Mary Sojourner Is Power and Grace, Real Time

My long time friend, Mary lays out her knowledge and heart in 2 New books:
Going Through Ghosts & She Bets Her Life

Vegas flashback: A woman walks up to me just before the Vegas reading. "I heard your interview on KNPR," she says. "You said one thing that might slice through the noose that's strangling me." "You're a gambling addict too?" I say. "Yes," she says. "I never understood till I heard your words that I've taken care of everybody since I was little. Gambling is the only place I'm in a world of my own." We high five.

http://www.shebetsherlife.com/

New PT post. It is realllllly deep. www.psychologytoday.com/blog/she-bets-her-life/201004/basement-medicine-8-why-do-women-big-packages

Here's the direct link to "Going Through Ghosts."University of Nevada Presswww.unpress.nevada.eduThe official University of Nevada Press web site

University of Nevada Press
www.unpress.nevada.edu
The official University of Nevada Press web site

Imagery And Energy: Insight from Deb O'Connor and Love Dog Design

My Friend and Reader Deb; vision on this week's full moon.

I (Deb) took all the photos which begin these notes in the magical Bitterroot Valley of western Montana.

Full Moon at 7 degrees SCORPIO
6:19 AM MDT or 5:19 AM PDT
Thursday morning
4.28.10

A more intense full moon does not exist. If ever there is a moon with the power to take us deep down into the cellar of our awareness . . . it is the Scorpio moon.

It's so important that we use this Scorpio energy--like all the planetary energy--to facilitate growth rather than to generate or court fear.

You could begin by imagining your metaphorical, inner cellar filled with the most beautiful of jars . . . in some of them you'll find peach-ginger compote, apple butter, elderberry potions or tomato basil sauces . . . or maybe, beneath a basement window, there is a long shelf filled with glass bottles of every color and shape and texture imaginable and you can see these reflecting a quiet and transparent light into this harbor of the subconscious.

It's probable that within this deep inner sanctum there are also a few cobwebs or a jar or two which hold some old substance whose shelf-life is used up and it's contents look a little off or maybe even smell funny. It's time, then, to remove these out-dated things from this otherwise nourishing space.

Scorpio wants us to take the deep dive, to sense our fear of the situations in our lives which make our stomachs uneasy . . . and then, having helped us notice those fears, Scorpio would lead us through them.

I like the metaphor, simple as it is, of our inner cellar because all of us have experienced actual subterranean places which are sort of scary, and yet, all of us have also experienced these same kinds of places when their mystery and beauty was such that we passed through our fear and entered in. Scorpio carries us into the places where we are nourished to the degree that we allow ourselves to be led by our instincts and where we tap into our emotional courage.

A question which I imagine you might sometimes ask is this one: Why does Deb write about an energetic event--the full moon--which lasts only a day or two?

I write because each month the moon is full in a different sign, and it brings our focus to, and wakes us up to the longer term work of its planetary ruler. The Moon itself is like a spotlight leading us to notice what the planet is up to. We get a great hit at the full moon because the moon always heightens our emotional responses.

So when the moon is full in Scorpio, it's directing our attention to the work of Pluto. And as you know from the many references I've made this last year to Pluto's current square to the Uranus/Saturn opposition, Pluto is intensely active now helping all of us, demanding that we face our fear of loss.

One of the great gifts of both Scorpio and Pluto is their desire to bring to the surface the things which we would rather keep buried. Somehow we continue to believe that we'll be safer if we leave buried those issues or feelings which scare us or which have the potential to fuel our anger. But the simple fact is that these buried energies actually take more energy to ignore than they do to face and, by the simple act of facing them down, we help them to dissolve.

When the moon is full in Scorpio, or when Pluto is involved, as it is now in an energetic cleansing with Saturn and Uranus, you can expect many things to continue to be "uncovered" both within yourself and within the context of the collective.

So as the moon shines brightly in the sky Wednesday and Thursday evenings, imagine it as the tip of a cosmic wand whose sole purpose is to tap you gently on the top of your head and ignite your sense of courage in the face of any and every fearful response still standing between you and the freedom which comes from letting go . . . letting go so that you can create the empty space into which the newer, healthier situation can be born.

Please remember that the only real obstacle facing us now, and for all time, is our fear of the unknown. We know from all our years of experiencing ourselves in Time that anything we resist will persist. So lets bow to this shaman-like Scorpio energy as it helps us to continue spiraling up and out of our fear-based responses.

If you'd like to go more deeply into the significance of this energy through work on your own chart, please let me know.

As always, I ask that you share these notes with anyone you think might like a clearer sense of what is at work in the energetic world.

Many deep and rich blessings,

Deborah O'Connor
406.531.5129
www.lovedogdesign.com

My newest commission is now on it's way to it's new home. "Ravens Over Nankoweap" is 22 x 26". Thank you, Cory & Terry for coming to my studio for Flagstaff Open Studio last year and letting me bring your vision of 2 ravens soaring over the Grand Canyon come to life in this piece!

Ravens love shiny things, they are curious and they are mischievous! I love designing glass with their imagery in it. One of my favorite stories is the raven and the sun.

Here is the story that inspired me to create one of my most popular designs; Raven Steals the Sun

This is an ancient story told on the Queen Charlotte Islands and includes how Raven helped to bring the Sun, Moon, Stars, Fresh Water, and Fire to the world.

Long ago, near the beginning of the world, Gray Eagle was the guardian of the Sun, Moon and Stars, of fresh water, and of fire. Gray Eagle hated people so much that he kept these things hidden. People lived in darkness, without fire and without fresh water.

Gray Eagle had a beautiful daughter, and Raven fell in love with her. In the beginning, Raven was a snow-white bird, and as a such, he pleased Gray Eagle's daughter. She invited him to her father's longhouse.

When Raven saw the Sun, Moon and stars, and fresh water hanging on the sides of Eagle's lodge, he knew what he should do. He watched for his chance to seize them when no one was looking. He stole all of them, and a brand of fire also, and flew out of the longhouse through the smoke hole. As soon as Raven got outside he hung the Sun up in the sky. It made so much light that he was able to fly far out to an island in the middle of the ocean. When the Sun set, he fastened the Moon up in the sky and hung the stars around in different places. By this new light he kept on flying, carrying with him the fresh water and the brand of fire he had stolen.

He flew back over the land. When he had reached the right place, he dropped all the water he had stolen. It fell to the ground and there became the source of all the fresh-water streams and lakes in the world. Then Raven flew on, holding the brand of fire in his bill. The smoke from the fire blew back over his white feathers and made them black. When his bill began to burn, he had to drop the firebrand. It struck rocks and hid itself within them. That is why, if you strike two stones together, sparks of fire will drop out.

Raven's feathers never became white again after they were blackened by the smoke from the firebrand. That is why Raven is now a black bird.

April 2nd is First Friday Artwalk. I will be showing my work at Cafe Daily Fare, 408 East Route 66, located in the old ice house, just 2 blocks east of The Green Room down the alley. Join us from 6 -9 pm!

Norma Russell Sheff Posted this to my FaceBook page, but I just had to post it here. Some of the best inspration comes from our friends.

Thank You Norma!

Many Blessings to you,
Christina


This is in the Unitarian Church in Las Cruces, NM. It's Clyde Tombaugh polishing a telescope mirror. This is only one portion of a whole wall. There is a raven behind him.

EARTHSHINE

Today I see Clyde Tombaugh polishing a telescope mirror, his image caught forever, almost, in the stained glass window of the Unitarian church.

He will polish it, polish it fine, until the stained glass is gone,
the mauve jewelers’ rouge running off the squat glass cylinder in a ferric oxide flood. Pluto exists.

Clyde’s eyes, unnaturally clear and blue, meet my gaze
over his sinewed hands, as planets circle
and galaxies beckon,
and I remember earthshine.

Just when night is darkest on the mountain trail,
seven humans straggle back to camp
from the waterfall, without a light, convinced
we cannot navigate like the silent owls,
nor like lions, with their shining eyes;
that as creation’s least-natural foster children, we are here
less competent than the nimble-fingered tarsier;
only human, dispossessed, and far from at home
in the world of night.

It’s night! we say, No moon!
There’s nothing out there! Only stars!!

Slowly, we realize that we have begun to see;
a subtle glow emanates from an unknown source
… the sky? We can discern trees, the path,
an occasional patch of phosphorescence,
rocks, a dim horizon, on this dark side
of our world.

Too long we have bent our heads and shielded our gaze
before the gods of the city lights, thinking them real;
to remember that we should name, or even see,
planets, galaxies, great individual stars.
Our sight is dulled by angled things.

The truth is:

The earth shines beneath our feet.

Whose telescope now watches this unexplored world,
and sees us choosing to stumble, blind,
surrounded by light?

Norma Russell Sheff

This was the my passage from the Daily Word today. It is the perfect blessing for me, now that I have a new space to live and to create in. I am so blessed!!

Thanks!

I bless my home as a place of comfort and rest, a place where beauty and graciousness are expressed and experienced. The atmosphere of my home is permeated with love and peace, light and sunshine. My home is a space for refreshment, renewal and mental and physical well-being because the love of God is reflected in this space.

I bless and value everyone who enters my home. I practice patience, cooperation and respect and do all I can to create a haven where every family member and guest feels God's spirit of love, peace and joy within these walls.

I am grateful for my home and for the privilege it affords me of expressing grace, beauty and hospitality.