awakened soul to become a shapeshifter of the Divine Mystery. To, in essence, become the God essence that we all search for. It is from this presence that we evoke love, peace, truth, compassion, and delve into the sacred recesses of ancient wisdom.

Insight and Revelation

You are walking the walk. It just isn't a straight path. Our life challenges spiral back around again and again so we can face them from a slightly more conscious place each time.
--Deborah King








I often see you in my dreams...
the only reality in which you appear, now.
Again, early this morning, we were friends.

You and I, walking and talking,
arm in arm, whispering quietly,
privately, happily, confiding our secrets.

We strolled through town, at first in a big city,
then in a smaller one, unfamiliar to me.
Through a concrete gray landscape,
and then a quiet neighborhood.

You wanted a picture to remember me by,
knowing how I hate myself in photos.
You arranged for me to meet a tiny Samoan woman.
You were on one side, me on the other.
Then, a Chinese mother came forward,
and snapped the photo.
You'd tricked me!

I was wearing a beautiful, white flowing shirt...
one you'd picked out and gifted to me.
I told you I wanted to be in black, instead.

Then I saw a studio,
with a real photographer.
I explained my needing to look a certain way;
to appear just so.

I would give you my likeness,
but only in a certain way;
the way I was comfortable...
wearing my mask.

You stared at me blankly.
That was not what you wanted.
You wanted to see me,
warts and all.

It dawned on me just then...
I wanted to give you what you wanted.
In my desire to please you at that moment,
I was able to recognize my own foolish pride.

I watched you do your layouts,
and design work on the computer.
I sat with you, and asked you to help.
Could you assist me in posting a photo?

As I watched you work your magic,
it all became clear, suddenly.
It was time to reveal myself,
fully and without any mask, or make-up.

People have been fine with me as I am,
for the most part.
They do see me for who I am...in plain sight.
It was I that couldn't face myself.

I couldn't look at myself without cringing.
I judged myself unworthy, unlovable.
Not able to see a simple image of me,
unvarnished, without disguise.

So...now I get the picture.
I was so afraid to reveal myself, my likeness.
Terrified to relive my own harsh judgment.

But I'm ready now, to face the truth,
to be seen exactly as I am.
Whole, glowing, free.

Perhaps when we next meet,
unfettered and free,
full of the sweetness of life,
I will be flying.

Why I Love Joss Whedon

http://www.motherjones.com/arts/qa/2008/11/media-jones-interview-inside-the-dollhouse.html

An interview by MoJo Blog where Joss discusses "womb envy", how he loves feminists and why he cleared his new series Dollhouse with the women from 'Equality Now'.

Joss Whedon is a man who 'gets' it. May there be hundreds of thousands more to follow!

A Graceful Tree Spirit

Stop the usual end-of-the-administration rampant political cronyism. Sign the petition and help protect our planet- it's the only one we've got that's inhabitable.

http://action.lcv.org/campaign/november_bush/forward

Coming Home To My Heart

It's hard for me to believe that it's been a month since I posted. There's been so much happening for me...preparation to move, expand, grow. Only a few weeks since I went away on retreat, and it feels like another lifetime.

Today brings a clarity and full embrace of who I am, and the path before me. In this life that I've chosen I'm a carrier of truth, a reader of patterns, an explorer of boundaries, a facilitator of healing, a proponent of light and love. In integrating this knowledge, I accept the responsibility and sacrifice (to make sacred) to allow spirit to move through me daily, unimpeded by fear, getting out of my own way when necessary without any fuss.

Is it possible? Of course. I've done it naturally for the past 2 weeks. Is it always that easy? Of course not. But now, I will cultivate patience, and allow my wide-open and compassionate heart to lead me through each day, each moment.

I feel profoundly grateful to be in this space, and to be able to love so well. I think I relearned about this at my retreat. Not just because I fell in love with someone else, but because I fell in love with myself first.

I now realize that there is no difference when you live fully within your heart. The heart center is the space where duality merges, where the lines between you and 'the other' melt away for a time. True merging happens when two whole selves come together for a time, embodying and creating the divine, unified aspect, and when separating again, leave the other stronger and more powerful from the experience. A wholeness carried from the very fabric of our inner being to completion in the outer world.

As my teacher Joe Klemas has told me many times, "Love is a decision." I understand that now.

So this day, I choose to love and serve to the best of my ability. I sit in profound gratitude for my life, and for the chance to create beauty and joy within this day, and within our world.

Many Blessings and Much Love,
Alyce

I'm Moving...

This is my tarot pick for today after sending out an email to all my friends, clients and family about my upcoming move to Seattle, WA. http://www.lunaea.com/tarot/tarottour3/tour47.html

The Guardian of Fire

Truth-telling and politics

..or should I say truth-stretching? Rachel Maddow justs calls it like she sees it... Governor Palin is a liar.

Disaster Capitalism

We're living it now. How far will it go?



For more detailed information try these links:

Naomi Klein- Disaster Capitalism (8 min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG9CM_J00bw&NR=1

Naomi Wolf - Give Me Liberty (27 min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XgkeTanCGI

Messages...

Today, I'm listening to my own heartbeat; the sound of my blood and the DNA of my ancestors. I'm filled with both love and sadness...a perception of connectedness to all that is.

Open-hearted, I walk through the doorway of a new life. A faery doorway. One I'm unfamiliar with, but have longed for my entire life. I embrace the fear, and the joy that brings me to this place.

The only thing I can think to say in this moment is...

I love you.

The winking was just creepy, okay?

Question- How do you know when Sarah Palin is lying?

Answer- Her lips are moving.

Paid for by Big Oil

From the League of Conservation Voters...

And the Murdoch media stooges finally confront the liars...

I can hardly believe it, but here's Chris Wallace on FOX News confronting Rick Davis with "vastly exaggerating" Sarah Palin's record as a 'reformer'. This is priceless.

Oh, and it was a beautiful day in the Philly neighborhood as the Obama/Biden supporters were out in full force, knocking on doors and carrying on conversations about real change.

Quiet the heart and look within...in memory of 9/11

http://www.lunaea.com/tarot/

Save the Endangered Species Act!

We have one week left. If you haven't made a public comment yet, please do it now. Apparently, plain emails are not being considered, just another way of limiting public input.

'Death by Definition' in the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-lakoff/death-by-definition-save_b_124904.html

While our attention has been turned elsewhere, the Endangered Species Act, our major environmental protection legislation, is being gutted--now. Not by Congress. Not by the courts. Not even by Bush's executive orders. It is being destroyed by redefinition, by a series of linguistic tricks.

Thanks to George Lakoff. Here are some talking points from the article, and instructions on how to get your comments read:

Act Now!

Here are some Talking Points:

* You are against the proposed rule changes because they weaken the Endangered Species Act nearly to the point of nonexistence.

* Environmental systems mostly work by systemic causation, with many indirect causes, not by "essential causation." The change to "essential causation" opens the door to an indefinitely large number of projects that can jointly put endangered species in jeopardy.

* The change in "consultation" rules will de facto eliminate the gathering of information relevant to protecting species.


Here's how you get your comments read:

Go to www.regulations.gov and use the search terms: "50 CFR Part 402 proposed rule".

The proposed changes are in Document # E8 - 18938

To see the proposed changes, click on "View this document"

Click on "Send a comment or submission" to write your comment.

Arianna Huffington nails it...

Excerpt from her column today on the Huffington Post:

Just look at the problem John McCain faced. George Bush has a disastrous record, and the country knows it. John McCain -- the current one, not the one who vanished eight years ago -- has no major disagreements with George Bush (and I'm sorry, wanting to fire Donald Rumsfeld a bit sooner doesn't qualify) and wants to continue his incredibly unpopular policies for another four years. The solution? Enter Sarah Palin, a Trojan Moose carrying four more years of disaster.

Read the full article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/sarah-palin-a-trojan-moos_b_124867.html

It was brought to my attention that some of you are having a difficult time finding the proper links to the Barack Obama website, in order to learn (or refresh yourself) on how he stands on the issues that are important to you.

I share your frustration after hearing negative attacks, and generally feeling bombarded with lies and obfuscation from not only his opponents, but by an internet frenzy of complete bullshit. Or maybe I should say mooseshit?

Anyway, here's the link:
http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

Caribou Barbie

... [ READ THE FULL POST AT OTR » ]

Comes with everything you see here:

- Dead Caribou
- AK-47
- Snowmobile
- Sexy Librarian Glasses

[Also available: Alaska State Legislature Investigation Playset- includes subpoena for abuse of power, independent investigator and defense attorney. *additional lawyers sold separately*]

She even talks with such fun phrases like:

- "I'm a pitbull with lipstick!"
- "My family is off-limits!"
- "What is it the Vice President actually does?"

Palin's real 'choice' for special needs kids

Just received this from my friend Elise who has a 13yr old daughter with Down's Syndrome.

During Governor Palin's first term in office, she slashed funding for schools/special needs programs. This is an example of some of the 'wasteful spending' she trimmed from the AK budget. Guess that may change now, but the best indicator of what someone will do in office is to look at what they've already done.

Palin: "To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House."

Sarah Palin might have changed her mind on this one recently. However, Palin actually slashed funding for schools for special needs kids by 62%.

Budgets: FY 2007 (pre-Palin), 2008, 2009 (all pdfs).

Sent to me by a friend today...

Let the games begin...

Troopergate? Not if the GOP can help it. A McCain ally seeks to derail the investigation of Sarah Palin by removing the Democrat in charge of the investigation, claiming it is being 'politicized.'

Uh, pardon me, but isn't this exactly the kind of abuse of power being investigated to begin with?

You just can't make this shit up.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/157439

Oh, the hypocrisy!

Anyone else out there think it's a damn shame that it takes a comedian to point out the hypocrisy, forked tongues and double standards of the MSM talking heads and politicians? Are there any real journalists left out there? Watch Jon Stewart put Rove, O'Reilly statements to the test.

ONE Vote '08

Look, we really can all get along...

ONE members have been trailing the presidential candidates asking them to go on the record with their plans to fight extreme poverty for more than a year. And it's paid off. You can see the plans each candidate submitted to ONE members back in December on our "On The Record" site.

Add your voice to the millions of Americans coming together to make fighting poverty core to this year's presidential election.

A Woman Without Compassion

What a difference a day makes. It appears I wasn't the only one busy trying to put the word out about Gov. Sarah Palin. In 24 little hours, the picture that has emerged isn't pretty if you are a fan of women's rights, a believer in evolution, a defender of animal rights, or planetary resources. All these things, this web of life, our Mother Earth, my animistic philosophy, and social justice are the most important things to me.

I'm a member of at least 5 organizations that have contacted me with horrifying information that even I didn't find yesterday; NARAL, Planned Parenthood, NRDC, MoveOn.org, Defenders of Wildlife. I didn't put it together that Governor Palin was the one who reorganized the aerial killings of the wolves in AK. I can't comprehend how a woman could do that.

I'm truly stunned that anyone could claim to be a creationist, and not believe that the spirit of God dwells within every living creature and organism. Claim to believe in the right-to-life, except for a mother with a critical decision to make, her life or her baby's. A self-proclaimed feminist who is all for limiting a woman's right to plan (or not) to have a family. She's pro-life? Who's exactly?

She is exactly the type of woman I'm most frightened by...one who is completely run by ego and ambition, extreme enough to limit the rights of her own sex, even in cases of rape and incest. She wants to mandate compassion for others, while not actually having to go there herself. She is the embodiment of all the classic and colossal hypocrisy of the far-right extremists. What about the special needs child she had within the last year? Is she going to drag an infant around with her on the campaign trail? Is she really pro-life? Or just pro-Palin?

What this Presidential race is shaping up to be, for me, is a referendum on the truth of Oneness and compassion. Who will be able to find the openness and generosity of heart necessary to understand that each of us is inextricably connected to not only each other, but to the very Earth itself? Which mindset will stir the hearts and minds of America in November? Where will you put your energy (no pun intended)?

Can we really afford 4 more years?

Environmentally Conscious Voters, Beware

Or should I say BE AWARE?

John McCain has officially picked his Vice Presidential running mate...it's the 'real' maverick and rising Republican star, Governor Sarah "drill in ANWR now" Palin. Her expertise is in communications and media. For utilities. She's savvy, and good at political and administrative maneuvering disguised within the persona of a rebel. Just like Senator McCain, the 'maverick' who voted with George Bush over 90% of the time.

I think we all need to pay attention to what our Senators and Representatives support and how they vote, not to what they say, and how they present themselves. Vote however you want, but vote on facts...how things are actually affecting you, as opposed to how you want them to be. Click on the link below to find the Senate "report card".
http://action.defenders.org/site/VoteCenter?JServSessionIdr012=5tax2nt8m3.app20a&congress=110&location=S&page=congScorecard

Since this is a long post, and some of you aren't readers, I'll post a video here that pretty much says it all. Apparently, world domination through the plundering of natural resources still ranks #1 on the Republican agenda. Here's the new poster girl, prior to her nomination.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=809906073

It's not surprising that the McCain Campaign chose a woman, though he personally seems to have little respect for women's choice when it comes to their own bodies and reproductive rights. He still needs to make a play for the disgruntled Hillary followers, after all.

As much as the Republicans have criticized Barack Obama's alleged lack of experience, you might not expect them to pick a 44 year old who's only experience in politics is as Mayor of Wasilla, AK, and has only held a top government office since 2006. Especially since she would be next in line for the Presidency should something happen to the old coot, er..ahem, Senator. Not what I would have expected from the 'old boys' network. Except for that pesky oil and gas thing.

Governor Palin truly believes that drilling in the ANWR would leave such a "small footprint", and that it's proven the "caribou thrive" even with all of the oil development.
http://www.votesmart.org/speech_detail.php?sc_id=383538&keyword=&phrase=&contain=

As a member of the Alaska Miners Association, the NRA, and the Alaska Resource Development Council, it's not surprising she's agreed with and supported a Supreme Court decision to review "tailing", (disposal of mine waste on sensitive land), and was thrilled with the their NRA-inspired interpretation of the Second Amendment. Anything that benefits the 'people' of Alaska (read; utilities and corporations).

She has fought strongly for compensation of residents and victims of the Exxon Valdez case, criticizing the plaintiff award reduction by the Supreme Court, and even going so far as to encourage Exxon Mobile to end the case after 19 years, and pay up now. Or maybe it was so that she could still hold her head up while advocating for Exxon Mobile to go ahead with their development of Alaska's North Slope natural oil and gas reserves?

Seems to me Governor Palin has been super helpful to the Bush administration's continued attempts at reissuing and overwriting Federal guidelines (including the Endangered Species Act) dealing with habitat protection, and the balance between the natural environment, native peoples, and oil and gas development. Like when she moved the Habitat Division from the Department of Natural Resources to the (toothless) Alaska Department of Fish and Game. From the press release:

Governor Sarah Palin today praised the work of state officials in completing the transition of the Habitat Division from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G). The move, initiated by Governor Palin earlier this year in Executive Order 114, reversed a decision by the prior administration. After extensive discussions with community leaders and after hearing the concerns of numerous Alaskans, the Governor decided that the division belonged in what had been its traditional home at ADF&G.

Earlier this month, she signed Administrative Order 242, directing the State Department of Natural Resources (no longer being burdened by the pesky Habitat office), and the Department of Revenue to work together to commercialize Alaska's North Slope natural gas.
http://www.scandoil.com/moxiebm2/gas/politics_and_policy_gas/alaska-north-slope-natural-gas-to-warm-fairbanks.shtml

This is from the press release:

Specifically, the Administrative Order instructs the two departments to provide specific kinds of support to those pursuing development of an economically and technically viable liquefied natural gas project. That support includes permitting coordination, fiscal and economic analysis, and facilitation of meetings with federal agencies.

No mention of any environmental impact analysis, or of the effects of drilling on the land owned by indigenous tribal Alaskans?

This might make more sense if there were enough undiscovered, recoverable oil and gas reserves in and around the ANWR, except that the US Geological Survey says there is only a limited amount; much less than what we have already developed and in reserve.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2005/3043/

On 7/14/08, Governor Palin announced sanctioned development in the Beaufort Sea and OCS (Outer Continental Shelf). This may result in a barely significant 5 million barrels of oil over the life of the project. This is where the beluga and bowhead whale live, and where the polar bears hunt. The indigenous Inupiat people spoke of their way of subsistence being disturbed, the circle or 'web' of life, their medicine and spirituality. That and the fact that there is no current technology in existence that can clean up an oil or toxic spill on broken ice. There is mention of this being included within the Marine Mammal Protection Act, gutted earlier by Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne. Here is a link to the results of an Environmental Impact Statement.
http://www.mms.gov/alaska/cproject/ArcticMultiSale/scoping_rpt.pdf

When the Congress went to recess without voting on this issue, Gov. Palin sued in US District court to have the polar bear's status as 'threatened' overturned. Let's not forget to mention that the decision by Secretary Kempthorne should have been 'endangered', and he straddled what he could. But why not throw yet another lawsuit out there to delay the process long enough for potential drilling to start? I mean that the NRDC, and Defenders of Wildlife have only limited, donor funding, whereas the government, well, need I say more? Can't someone from PETA get on this? Really, you guys could have a field day with this one!
http://www.votesmart.org/speech_detail.php?sc_id=399653&keyword=&phrase=&contain=

Or better yet, how about buying loyalty? Among the governor's most recent accomplishments was the State Legislature passing Senate Bill 4002. Using revenues generated from state resources to provide a one-time special payment of $1,200 to each eligible Alaskan, it returns part of a substantial budget surplus, provides energy relief and a rollback of gas taxes. How nice to be a state so rich in natural resources. How might this affect the decision of voters as they go to the polls in November?

So be aware. Be very aware. I'm invested in an open discussion and public debates about our energy policy, drilling, ANWR, animal rights, Native land rights, sovereignty, responsibility to future generations and to the Earth. I believe there is a responsible way to make it work. I take serious issue with political operatives on any level involved in subverting and circumventing the legal processes put in place to protect us from the short-sighted policies of the current demagogic Bush administration, and it's would-be Republican heirs.

Haven't we had enough lies already?

How Many of Me?

This cute little thing was sent to me by my friend Judy. :)

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 33 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

John McCain- Lies, deception and flip-flopping

I've recently wondered whether John McCain has short-term memory loss, or that he's just forgotten his own positions, and how he's voted on most issues in the past. Hey, it's possible. He is 72.

This video on YouTube shows him on Meet the Press, 60 Minutes and MSNBC admitting that he is deliberately deceitful when it suits him, or whenever the current situation warrants it. Not very often you get an admitted, unapologetic and repetitive liar running for President (well, the admitted part, anyway) under the guise of being a 'straight talker'. It would be laughable if it weren't so disturbing and ignored in the MSM.

Women's Equality Day

Or should I say inequality? How come there's not a Men's Equality Day? I mean, really, would we even need a Women's Equality Day if there was true equality between the sexes?

In any event, today we are celebrating the passage of the 19th Amendment, giving women the vote on this day in 1920. I'm thankful for the women (suffragists and suffragettes) who, 88 years ago fought hard and won the right for women to vote equally in the eyes of the law. Women like Alice Paul, Sara Bard Field, Ernestine Kettler, and many others went from tea rooms to prison in order to secure the equal right for women to vote. Read their stories here:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/projects/suffragist

You can also watch the HBO version of their story, Iron Jawed Angels.
http://www.hbo.com/films/ironjawedangels/

I honor their sacrifice, and vow to continue to keep secure the rights of women in this century, despite obstacles and seriously misguided women like this former Hillary Clinton supporter.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/26/former-clinton-backer-wro_n_121429.html

Debra Bartoshevich, who is apparently clueless that John McCain doesn't recognize the same woman's right to choose that Hillary does, went from being a pledged democratic delegate to pariah in less than 24hrs. Way to go Deb!

Apparently she was confused by the 'mixed messages' (aka flip-flopping or outright deceit) of the McCain Campaign, who are pandering to prior Hillary backers with a wink and a nod about not overturning Roe v. Wade. Despite the fact that John McCain himself has publicly stated that he is (now) pro-life, and believes that life begins at conception.

This stance on the origin of life, in effect, completely denies any validity of a woman as a separate being, nurturing and hosting a growing child within her womb, seeing her only as some sort of controllable and unfortunately necessary, egg-producing incubator. Sound harsh? I don't think so. If life begins at conception, then the only role a woman has is in donating her egg. I wonder if McCain has seriously considered exactly what hard-line dogma he's buying into? I think this is a bit of projection on the part of the male run neo-con movement, and wanting to control the right to a woman continuing or not continuing a pregnancy after being raped, or if her life is in jeopardy negates the life of the very person necessary to birth a child in the first place. This kind of religion based, fanatical belief system is insulting and infuriating. All women should take notice and be aware that these attitudes become pervasive, and then become law.

Someone seriously needs to talk some sense into this Debra Bartoshevich, pronto, before she does something stupid, like vote against her own beliefs. Geez, what an idiot.

But I'm off topic myself now. Where was I? Before the right to decide whether or not you want to bring a child into the world, or whether doing so would be too great a risk to life and health? The right to vote.

Here's the statement that Barack Obama put out today. It's posted on his blog:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hqblog
***************************************************
Sen. Obama issued a statement today honoring Women’s Equality Day...

Beginning with a meeting in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848, women organized themselves and worked to secure the right to vote so they could make their voices heard through the ballot box. On this day in 1920, the 19th Amendment passed and women could no longer be denied that right.

As we honor the heroic women who would not accept the world as it was, we are reminded that we hold the ability to remake the world as it should be. That belief drove women like Hillary Clinton and Speaker Pelosi to shatter myths and breakdown barriers. That belief drives me today as I think about the kind of world I want for my daughters and future generations.

Now, 88 years later, women's voices make up a majority of the electorate but women are still fighting for change - equal pay, affordable child care, sick days, retirement security, and the sort of programs that help women balance work life and home life- and as President, I will lead that fight.

The Perception Personality Image Test

I thought this was pretty cool. I love taking personality tests, and this pretty much nailed it, for me...

Your result for The Perception Personality Image Test...

HBPS - The Optimist

Humanity, Background, Big Picture, and Shape

You perceive the world with particular attention to humanity. You focus on the hidden treasures of life (the background) and how that fits into the larger picture. You are also particularly drawn towards the shapes around you. Because of the value you place on humanity, you tend to seek out other people and get energized by being around others. You like to ponder ideas and imagine the many possibilities of your life without worrying about the details or specifics. You are in tune with all that is around you and understand your life as part of a larger whole. You prefer a structured environment within which to live and you like things to be predictable.

The Perception Personality Types:

Take The Perception Personality Image Test at HelloQuizzy

Listening in stillness

Silence

http://www.lunaea.com/tarot/

Endangered Species Act Under Assault...

...as well as any democratic rights we thought we still had.

In the next 6 months prior to Bush the younger exiting office, he and everyone in his cabinet are going to try to green-light long term goals and pet projects held dear to them, their contributors and supporters. Paying off favors in the last few months of office is traditional cronyism, and is a NON-PARTISAN activity. Every elected president does it. It's all politics and it is bullshit.

The Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne is particularly egregious in his complete and utter disregard for federal law, endangered species, flora, fauna and seemingly all of nature. He has previously used other administrative loopholes to attempt to exclude several species (think polar bears) from receiving any protections under the Endangered Species Act. When that failed, he broke the law and allowed the sale of drilling rights to oil and gas companies to proceed without oversight in a federally protected environment.

Environmental Agencies such as the NRDC, Biogems and The Center for Biological Diversity teamed up, pooled their limited, donation-based resources and won successful lawsuits and prevented this administration from trampling all over our federal laws. Of course, this hasn't stopped the ongoing attempts to weaken or overwrite the law, current regulations, limit public knowledge and any response time.

The end goal here is to exempt federal activities from any Congressional or independent oversight. Not much different from overwriting the NSA laws about spying and wire-tapping American taxpayers, or EPA laws on clean air and water, but I digress. Let's just say this won't come as a surprise to any thinking person in this country.

Now, since selling all of those illegal drilling rights in February, the pressure is on to find a way to either get the public on the side of the oil and gas companies, or to effectively 'overwrite' the federal protections by creating brand spanking new administrative regulations that, since they are not legislative in nature, won't need the approval of the Congress. It's an ingenious, if underhanded plan. (Cue the moustache twirling.)

And that got me thinking today...isn't it awfully convenient timing that the sale of these drilling rights was directly concurrent with the steep increase in gas prices, and a sudden push by the White House (and certain individuals in Congress) to drill for oil in ANWR? The place in and around where the spaces were sold and leased to the oil and gas companies? Why else would our administrative and congressional leaders be so absolutely sure that the price of gas would drop the moment offshore drilling begins, even though there is no realistic way that could actually happen?

I know some will not agree with me, and that's OK. If you believe that drilling is the answer to our energy crisis, then we can agree to disagree. I have no problem with putting it all on the table, and coming to a collective vote on an energy policy that holds our government accountable to public opinion. The whole point of environmental law is to protect the environment and to prevent any major changes without scientific and congressional oversight. Whatever your personal beliefs are, I think we can agree any new regulations are in need of independent scientific review.

What I want is to get people thinking, speaking, acting. Let's begin a discussion. Isn't our government supposed to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of the needs of big business, creation of new jobs, land rights, energy costs, cheap gas, clean air and water, the protection of endangered species before creating arrogant, dismissive and revisionist regulations that exclude any feedback from US citizens?

Send a letter to Kempthorne by clicking here.

Read below for content of letter received from the Center for Biological Diversity.

___________________________________

This week Dirk Kempthorne, secretary of the Interior, announced devastating changes to the Endangered Species Act, signaling the end of protection for thousands of imperiled species.

The Center for Biological Diversity is rallying an immense surge of opposition to prevent these changes from taking effect.
Tell Secretary Kempthorne what you think of his plans to pillage the Endangered Species Act.

Under the current regulations, federal agencies must consult with scientists at the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service to determine whether a project is likely to harm endangered species or habitat.

The new regulations would:
- Exempt thousands of federal activities from review under the Endangered Species Act;

- Eliminate checks and balances of independent oversight;

- Limit which effects can be considered harmful;

- Prevent consideration of a project's contribution to global warming;

- Set an inadequate 60-day deadline for wildlife experts to evaluate a project in the instances when they are invited to participate -- or else the project gets an automatic green light;

- Enable large-scale projects to go unreviewed by dividing them into hundreds of small projects.

In addition, last week Kempthorne and Bush tried to slip another proposed rule change under the radar that would limit protection of a species only to where it is currently found.

Under the current rule a species has protection in its entire historical range. However many endangered species have lost substantial portions of that range. For example; under the proposed changes, prior to being reintroduced, the California condor would only have been listed in zoos.

And, because these regulations are administrative and not legislative, they won't need the approval of Congress.

_________________________________

Boycotting the Beijing Olympics (alone, seemingly)

It is apparently not as popular a stand as I'd hoped. And for whatever reason, most people just stare at me blankly when I relay this fact.

**(Except for my family, who not only didn't need to ask why, but willingly turned off the TV, changed the channel, or waited until I was asleep to watch. I sometimes forget what a great bunch of people they are.)**

Don't misunderstand; I don't bring it up. It is my standard response to the good-natured and excited chattering about the Olympics, the fan-fare and pageantry, the great feats and prowess of the athletes, etc.

My "that sounds lovely, but I'm not watching the Olympics this year" response is usually met with an uncomfortable and stony silence. No one has even dared to ask why, but I relay it anyway. I figure if I have to excuse myself from a conversation or a room where it's being shown, I might as well explain.

China is one of the scariest regimes in the world to me. Not because they are the worst, but because they are the most powerful and accepted despite their grave record of human and social injustice. Pun appropriate, but not intended.

The very hypocrisy of their hosting the Olympics, arguably the best collective effort of both dignity and humanity, is more than I can bear. They have a government that controls and micromanages the lives of everyone in the country. (Think forced abortions and population control). They control everything seen and heard within their demesne. They control the media, press, Internet...all communications are monitored. The poverty rate is staggering, despite their rising economy and having plenty of work. A country full of the working poor.

China is one of the biggest polluters on the planet. The air quality is beyond poor; they're having to monitor it daily during the Olympics to see if it is harmful to human life! Can you imagine?

There is video on YouTube of Chinese soldiers with sniper rifles randomly killing Tibetan monks during a mountain crossing. They have imprisoned and killed any activist opposed to them "moving" the residents along the Yangtze, anyone opposing the giant dam project that will alter the face of the land and sea, in addition to displacing hundreds of thousands of people from their ancestral homes.

China, along with their buddy Russia, has blocked nearly every resolution by the UN to assist in halting the genocide in the Sudan, and the murderous assaults of Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe. They are also aiding this directly by sending arms to Mugabe's thugs. (Last I checked, no port in Africa would accept this shipment, so it eventually went back to China. It's only a matter of time before it gets through, though.)

There's just too much more to write here..it would take me hours.

Let's just say it's about unchecked power and greed, corruption and arrogance on a level that the US has no authority, little power and even less morally correct standing to even address. If we hadn't made such a mockery of our own Constitutional rights (goodbye habeus corpus and the Geneva Convention, hello congressionally sanctioned spying on Americans and torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay) then our President making a bold statement to the Chinese rulers about their deplorable human rights record may have meant more than just the empty and laughable gesture than it was.

So, it's not just about the Olympics, it's about human life, personal dignity, social justice and integrity. Every time I think about China, the faces of those affected by their evil (yes, I did just say that) deeds rise up in my vision.

And I just can't bring myself to watch it.

Oh, and one final thought-

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to go shopping and not buy something made in China?

________________________

"There is no salvation in becoming

adapted to a world which is crazy."

--Henry Miller

'Keeping It Rielle', or maybe not exactly

Dowd: Keeping It Rielle

Maureen Dowd is whip-smart, perceptive, feisty, progressive and non-partisan. She's a fantastic writer, and tells it like it is. In this brief column, she skewers John Edwards, Bill Clinton, George W., and Eliot Spitzer, all within one tiny sentence.

She points out very effectively the masks politicians wear and the emerging shadow aspects that plague them in their quest to become famous, rich and powerful. In other words, to get elected, and stay popular.

She is my favorite writer and journalist at the moment, and I think I have a girl-crush on her. ;)

In case above link doesn't work:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/opinion/10dowd.html?ex=1234238400&en=9b7f748e1dbef0e6&ei=5087&excamp=NYT-E-I-NYT-E-AT-0813-L4&WT.mc_ev=click&WT.mc_id= NYT-E-I-NYT-E-AT-0813-L4

Co-existence with the Ego

The Ego is not the enemy.

Yes, I did just say that. I know there are many Buddhists, Kabbalists, teachers, friends and others who will vigorously disagree with me. I'm OK with that.

What I understand, (and I can only speak for myself), is that there is no real enemy. The enemy is illusion. Projection. And if this is the way in which the religious and spiritual define ego, then I can agree only with that aspect.

I believe in love, in the totality of being, existing in the heartspace, being present in this moment. And in this moment, my ego is co-existing with my heart, and with the transcendent Self that I know to be one with all things.

This is a more comfortable, fluid relationship for me now, though it wasn't always so. My experience through most of my life was struggle, constant struggle. With knowledge, conflicting teachings, my feelings, my judgments. Always, when I reached a new level of consciousness, there was ego rearing it's ugly head.

Let me explain my understanding of ego as it stands at this moment; from my inner knowledge, my own experience, and from a position of equanimity.

Ego is the part of the human being that believes it runs the show. It does much of the time, in some with less conscious understanding and acceptance of it. Within my own being, it is often the part of me (small, personal 'me') I most wish not to accept. It is also the part that teaches me about my instincts, my judgments, and whether or not I am truly following a path of love and service. It shows me when I am and am not congruent if I will only listen to the monotonous hammering home of its "rightness"; to be willing to hear my entire truth, discerning it from amidst the lies and old, familiar patterns woven into it's clever soliloquy.

My wise teacher Victoria Pendragon once referred to the ego (paraphrased here) as 'the Idiot Self merged with your point of view, and what you perceive to be the story of your life so far.' She taught me that the Idiot self is useful, as it is connected to the body directly, and would instinctively move me out of the way of an oncoming bus or train, for that matter. It is a mode of behavior predicated by the survival instincts of the body reflected back to us linguistically through the Idiot Self in combination with everything that we know about ourselves and from the life we have experienced. She also helped me to understand the need to know the stories and patterns the ego holds in order to be able to shift them. And that while the ego cannot be destroyed, it can be housebroken.

For me then, it is part of the whole being, not a separate entity that can be, or should be, severed at will. It serves a purpose tied in with the survival of the physical body, and of the self-identity. I speak of the individual self that is a part of our humanity from the time of our birth to the time of our death. If we were only meant to be part of the collective, enlightened consciousness, why would we need to be born into a human body at all? This is not congruent with the idea of transcendence...to transcend the self, one must have a self to begin with.

Having a self, for me requires total passion and commitment; the full embrace of life itself. The ability to choose to live fully, in whatever way I choose. It is the ability to create choice by desire, and to follow one's own free will. The very act of being born into this life requires an opening of desire on a level that brings the heart achingly awake with the fullness of all the pain and pleasure contained within our universe.

I'm just beginning to understand the full integrity required of the self; the ability to accept and allow all parts of that self to emerge, free of judgment. The ego, in small part, allows for a fully defined and contained self. The clearer the perception of the boundaries of the small self, the more natural and spontaneous the flow between the self and the Self. To fully embrace the I AM, to be present in both the process of 'being' and transcending at the same time, I must allow all the parts of who I am to coexist.

Just as my energetic field and matrix is interwoven and connected to both the physical body, the 'heartspace' and the Earth itself, so is the ego process woven into the becoming self. Is it really transcendence to allow the mind and spirit to flow free of the body without ever integrating or embracing the human, emotional self? Or is that only escape?

My inner process moves much more easily if I can acknowledge all that the ego is; it's wants, needs, prejudices, passions, etc, while still exercising my own considered and loving choices. I find the time when the pull of the ego is strongest, is when it is the most denigrated. The ego, for me, only grew stronger in opposition. I awoke one night with a clear thought in the middle of egoic turmoil..."and which part of you is engaging in this battle with ego, if not the ego itself, in a cleverly duplicitous way, maintaining it's hold on the psyche?" So the destruction of ego no longer makes sense to me. It sets up a lack of trust in my integrated wholeness, an internal and unnecessary battleground which obscures the inner clarion call of my soul.

To declare anything the enemy, by the very definition of the word, it becomes an adversary or opponent. And in the words of sci-fi fantasy writer Ursula Le Guin "To oppose something is to maintain it." (Thanks to my anonymous poster for reminding me of that.)

If I am lucky enough to live a long life, I will gratefully explore the nature of being a distinct and separate individual, while also an integrated part of everything that is. With no separation by belief or by being. The ability to navigate between the seen and unseen worlds requires an effortless flow between the inner landscape and the outer world. A completely integrated and actualized self, with the ability of all humans to transcend to a state of grace, and return again to the pleasures of the denser, more physical energies.

And I'm really happy to 'be' here.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne is just another BushCo Crony

Well, looks like the fallout is about to start.

Back in January and February while the polar bear was waiting for protection under the endangered species act, the government was illegally stalling and selling thousands of oil and gas leases in the very same habitat areas. But this is not news.

Fortunately, places like the Center for Biological Diversity, NRDC, and others banded together to sue the government to make it's formal declaration, which was legally enforced by a judge's decision sometime in May. Yes, MAY.

Then, another insult. The interior's decision was a status downgrade from the promised 'endangered' to 'threatened' in order not to have to deal legally with the issue of climate change as the cause for their continued slide into extinction. Nice.

Now we are onto the next phase, when the companies who bought the illegally sold drilling rights want to be getting about their business. Can't say I blame them. But in what progressive country, what reality do companies expect to be able to drill in environments where protected species live? In Bush Country, that's where.

There has been so much subterfuge, outright illegal acts, continuing flaunting of the law in order to get around controls put in place so that individual usage does not trump the greater good of the planet that it leaves one dizzy and breathless.

I've decided to post the story below from The Center for Biological Diversity, along with the link to the MSNBC story.

Like I said, this isn't really news, it's just another wake up call to those of us who think that the people we elect to uphold the laws of the land should do that, rather than treat them as if they were an inconvenience to industry development. There is usually an area of compromise between industry and conservation, and what usually results are environmental protection laws. To continually allow our leaders to disregard and abuse those laws will be to our great detriment in the decades that follow.

I, for one, am hoping for a bit more enlightened self-interest from our next elected governmental body. Someone who considers us as stewards of the Earth, not owners and exploiters. Our next president will appoint someone new to the post of Secretary of the Interior, and it can't come soon enough for me.

*********************************
Feds Give Oil Execs Blank Check, Center to Stop Payment

The Chukchi Sea -- home to most of the world's Pacific walruses and one of America's two polar bear populations -- is the least industrially developed portion of the U.S. Arctic. In February, however, while the Department of the Interior illegally delayed protecting the polar bear as a threatened species, it offered oil and gas leases on 30 million acres of the Chukchi Sea.
When Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne finally got around to protecting the polar bear last month, he sought to shield oil and gas drilling by illegally exempting polar bears from the Endangered Species Act's prohibition against killing and harassing imperiled species. He justified the decision by saying the bears would instead be protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. On Tuesday, however, he exempted polar bears (and walruses) in the Chukchi Sea from protection under the Marine Mammal Protection Act as well.

In addition to directly affecting polar bears, offshore oil operations will emit millions of tons of carbon dioxide, methane, and black carbon. And once the oil and gas are burned, they'll emit billions of tons of additional greenhouse gases.

The Center for Biological Diversity and Pacific Environment have formally notified the Department of the Interior that they'll sue to overturn the decisions and protect all polar bears in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.
Read more about it at MSNBC.

What I AM, and what I am not

What I am is a reader of patterns. A seer of patterns.

I recognize them not through sight, for I am not visual, but through site. I intuit them. I feel them. I locate them. I speak them. I move with them. I become one with them. I love them, forgive them, release them.

Simple, really. Beautiful and perfect in absolute simplicity.

It is what I do, but not who I am.

What I am not is a healer, though many people will tell you that I am. Many things have been healed in my presence; blood clots, TMJ, traumatic injury on many levels, kidney stones, ancestral disease (DNA linked illness), diseases of the spleen, gallbladder and liver, and many other things. I did not heal them, though I was present through the process. As a witness to healing through the divine love within all of us.

Many people wish to see me as a mystic. And maybe that is true for them. Some are surprised that I can see the patterns they hold so close to themselves, the things that they use to shape themselves and to cover up who they really are. Then they assign to me some sort of unwarranted and unnecessary status.

I find that most people prefer to give credit for their miracles to a source other than themselves; a God that exists somewhere outside of who they are. They can easily recognize divinity outside themselves, but not within. So they recognize their healing, but not that it came from within them. Most people do not long for or understand that sort of power, so they never discover it tucked away inside themselves. So they make me their healer. Their mystic. Their seer. Their God.

But that is not what I am, though I feel divinity in every fiber of my being. What I am is their mirror. Someone to hold love for them in a created, sacred space of caring until they can see the truth for themselves. Until they can come to love what they are, and who they are. A flawed and perfectly beautiful part of humanity.

So who I am changes based on how each individual person sees me. How I see myself, label myself changes constantly as well. But not what I am.

It is a never-ending quest to find oneself. As soon as I find who I am, it shifts. When I think I know who I am, it becomes something other. Who I think I am limits me, and who I am at any moment may do so as well. Who I am constricts me and my completely divine and limitless potential. And I become more aware of this as I recognize my own patterns.

Tonight, I released my fear. After years of looking for and chasing after the elusiveness of who I am, I have come to understand not who, but what I am.

What I AM is love. We are all love, and exist through love. That is the pattern at the root of everything that is, whatever you want to call it, or label it. It is universal and vast...ever changing and yet constant. It surrounds us and envelops us all of the time. It is omnipresent. It simply is.

And your very existence is the testament of that love. You are loved simply because you exist, and can be nothing but love.

Because of who I am, I now know what I am.

And today, in this moment, I am free.

Where I Long To Be...

Cool and green, with soft mists that caress my face, the smell of damp, mossy earth.

The deep stillness within and without; the spirits of the trees dancing before me.

I seriously need a vacation. {sigh}

(Re)Discovering Who You Are

But if you have our blood in your veins,
Then you will know us, know home, know who you are.
--excerpt from Ancestors, by Albannach

“I felt that beings were looking in upon me…
They seemed to be saying to each other about us,
‘Soon they will awaken; soon they will come to us again.’
…and I knew the Golden Age was all about me,
and it was we who had been blind to it, but that
it had never passed away from the world.”
--Irish mystic George Russell (A.E.), 1918

I'm beginning to be clear on many things about who I am, and how it all works for me. The above quotes are clues about who I am. A recognition of my energy, my ancestral connections, my awakening consciousness. I'm receiving my personal road-maps to consciousness. It's looking ever so much simpler now that I only have to listen to the inner voice.

Do you know who you are? OK, too difficult. Better to rephrase.

Do you think you know who you are? Yes, much easier.

This one requires a little more thought, less feeling. I bet we could all make a long list about this one. And I think that's a good start.

Making a list about all of the things we believe ourselves to be, our roles, our stories. Ostensibly, our belief systems. Write them all down, then we can get to work.

The first step in becoming conscious of who you really are is to look at how you identify yourself. The way you identify yourself is a mixed bag. Outside prompting from parents, teachers, role models. Roles you play in your life; parent, sibling, nurse, lover, architect. Personal and public. Your reactions to outside stimuli. Your judgments about yourself. And, of course, your inner promptings and emotions.

Each individual is a complex amalgam of these many identifiers. And those seem to shift generationally. But we are, of course, talking about you now. How does your own personal make-up look?

Take your list and as you read each entry, put an asterisk next to the ones that fill you with a sense of joy and happiness. Put a large check mark next to those that come from your inner promptings and emotions.

Surprised? I'm not.

Are tired of receiving mixed messages about how to find inner peace, or following to the letter the advice of the latest self-help book only to feel like a miserable failure when you, um, fail at it? Fed up with listening to the guru who can tell you how to create more prosperity and abundance in your life just by wishing it to be so? How much time, money and effort have you spent trying to change things about yourself, let go of your (insert word here) anger, fear, ego in order to truly be non-attached and end your suffering forever?

How, exactly can you ever expect to let go of something that you've never fully embraced? Something you don't entirely understand? How can anyone else give you a cookie-cutter version of awakening when it looks different for each being? Enlightenment is not one-size-fits-all, despite the hype.

But it isn't all that complicated. At least, it doesn't have to be.

First things first; get to know yourself. Most people are so caught up in their roles and stories about themselves that they never listen to themselves and what makes them happy. The things that make their soul sing. And by the time they realize that they are miserable and unhappy, they aren't sure where to turn. We could talk about anti-depressants, the divorce rate, porn, alcohol and recreational drugs, but these are all just distractions. This is about you, remember?

I don't claim to be able to 'fix' you. If you don't know who you are, how am I supposed to be able to figure it out, then correct what you deem to be 'wrong'? I don't think you need to be fixed. Or saved. I think you just need to be able to see yourself clearly, and maybe make a minor course adjustment if it takes you in an overall joyful and more connected direction.

But I think I can help, by sharing what I'm realizing along the way.

Learn who you think you are. Learn what roles you've elected to play in your life. Learn what your stories are; your operating principles. Learn where they come from; you or someone else. Figure out what doesn't serve you anymore. Embrace the emotions that come with these realizations, and express them in a way that is safe for you and safe for others. Forgive yourself. Release your old stories; from all levels of your being (mental emotional, spiritual, physical). Create a new story; one you wish to live, not one you can tolerate.

Yes, it really is that simple.

Each time we release an old 'story' about ourselves, it creates a space for something new and wonderful to take its place. A spaciousness that holds the potential for creation at a level on par with the energy you've just released.

This is only a road-map; I don't promise there won't be any bumps, or boulders blocking the path. But I can promise that if you do come across obstacles, that only you have the power to move them, because you are the only person with the authority to have allowed them to arise in the first place. This part is about 100% accountability for everything that happens in your life. Maybe that's the simple-but not-so-easy part.

We all need help with this. We need to have an objective observer, and a loving observer in order to be able to witness ourselves, and have someone hold us accountable while holding the vision of us as a beautiful human being. We must be congruent with ourselves, and accepting of what is. Only then can we allow anything that is inauthentic to fall away.

And one last thing; unhappiness is inauthentic to who you really are. And when you find out who that is, you will know this as well.

Good luck on your journey; the road home to yourSelf.

Beannachtai go leir (Blessings to All)

I Send You Love.

The Art and Practice of Compassion

For me, it always arrives with the dawn.
Awakening. Clarity. Inspiration. Knowing.
Synthesis and integration.

This morning, and for the last several days, it comes every day. That hasn't happened before. That's new. Just like I feel right now.

Not that I'm new. I'm exactly who I always was. It's my perception of self that has shifted. My feelings about who that person is that is 'me'. And all the parts; the deep stillness of my soul, the love in my awakened heart, the gunk in my belly, the delicate violet energy of my vibrational matrix, the tears that flow from the eyes that see too much, the mouth that often speaks too quickly and the mind that can sometimes be too harsh and judgmental.

I am all of these things, and have been very attached to them, holding them in a negative view for far too long. I've realized that until I truly accepted my own energy, my own path, my own belief and attachments, that there was no hope of ever letting any of it 'go'.

To believe that all of this has happened since Sunday seems a little far fetched. Maybe I should say the integration and understanding has come each day. A gift from each new morning that is allowing the reality of my truth to emerge, and for wisdom to arise within it.

I'm rambling, I know. Maybe I should backtrack to Sunday, and my experience with the GrandMother Drum. The drum itself awakened something in me, and my meeting with Tymoreye
http://www.tymoreyeelliot.com/ allowed me to not only see myself in a new light, but to view my light from the outside. I saw through her spirit what I looked like as a being of light energy. Levels of clarity and density. She spoke to me of things that I'd always known, but couldn't quite wrap my mind around before.

She had the clearest energy of anyone I'd ever met. High, clear and grounded from traveling with that drum for so long. Her gift allowed me to not only remember who I was, where I'd come from and who my spiritual family was, but to experience it in a way that was undeniable and true. I saw myself as a truly beautiful soul.

So what I've learned is that all of my trying to let go of things was premature. How can you let go of something you never fully embraced? Not accepting and embracing who I am was the only thing preventing me from releasing the ego. The attachment. Not that I didn't have an awareness of it, just that I was never able to synthesize the wisdom from that knowledge. Seems so simple now.

To let go of 'attachment', first you must feel. Swim in the muck and mire, the beauty and density of who we are in this world. Embracing who you are, and who you seem to be allows the freedom to be fully present in the moment. The only place there is stillness, awareness, joy.

Each morning, I receive wisdom now. Clearly and as an offering. I'm being taught to do healing work on a level I'd never thought was possible before. I'm excited and know there is much to learn. I feel that my energetic focus has shifted, from awareness towards integration. Each day, I let myself be where I am, and allow whatever arises to become fully present within my body and soul. Whatever doesn't serve can then fall away naturally, and with little effort. I've given up the need to struggle against myself or my nature any longer.

I'm finally learning how to be truly compassionate.

Remember, you cannot abandon
what you do not know.
To go beyond yourself, you must
know yourself.
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

"Bitter"-sweet

I had a good laugh when I saw on CNN 'Headline News' last night that there was an uproar about Pennsylvanians being "bitter". Yeah, so? I live here, I see it all the time. I thought, is it different somewhere else?

I am posting a letter I wrote as a lifetime resident of the State of Pennsylvania on behalf of Senator Barack Obama. This video is his reply to the latest pathetic ploy by his (sorry ass) political rivals to pick apart the truth of his statements to attempt to make him look bad, rather than have to stand on their own political merit. His campaign wrote to me and asked if I, as a PA resident, could explain my frustration with Washington. I was only too happy to comply.

*******************************************
This latest nonsense, picking apart what Senator Obama said in a effort to create a "sound bite" which his unworthy presidential opponents then turn into a media feeding frenzy, is highly offensive to any cognizant individual living in the state of Pennsylvania.

I believe that his prompt and direct response gets to the heart of my frustration with Washington politics; most politicians are completely out of touch with the common people.

Senators Clinton and McCain are both so beholden to special interests that I would not trust them to make a decision in my best interest, or that of my fellow Pennsylvanians.

My laundry list of complaints begins with being a frustrated small business owner who finds the self-employment tax rate to be grossly unfair. Having to pay an outrageous amount for health care, which inexplicably rose by 48% this January, despite a climbing unemployment rate, 44 million uninsured Americans, and Independence Blue Cross banking a huge surplus in PA. Not one single politician in Washington has stood up to even regulate these maverick, out of control insurance companies, much less to advocate for single-payer health insurance.

The recent sub-prime mortgage/banking/financial industry fiasco (fraud on a scale we haven't seen in this country since the Savings and Loan scandal) proves that our elected officials have sold out their citizens to the highest bidder in order to line a campaign war chest, and insure their own financial interests now and in the future.

Senator McCain is a particularly egregious offender, as he was one who initially supported and sponsored the type of campaign finance reform that could have prevented some of this wretched excess. Any politician who accepts big money from special interests cannot be trusted to make policy based on the wants and needs of their constituents. This is not a theory, but has been proven over and over again by our supposed 'leaders' in the Congress and Senate. Corruption, greed, political and corporate elitism has eroded not only their values, but the entire middle class in this country.

I could go on about being the first generation of educated individuals having to move back in with our parents; an entire generation of Americans my age that can no longer find a decent job, afford to take out a business loan, pay off student loans, let alone own a home. For many of us, the 'American Dream' is dying.

But despite all this, I am voting for Senator Obama not because he is the only presidential candidate not beholden to special interests, though that is a huge consideration, but rather because he understands. He gets it. And in my estimation, there hasn't been anyone in the White House since I've been old enough to vote that I've been able to say that about. I believe Washington is broken, and in need of serious repair if our country is to survive and the average American to thrive. And you can't fix what you can't see, and don't understand. It's high time to change the old guard in Washington.

Senator Obama brings hope back to the political process for many younger people like myself; a belief that change is possible. I'm happy for the ability to vote for a nominee for president that is not the lesser of two evils, but a clear choice for change. A voice of integrity, clarity and honest discourse is what Barack Obama offers in this election, and is something desperately needed after the shocking level of deceit and stupidity of the current administration.

So, I live in Pennsylvania, I'm politically bitter, and I'll be voting for Senator Obama on April 22.

At Dawn

I watched the mists arise this morning,
through a window that was not my own.
I believe it was they who woke me;
with their swirling energy.

Messages upon awakening,
dream fragments of love, fear and prophecy.
Pieces of the whole that come together;
shards of mirrored truth, a reflection of past deeds,
and visions of what is yet to come.

How can this be, when there is only present?
Forgiveness, repentance...what do these words mean?
Why is it I receive this; what good may come of seeing...
probability?

My heart is full...with a mixture of love and sadness.
Both in equal measure.
This is the way to true seeing,
the voice from the mist whispers.
I feel a swelling in my heart,
and feel the tears falling.

I know the truth of love, of my heart.
I wonder why it is I didn't see it before?
You refused, was the reply.
It is always your choice;
Love all, Serve All.

I make an agreement then;
I will do as you ask,
only show me the way.
I know the truth of love,
I renounce my pride, my ego.

Then I see; I SEE.

First I see what has been shown before:
The seas rising, the Goddess Venus.
New life arising.
Two native men;
two prophecies fulfilled.
December, 2008.

I see a pin drop, a 2000 year old seal broken.
An opening, an earth shift.
I was not aware of the timing;
now I know.
Lughnasadh? The solar eclipse?
No, the lunar eclipse...August, 2008.

I remember something...
The young man who lived off the land,
the one they believed (those who loved him,
but could not see) was crazy.
He gave himself not in sadness,
but in sacrifice;
sacred caring.
I see a ritual bathing prior to his passing.
What was his name?

Not important, is the reply.
The people who live on the edge speak the Truth;
for they have no false friends.
Prophecy and repentance.
A radical change in attitude,
a sharing of self with All.
To offer one's generation the possibility of forgiveness.

A baptism with water,
the clearing of the threshing floor,
the burning up of the chaff in sacred flame.
The new human spirit emerging-
Peace made with the ancestors,
father with child,
child with father.

I see the smaller connections,
and still I do not understand.
What is my role?

To be.
Love and serve.
Remember the old ways.
Look for the magic;
see with the eyes of a child.
Look for the entranceways to new being.
Marry the love and sorrow within.
Be One with every living thing.

I am here.
And I know surrender.

Dick Cheney- Warmonger extraordinaire

I believe congratulations are in order.

Kudos to the only man on the planet who can inspire gunfire and multiple bombings less than 24 hours after his arrival in Iraq. Some people might think twice about traveling when they are aware of the violence they seem to inspire in the very wake of their existence, but not our VP.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/17/iraq/main3942256.shtml

If there were an award given to a person who darkness follows like a thick shroud of secrecy veiling motives and actions both, it's obvious recipient would be Dick Cheney. Let's call it the Warmonger Extraordinaire.

I wondered what the 'Dark Lord' himself might be up to in Iraq. I was pretty certain it didn't involve diplomacy (what's that?), but had no idea exactly how many lives would be lost to suit the hidden agenda of the Halliburton hero. I didn't have long to wait.

Not one week after VP Cheney left Iraq, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (who had done almost less than nothing since he's been in office) ordered a crackdown on Basra's "criminal gangs", the militias that have run the south of Iraq since the war began. I don't know if you've been reading the papers, but it's not going so well.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/31/iraq/main3981072.shtml

Iraqi and American officials have hailed this move to "finally take on" the Shiite militias, many of which are, according to today's Philadelphia Inquirer "without question deep into oil smuggling, extortion, murder and robbery." They might also have added that the primary target of this mission was Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army (previously funded by US in order to maintain 'peace and stability' inside Iraq so that US forces could concentrate on putting down the Sunni insurgency 4 years ago).

Prime Minister al-Maliki has called them "outlaws" and "worse than al-Qaeda". This even though every attack against Iraqi and US forces in Iraq is nearly always attributed to al-Qaeda, especially in the last 6 months.

What they didn't mention was that al-Sadr's Mahdi Army feels it has been unfairly singled out, as they are the Shiite rivals to al-Maliki's own Islamic Shiite government forces(as well as better armed and trained military forces) and that they have huge popular support leading up to the provincial elections this fall. Needless to say, they are very anti-American, and against what they feel is continued unwanted US occupation of their country. They have called for a cease-fire and a 'standing-down' for now, but refuse to turn their weapons over to a government that will not commit to a date for US troop withdrawal, but only to "a state that can throw out the occupation."
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/03/29/iraq.main/

The facts of the ensuing week-long battle, (Iraqi forces assisted by American and British troops with air and ground support) show exactly how weak and incapable the Iraqi government forces are of protecting themselves against dissident militia forces within their own country. Which means we can't leave any time soon.

This also points out the effectiveness and support that al-Sadr's movement commands, that they are being targeted now only when the Sunni insurgency has been weakened sufficiently to assign troop support to Basra.

US officials fear things are not going as well as they had imagined. US military intelligence analysis found that the Iraqi forces control less than a quarter of the city, and have reported that at least 40 members of Iraq's national police have turned in their uniforms, kept their US issued weapons, and are now fighting for al-Sadr in Baghdad.

It also seems to me that there are yet other hidden agendas here that are not reported about, or even realized. That somehow we are also trying to play both ends against the middle...not just by switching support, sides, and money based on the ebb and flow of the insurgency and counter-insurgency in Iraq, but that the real motives are not even on the table. I keep looking around to see Karl Rove in the background, and instead only find the murky darkness of Dick Cheney.

The CNN story is the only one I've read that even mentions that Basra is not only Iraq's second largest city, but it's chief oil port. We cannot possibly control the oil flow in and out of Iraq if this port is held by al-Sadr and his militias. And I'm forced to wonder, was this one of the goals all along? Was this meant to be a large scale occupation (read: quagmire) from day one?

And if we can't get the oil out prior to this administration losing power, then making certain that we are once again embroiled in the internecine affairs of a divided Iraq will cement the flow of cash and support to energy giant Halliburton, and keep US troops locked in a deadly and unwinnable war. http://halliburtonwatch.org/

There is nothing clean about this war; no mission to be accomplished aside from the energy companies and the current administration's hidden agenda. No way to win, and no easy way out.

So, just for fun, let's review the statement by our government that the militias that we are trying to destroy are "without question deep into oil smuggling, extortion, murder and robbery." Now lets look at the mirror this presents to us.

Oil smuggling: something we are desperately trying to do, but have been prevented so far by armed militants. But you can still count it if you understand that the US is using Iraqi oil to fuel all it's vehicles, etc. But I'm sure we are keeping a close count on our usage.

Extortion: Well, it's not extortion, but bribery when you pay off certain people not to set off bombs, shoot at US troops, kill their own citizens or start a civil war.

Murder: Do we know how many dead-but-innocent Iraqi civilians there are? Has anyone assessed the 'collateral damage' yet?

Robbery: Other than the original loss of $9 billion taxpayer funded US dollars?

Is there is similar pattern here, or am I just crazy? How can we ever win a 'War on terror' that we promote on a daily basis?

Yes, as I see it, this special warmonger award has only one possible recipient; Dick Cheney. And I'm certain that, although not my personal belief, there is a special place in hell reserved for all murdering, torturing, conniving, thieving warmongers and their supporters.