If you did one thing every day you said you could not do, what could you accomplish? How many problems would be overcome? How many
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Author: Ka Malana - Fiestaestrellas.com
Building my altar to existence, designing the playhouse of my environment, and just bringing more presence and awareness into my life with every breath.
*Welcome*
Fleeting beauty
” Just for today, I will not worry.
Just for today, I will not anger.
Just for today, I will earn my living honestly.
Just for today, I will honor my parents, teachers and elders.
Just for today, I will show gratitude for everything.”
~Reiki Prayer
Once again, I found myself back at the Japanese cherry blossom trees without my ‘big’ camera;
Once again I did the best I could with my mobile phone.
I gasped as I looked down the south alley:
Most of the sakura blossoms had already fallen
Creating a magical world of petals and light.
In Japan, people contemplate the fallen petals
As a reminder of how fleeting life is.
The trees on the north side
Were bursting out in pink pops of joy.
Everyone – no matter religion or nationality –
Was united in pure enjoyment of the blossoms.
(Look at the big grin on the face of the woman to the right of the monks.)
Just as I was leaving, the sun burst through the clouds
Reminding me that there is beauty in those brief moments we call life.
For more fleeting moments, please visit: Our World.
Sketches and Impressions
These sketches are older works of mine.
Due to a blogging conversation with one of my blogging pals, Dewin, I found these sketches while looking for another one that I was thinking of in our blogging conversation here. I may not resurrect the image that I was originally planning on sharing… but I hold the hope that I may find it.
‘Art’ often shows up at night, and when you least expect it…
A Mother’s Love
This is so beautiful…. and I’ve been enjoying the gifts of many amazing and talent women…. primary among them are my own Mother and my Sisters. For a silent moment, just sit with me – and know that you have in some way warmed my heart. I just had to share…. Wildflower Women’s Post, and let her know, that the message was received and passed on… xo
Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love. ~ Mother Teresa
As Mother’s Day approaches, the desire to thank my own mother and all other mom’s that I know surges in my heart. This feeling is one of love and gratitude for all that these many women have shared. They may not all be mothers by the very simplistic definition of having given birth, and in fact one very special woman who touched my life never had any children of her own, but she most definitely represented all that one would want from a mom, and that is love. Love is the greatest force we have on our planet. We are all love and will return to love, but we often get lost on our way. It is in keeping with this spirit of love that I wish all women everywhere…
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Creative Excursion
How to Train for a Marathon…
Many people embark on the journey/goal of running a marathon. More and more are interested in pushing themselves to states of peak performance. Yet, how do we train for a marathon other than running a longer distance, over time; in effect, we run further and longer than the marathon itself. That’s how we train! That’s how we get ready for something that can seem so long, and like such a tremendous feat: We aim even higher than the actual goal. Boy, that’s got me thinking…
There’s got to be some kind of distraction while our muscles are working so hard; and while, in the beginning it’s so challenging, before we realize it, we’ve just keep going, and we keep going. Kind of like my last sentence. The whole movement itself becomes sort of like a sitting meditation. We might not be able to wrap our minds are each and every step, but at some point – we trust our steps.
Of course, not everyone can run a marathon. But, I guess that’s up to the runner and the runner’s body to decide. What do we risk? What are the costs involved? Why do we do such things? What is self-development all about? Can we really improve the lives of others, just by being and becoming our best selves?
Freebies.
Everything in life is an exchange,
Then you dry up.
Because… you just want to run free without the…
chains that are made when we bind to one another…
You give and give and give: and you realize: HOLY emptiness!
HOLY junk! HOLY room full of noise – and none of the voices are really
Yours. Are they? Honestly?
All of a sudden a reflection isn’t there. There’s NO ONE on the other side of the glass…
But wait; there is… Plenty of tender, precious lifeforms.You get so wrapped up
in loving each one; each distinct and precious flower.
Plenty of people to Pay attention to, who desperately
what to be SEEN, loved. YOU are ONE OF THEM!
And then, you just start the cycle over again, until it becomes so obvious that
WE LOVE EACH OTHER – should be your only password.
Mercury Retrograde in Gemini; I choose to write
Dear friends, readers, visitors, angels in disguise,
I’m living in multiple realities right now – as crazy as it sounds; I know it is, and it’s okay. There’s truth to a reality in a moment of being, and we are in shifting states continuously – maybe some more than others, at times. I’ve been observing astrological movements for some time now. Though I am not very old, nor very young; I have a certain perspective. I am not really able to share my particular perspective with you right now, directly.
In lieu of this, I discovered today a ‘classic’ astrological piece on Mercury retrograde – as well as it is relevant and updated for the present time. Please read here if you are so inclined and/or curious. I don’t know the author personally, and I am not advertising for them – nor anyone for that matter. I do believe that we have a level of control – but also with Pluto retrograde – I have been experiencing a deeper understanding of what control is not… and what control is… There’s this exploration with a higher power, a guide that has movement and no face. A guide that has presence and no demand of space, matter. True love. I feel deeply loved. I am going to use those words, “higher power,” in the interim – for words happen as though they are composing themselves. They seem to want to compose themselves more and more with ease and flow, while coming from the cauldron that is my physical body, this temporary vehicle.
I’m am so totally with this journey, and no language/picture is apt for its depiction at present. Even those words are understating. Mundane concerns take precedence right now, as reality is doling out to me my spiritual path. One step at a time, one decision at a time. While Mercury is retrograde, what are “the details;” and what is the ‘bigger picture’? There’s no difference. It’s the tiny decisions we make throughout the day that have seemingly invisible repercussions. It’s about sweeping the steps, regularly. It’s about cleaning the dirt off the metal parts so that corrosion doesn’t break our precious devices – our instruments of living. It’s about the actions that seem to not be of significance on a small scale, but successively build into the reality that we live in.
Yes, I am thinking of delicate things like butterfly’s wings, gossamer things, features with negligible substance, but great capacity.
Realities like Chuang Tzu who dreamed he was a butterfly or was it the butterfly dreaming he was human. Which? Both simultaneously, I suggest…
There’s no either/or; there is a suspended state, an in-between. It’s the moments when we open up to expressing our own reality/personal, small perspective, or truth (in the moment) – no matter how unpopular, well-received ( or small), no matter who is watching, or who cares/doesn’t care; and despite any extra designs and scaffolding around it (there’s always scaffolding). Grammar is duty, is diligence, but so is servicing the voice without terrific restraint. We make choices. I choose to write what I need to write. I choose to open myself up to be ignored, dismissed, deemed unworthy. (3rd house Chiron in Taurus).
This is a worthy risk for me. Without the voice, there is no growth, no understanding, no becoming…
Meet Naoto Matsumura, The Guardian of Fukushima’s Animals
A beautiful story that I read this morning…
Naoto Matsumura is the only human who now lives in Fukushima’s 12.5-mile radiation exclusion zone in Japan.
At first he fled the radation-riddle area, but he returned soon after to feed his animals.
Matsumura then realized that there were thousands of other creatures that needed to be fed, as well. The 55-year-old says he knows the radiation levels are dangerous but refuses to worry about it.
“They told me that I wouldn’t get sick for 30 years. I’ll most likely be dead by then anyway, so I couldn’t care less,” he said.
When he first returned, he saw that thousands of cows had died after being locked up in barns. He freed the creatures that had been left tied up by their owners and takes care of all of them.
Today, most of the creatures rely on him for food, and he works entirely on the support of donations and…
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Scorpio Full Moon
Hello Everyone,
Happy Scorpio Full Moon May 3-4 2015!! We’ll be celebrating Wesak and Beltane as we settle into our new home. Lots to do yet!!
My internet was down for a couple of days due to some service provider issues related to our move. I am glad to be back! I want to thank all my new followers/readers! I look forward to visiting you very soon 🙂 Also, very nearly, my “Spring Break” is ending; and, I’ll be back to the regular, happy grind! During all this busyness, I’ve been more inspired than ever! There’s a lot going on under the surface for me – and some upcoming plans for travel in Los Angeles in a couple of months.
This post is a re-blog from an earlier post I wrote on the Scorpio Full Moon. There’s a lot in here that’s still very meaningful to read, and in alignment with the times. It was a very popular blog post that I had posted back when I used to post on Keen.com – over 3,000 views in a just a couple of days! Tell me what you think. How’s this full moon illuminating your chart this month?
Much Love,
Ka
Full Moon in Scorpio, May 17, 2011 (As occurring on Kauai, Hawaii @ 1:09am, may be the 18th elsewhere)
Look back. Don’t go back.
When the moon culminates into fullness, we can see the results of what we planted at the new moon. Let’s take a moment to look back at that new moon in Taurus. The new moon in Taurus directed us into the dark, fertile, uncreated and unseen origin of our individual resources, our financial situation, our relationship to Mother Nature, how we act practically, objects of tangible beauty, and living by our senses of touch, taste, and smell. Themes mentioned are traces of what we have planted into the ground at the new moon, whether or not we knew it at the time.
The moon shines at night, it is reflecting the conscious light of the sun; and Moon, she takes her shape from…
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Invisible Masters
So much has been written and unwritten
Opening and closing of books, so much activity
My impressions always change
Each puzzle, un-puzzled
One shares ways to look at things
Noticing arrangements and choices
Every poem and thought is not shared here.
Learning to experiment with the joy – bursting
Opening, infinitely, the little boxes of treasures
Valuing each aspect of the surprise
Everyone gets some
Special detail, inscription, sacred space.
You know,
Orbits are made with magic pens
Used by the invisible Masters.
A Different Sort of Astrological Metaphor: New Moon in Aries, Birth of a Neuron
The Aries New Moon occurs on Saturday, April 18, 2015, at 2:57 PM EDT and 11:57 AM PDT.
I’ve been thinking, and temporarily concluding, that there is very little real individualism (Aries) in life. We are each a composite of our relationships (Libra), and the forces that shape us are our social structures. Even the past decisions that we make have consequences independent of us, that shape us beyond our new decisions. To add more to metaphor: If Aries is the stimulus, then Libra is the response. Something new and awkward is happening to me. Finals are over. We bought a house. My brain is balancing.
The Sabian symbol for this Aries New Moon is “Music of the Spheres.”
Recently I picked up a book called, “A Symphony in the Brain,” by Jim Robbins. It’s about the field of neurofeedback and reads, at least to me, a little bit like an Oliver Sachs book yet from the perspective of a deep-diving journalist. Regarding the symphony aspect of the brain, Jim Robbins writes,
“The four parts of the brain, as well as myriad areas across the surface of the cortex, must ‘talk’ to one another constantly, and the brain accomplishes that by means of a vast assembly of tiny electrical devices, the neurons or brain cells. Neurons are like microscopic batteries. Their membrane builds up a charge electromagnetically and then releases it, over and over again, in the form of what is called an “’action potential.’”
What is powering this symphony is undifferentiated energy – metabolism that gets specialized along the lines of the axons and received and networked by as many as a hundred trillion connections. But even that is an over-simplication of what makes an individual look and behave like an individual, considering all the undifferentiated parts that actually make him or her up.
A Symphony in the Brain, the Aries New Moon, and the Sabian symbol for the new moon have got me making my own connections. Aries, here, represents the undifferentiated aspect of energy. It is the spark of a neuron, but it needs the support and direction/pathways of the network to bring a spark into an idea, its synthesis; that is, it needs to be defined through relationship (Libra). Let’s label the glial cells as Libran, again for the sake of metaphor.
I’m looking at this New Moon in Aries as the birth of new neuron. Perhaps its signal will travel from Wernicke’s area to Broca’s area (in the brain), to vocalization, to WordPress. Will this neuron survive? It’s only one tiny neuron in the midst of many, many.
“At birth, a baby’s brain contains 100 billion neurons, roughly as many nerve cells as there are stars in the Milky Way, and almost all the neurons the brain will ever have. The brain starts forming prenatally, about three weeks after conception.” http://umaine.edu/publications/4356e/
But let us consider that unitary neuron. According to Robbins, “Each one may make from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of connections with other cells, which means a total of perhaps ten to a hundred trillion connections.” That’s a lot of action potential! By the way, you’re likely to find new neurons in the hippocampus only, not anywhere else. See the quote above. We are born with most of our neurons already present!
So….What’s happening in your life that has a lot of ‘action potential’ right now?
Marrying ThySelf: Lunar Eclipse April 4, 2015
Yesterday while driving, this blog post was writing itself. I was so eager to get what was flowing to pen and paper – which is really a romantic way of saying – getting to my computer, to type.
Even the act of writing, with pen contacting paper, has a downward and outward movement, a path of gravity. It is saturated with momentum. When I sit across from my computer screen – it’s more direct — more confrontational. The words on the screen as I’m writing, are more “in my face.” Is that slightly less romantic? Hmmm…
I don’t know. I suppose different people have different ideas about romance. Mine still changes with the seasons (but I’ve got my same man). For some, romance describes an era that’s come and gone – a gentle whisper of memory, thoughts of riper, more classic days. For others, it’s the heat of passion that comes on quickly, burns with complete obeisance; and then ends in devastation/emptiness.
Right now, I’m looking at time itself as romantic. It is undressing, It is revealing.
When we age, we often talk about “falling apart” while being pleased about having more wisdom. What we lose in pep or spunk, we gain in gumption.
I’d like to think that age is something that refines us – sculpts us into the expression of who we have ever been, or who have ever tried to be. It undresses us, un-hides us. Points out who we are, to ourselves. After all, we all experience the process of aging differently, despite the fact that we have the same usher. I’m referring to time as that usher. Time walks us down the aisle and brings us to the bridegroom, our extant other half, again and again.
On April 4th, 2015, we have a Lunar Eclipse in the sign of Libra – and for some reason – I wasn’t planning on writing about romance or age, and all these words here, they aren’t what I intended when flow was happening ‘the other day’ while I was busy. These words are simply what happen when I show up at my computer: something different.
This Lunar eclipse suggests to me a blossoming: A coming of Age.
Somewhere in your life is a beautiful flower about to come into blossom. I wonder what it is. Where is it? Maybe it’s a surprise. Uranus, the planet of surprises, is in conjunction with the Sun, and in opposition to the moon in Libra. What partnerships in your lives best help express that inspired, fiery Aries/Uranus, Inventive, Original, Essence/Sun? Who or what sets your world ablaze? Marry that!
Again, and again.
Image: The marriage of Inanna and Dumuzi, reproduction of a Sumerian sculpture. Public Domain
Mindfulness Meditation Track – 5 minutes
Hello Today!
One of the newest features of Fiesta Estrellas has been in the making for some time. Only recently, however, have I created the space in order to get it started. I am starting a new series of mindfulness meditations. This particular one I used with my graduate class a couple of semesters ago, and I received positive feedback. This recording is a little bit on the quiet-side; I do hope to make adjustments with the next one. In the meantime, I hope you are able to make the necessary adjustments with your headphones; and I wish you all the very best with your meditations!
Any future meditations that I record will be loaded under the ‘meditations’ section of Fiesta Estrellas. This way you will know where to go when you want to join me in meditation – at any time.
Have a beautiful day.
Love, Ka
Fiesta Estrellas 
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