Ka Malana Photography 2023Being observed — Ka Malana Photography 2023
Being observed while I had just wrapped up my lunch at the incredibly informative and mind-blowing conference of PSOAS—Pacific Sports and Orthopedic Acupuncture Symposium.
This sweet charmer was wiggling his or her nose at me and had the most pleasant while curious energy. This felt like the most natural encounter—clearly the little one does this a lot to other conference goers, although I was the only one around. But the dexterity and skill of the sneak-up, pop-up was unprecedented by others of its kind. This is career squirrel 🐿️
Flexible, quick-witted, and nutty… 🙂
Gotta love this animal medicine that impresses me while I’m being wowed in so many other ways, reminding me to be light-hearted, fun, and never miss an opportunity to say “hello there” 👋
I was playing with some water color pens for a few minutes while I had some time. I was enjoying making an outline and bringing my emotions into the ink choices.
Probably the most I fun I had was afterwards though. What I noticed is that when I took a photo, the colors didn’t look like they were on the page. What I had to do was to make adjustments in order for it to show up how I was seeing it in real life, on the water color page.
Often times we don’t think about how sometimes it takes a lot of extra “art” work to make something truly depicting the actual and real. We often walk around in society acting like the unedited object is the real object. However this is not often the case. In this respect, it actually takes skill to show the authentic—it takes editing.
We have to strive to bring the actual colors through. We do this spiritually, too. It’s not a ‘given’ that what you see, unfiltered, is the real thing. Filters aren’t always masks—sometimes they reveal and sometimes they allow or make it easier for us to see what’s *really* there.
We can’t erase the filter of the mind; a mind will always exist, because it is the nature of conditioning that our minds exist. Sometimes we just have to change our minds and replace our filters with more updated versions, editing our behaviors is what follows, so that what we get, in the end, is an expression of our true nature. This takes daily practice.
I hadn’t been to my old neighborhood hangout for a while: Lake Murray. Today I had the opportunity to see my very favorite osprey kind. I felt honored that when I asked for showing some wings, I was indulged. 💗
I’m in ceremony for the next couple of days joining in with two different local and online communities to celebrate the vernal equinox, while I’m also having my own inner celebration and communing opportunities with nature and my core world 🌎☘️🍃
Beannacht ☘️
From O’Donohue’s Echoes of Memory
On the day when the weight deadens on your shoulders and you stumble, may the clay dance to balance you.
And when your eyes freeze behind the grey window and the ghost of loss gets in to you, may a flock of colours, indigo, red, green, and azure blue come to awaken in you a meadow of delight.
When the canvas frays in the currach of thought and a stain of ocean blackens beneath you, may there come across the waters a path of yellow moonlight to bring you safely home.
May the nourishment of the earth be yours, may the clarity of light be yours, may the fluency of the ocean be yours, may the protection of the ancestors be yours. And so may a slow wind work these words of love around you, an invisible cloak to mind your life.
The beautiful card I got today is Kuan Yin! What did you get when you click to stop the video?
This season, this month, is bringing major changes and openings for all of us. The astrology is thick with sign changes: Sun going into Aries, Venus moving into Taurus, and Pluto will be moving into Aquarius. Saturn just shifted into Pisces. Please share! What are you feeling. How are you experiencing this new energy moving through your lives?
The Vernal equinox comes with unique bird song and green shoots and tendrils erupting from the earth. The earth here is moist and ready for worms and motion. The birds have found more baths due to the recent rain. I reflected back on my poetry book project for this year. I look forward to collating more and writing more. The inspiration I’m arising with is like velvet, soft like bunny’s fur, also gossamer linkages of quickly growing energetic networks of inner mycelium. My own ecosystem matches that of the Earth and the Cosmos. I’m flying through the dimension of space, but traveling easy, calming, with deep breath and purpose. I have a couple of links I want to share down below.
Pick you Goddess ❤ Click on the picture to stop it.
Bumble bees have been shown to unlock a puzzle box when one of the bees on the “bee team” is instructed on how to do it. These educated bees transfer their knowledge to the other bees in their group, showing social collaboration and the transmission of learning from one bee to another. Read more about it here.
I’ve been learning a bit more about the 5th dimension. It’s slightly elusive to me although I might actually be aware of my living out of it, from it–on it? Here is a really neat scientific article about how the future can influence the past. After all, I use this skill in my daily work all the time. More and more evidence points to the realness of my work as I practice what I call the pragmatics of shamanism, journeying, and other soul work that works through multiple dimensions. Many people don’t actually realize that heaps and heaps of scientific articles that show that acupuncture works, let alone shamanistic style healing work. Here’s an interesting article (albeit a small cohort in the study) where TMD was improved through shamanic healing, and those improvements persisted past 9 months after (which was the conclusion of the study’s measure–and doesn’t necessarily mean the improvements didn’t persist further afterward).
I could write more and more on all of this. I suppose I will. 🙂
Happy Easter/Ostara/St. Patrick’s day and all the holidays! Happy Spring!
The artist in me took this photo. I wanted a very simplistic representation of my pregnant belly. Had I more time then I would have experimented more with light and color but all that could be manipulated at a later date.
Sitting at the dinner table eating serving my daughter her favorite snack that started with her eating out of my bowl, we talked about when I was pregnant with her. So I went looking for a video to share with her and haven’t found it yet. But I did find this picture.
This is normal, perfect San Diego weather This is wet blustery weather An orchid that gave one more bloom
A wet season will give way to wild flowers for the wonderlust to encounter, when Mother Nature splashes the green and brown earth with dots of yellow, orange and purple.
My time has been consumed with one thing or another and in the midst of it all are these tiny, snap-shot fragments that really bring in the charm and witnessing into my experience.
I can breathe into the moment with the full confidence of my presence and your presence. This will set my tone for the day. Until we meet again! 💛💚💦🤗
Yesterday early morning, I dreamed of a tiger in my house. The house was different, but it was ours. We had a front room living room that faced the outside directly. I remember there were windows were on the left, the tv behind the tiger was on the opposite wall from the one that my back was facing, and the front door was on the far left right before where the opposite wall started at the corner. There were light blue towels on the yellow-cream colored wooden floor, under the tiger, and there was a little cage in the corner that was towards my back on the left. (Obviously proportions were a little off, after all, it was a dream!) The tiger was a big one!
The tiger was a pet we were domesticating, and it was mostly in just the one room, in the center of the room and facing me. I remember we made a lot of progress training the tiger. The tiger wasn’t going to destroy the house, but it felt threatened (and therefore became a danger to us) if it saw us holding up anything in our hands over our heads. It really didn’t like that, unless it was a little stuffed bunny. When I woke to the Lunar New Year, I appreciated how well this dream went with the changing of the tides. For the Chinese, the lunar New Year says goodbye to the energy of the Water Tiger; and say ‘Hello’ to the energy of the water rabbit. So in many ways, my dream was articulating this cycle change. It also felt like a nice “hand off.”
Credit: Marc Da Matisse, Adobe stock
Then, yesterday, we found a local festival to celebrate the Lunar New Year with others, and to enjoy some food and some “Lion Dancing” which is usually the dance of the new animal themed for the year. The festival we found was a “Tet” Festival, which is the Vietnamese word for “New Year.” “Tet” literally means ‘festival’ but it is used to relate to the New Year celebration (Tết Nguyên Đán): the Vietnamese celebrate this year as the year of the Cat. So the cat was dancing instead of the lion or the rabbit.
Here’s an interesting article which highlights reasons for why this discrepancy might be: Why Vietnam is Celebrating the Year of the Cat. We enjoyed the festival with the very loud crackling fire-crackers and had some delicious Satay and put our wishes for the New Year up on one of the bloom trees.
This morning I was in contact with my close friend who said her cat died. I’m crushed to hear this and how sad her family must be to lose their sweet little kitty. I’m also struck by the symbolism of the cat, loss, and when people are prognosticating what’s next, there are omens. Before I segue into next topic about prognostication. Let’s do some homage to the cats (and our special cat who is crossing the rainbow bridge) by viewing this Bored Panda article that shows the different lives of cats with technology changes over the years, here, “Then Vs. Meow.
Our attempts at prognostication probably go along with our attempts at planning. We want to know what is ahead so we can budget our energy, resources, set our expectations, build supports, you name it! This is reasonable, right?! But that’s not how the world and the universe works. The universe wants you to paint your own picture for what’s next for you. You are safest staying in the present moment, though. Staying in the present moment isn’t as realistic when you have a family. So, I find that you tend to have to find some sort of hybrid lifestyle. Some of it has to do with “holding plans loosely” but some of it also has to do with just acceptance of when perfectly good plans go *poof* in their growing irrelevance.
This recent New Moon in Aquarius highlights “the future.” Aquarius is a sign that is ruled by Uranus and historically, Saturn. There are different astrological traditions, just like there are different cultures and ethnic interpretations. It’s quite interesting, actually. However, traditional astrology will still find Aquarius ruled by the planet Saturn. Vedic astrology also uses Saturn rulership for Aquarius. They have different names and emphases, but that is not the subject of this article. In modern, Western, Tropical astrology, Uranus is the ruler for Aquarius and it is associated with inventors, electricity, and humanitarians. That’s a pretty interesting collection of things, huh? I think this assemblage might be why Nikola Tesla is basically a spokesperson for this sign: Aquarius. His brilliant electrical inventions were meant to free humanity. He was not marketing genius that Edison was. So his history got a little bit darkened by poverty and having his work stolen.
Humanity has a lot of questions to answer. Right now the tech sector has a large number of layoffs and the preparation for what is predicted for the economy can be terrifying. So many have questioned the model of Capitalism as one that we have to ask: Is this model safe for the Earth? The way I’m posing these questions makes it simplified but it’s really quite complex. Capitalism doesn’t exist in a vacuum, it exists in a democracy–which we are also questioning the stability of. So I think humanity is at many crossroads, and I think that this is where invention and creativity come in. Aquarian creativity is often described as a “flash of inspiration, that seems to come out of the blue. We are on the brink of figuring out how to use nuclear fusion for clean energy.
“What we saw from that experiment on 5 December is we produced three megajoules of fusion energy for two megajoules of laser energy in, for a gain of about 1.5. That is the first time in a laboratory that anyone has produced more fusion gain out than the energy put into the capsule” (weforum.org).”
What does the Aquarian New Moon say to us as Mercury and Mars have both gone direct? Not much right now, as far as I’m concerned, just subtle pointing. I am, however, looking to @March 2023 for some movements and more information to come out about newer-to-take trends. In March, Pluto, who rules fusion, (more about Pluto’s planetary status in astronomy), will be entering Aquarius. Then, also in March, Saturn enters Pisces for @2.5 years, and leaves Aquarius. When shifts like these happen, and two big ones, at the same time–that’s when I look up, and watch.
So my friends, please share with me your omens, experiences, and thoughts!! I’m settled into the New Year 2023 now. Snug as a bug on a rug. It’s a feeling, not really a “thing” that can be described. Maybe, it’s that I am strapped into my seatbelt of local comfort. The “hand off” between years and energies went okay enough.
I think the time is always ripe to open our horizons in our minds. This is especially assisted during a New Moon in Aquarius, an air sign. Opening the windows of our smaller minds to our higher minds, and feeling the space and freedom of letting ourselves out of our own containers for some fresh air, or new way of perceiving, or some fun and funky unconventional escapade is in order.
I hadn’t posted in a while, and I had been posting frequently. Posting frequently is more in alignment with my joy; however, I have been extra busy–and I’m not even sure how time is organizing itself right now. As far as I am intuiting: The official start of the New Year, in terms of momentum, will come after this New Moon in Aquarius that also lines up with the Lunar New Year, 2023: the year of the Water Rabbit. I will be adding a lot of links today because there’s a lot of ground that I want to cover, and I’m not going to create all the content by myself. This might even become another post. First let’s get to the inspiration for today’s blog post. I am coming to the writing block today to bring you Maori artist Sofia Minson and the poet Fred Lamotte. A couple of weeks ago, in December, before the New Year, Fred and I had a brief exchange on email. I told him about how his poetry strikes me in a powerful way. I used different words. Words that were special, and just for him. As a result, I got a reply that I made his day (morning, as is was the first email he read that day). As you can imagine my elation, that I managed to make the day of this most wonderful poet. I’m going to post below one of his most well known poems, and for good reason:
My ancestry DNA results came in.
Just as I suspected, my great great grandfather was a monarch butterfly. Much of who I am is still wriggling under a stone. I am part larva, but part hummingbird too. There is dinosaur tar in my bone marrow. My golden hair sprang out of a meadow in Palestine.
Genghis Khan is my fourth cousin, but I didn’t get his dimples. My loins are loaded with banyan seeds from Sri Lanka, but I descended from Ravanna, not Ram. My uncle is a mastodon.
There are traces of white people in my saliva. 3.7 billion years ago I swirled in hydrogen dust, dreaming of a planet overgrown with lingams and yonis.
More recently, say 60,000 B.C. I walked on hairy paws across a land bridge joining Sweden to Botswana. I am the bastard of the sun and moon. I can no longer hide my heritage of raindrops and cougar scat.
My mud was molded with your grandmother’s tears. I was the brother who marched you to the sea and sold you. I was the merchant from Savannah and the cargo of blackness. I was the chain.
Admit it, you have wings, vast and crystal, like mine, like mine. You have sweat, dark and salty, like mine, like mine. You have secrets silently singing in your blood, like mine, like mine.
Don’t pretend that earth is not one family. Don’t pretend we never hung from the same branch. Don’t pretend we do not ripen on each other’s breath. Don’t pretend we didn’t come here to forgive.
Ancestry by Fred LaMotte for Earth Day
Here is the link for Sofia Minson’s artwork that is combined with Fred LaMotte’s poem.
About me:
I have been working closely with the Medicine Woman Centre for Shamanic and Esoteric Studies for several years, under the tutelage of FRANCHELLE OFSOSKÉ-WYBER. I completed my first Rite of the Six Moons (28 week journey) in July 2019–3 months after my first child was born. For the last year, I have been acting in my esteemed role as an elder for 2 of the 3 programs that I had completed since then, one of which was rich with astrology and magic in the Rite of the Twelve Celestial Regents. In 2023, I was chosen to serve as an elder for another year and support those who are currently embarking on their journeys. This is my lineage under the House of Bee.
This is just one of my shamanic traditions that I am a practitioner in. My other tradition I have also been studying and practicing formally for over 7 years. This is in the tradition of the Four Winds. The Q’ero people passed on their sacred knowledge to Alberto Villodo a former anthropologist. What I have in common with Alberto Villodo is my studies as an anthropology student in my early years, which was really guidance for me to walk the shamanic path. Therefore my “shamanic training” began with education at University while I was undergoing deep processes in my Mind/Body/Spirit. The culmination of my University education was my traveling around the world to locations that were specifically off limits for many travelers–due to boycotts/embargos/political reasons, and also safety reasons. It was then that I also traveled from temple to temple exploring deeply my calling.
I am not a shaman in a particular tradition but I have an assemblage of my own lineage and traditions; ancestry to the ancient Italian practices, began being revealed to me in 2016 when I visited my grandparents’ respective home villages. I have a strong connection with the Maori (and the Polynesian cultures) since I was a young teen (and my soul of course), and was guided eventually to working with Franchelle as an apprentice. Franchelle is a Medicine Woman who teaches within her mystery school where our teachers are the NZ First Light Essences that are created from our teacher plants. My work and studies continue, and my life grows in its magic. My soul, born in balsamic moon phase, is quite an ancient one. It wasn’t until I traveled to Kauai in 2011 that I received my full transmission of my new spiritual name and my surrender to living a life in complete guidance by Spirit. This was the same year that I began this blog. I have since ended up with many spiritual names. One is Tibetan Buddhist Dechen Llamo, given to me by a Lama, and another is Shamanic within the Four Winds, given as Sees Through Water.
Some of you may know that I am now a Doctor of Acupuncture with a specialization in Chinese herbal medicine (DAcCHM). For the next 3 years, I will be delving deeper into my training within Western herbs by the guidance of Rosemary Gladstar, the foremost leader in Western herbal medicine, and working on my land where I currently live with my little family in S. California.
The reason I have for my blog: while it changes over time, I would say that my earliest expression of my Spirit as a child was that of an artist. I was also a writer and a poet. In 2017 I published my first book. My goal is to publish another poetry book before the end of the year. Astrology is also a theme throughout my blog– it is, to quote Shakespeare, “this brave o’erhanging firmament.” Basically, I want to write and connect, and just be me. I want to share my art in whatever form it arises.
I hope those of you who are new followers have enjoyed this introduction. For those of you who have known me a while but don’t really know some of the details, here is your “more.” I truly hope and believe it’s a ‘given’ that you have enjoyed Fred LaMotte’s poem and Sofia Minson’s art. I will close with two of my favorite pieces of hers that I just discovered today. One is Midnight Rose, and the other is about her portraiture.
I don’t know how many of us have been even unconsciously/consciously planning for the Mercury retrograde set to start moving backwards on December 22 to January 18, 2023. I know for me, I’ve had to slow way down–take my time getting through being sick, and nurse myself into health. But also I’ve needed to feel into some more challenging emotions and allow them to move though me gently. It’s a Capricornian retrograde during the Capricornian season. I’ve got Capricorn in my 11th and 12th houses, and it’s never been my favorite sign. Career path and career recognition as well as earning enough income to live has always been a challenge for me. I think it’s because of this, I never felt like I self-actualized. I’ve never been fired from a job. I always excelled at all the jobs I did. However, I was always left longing for something more. I was looking for my purpose. There was a period of time when I was working in IT for a very well known company, and I thought that all I wanted to do was work up the line and gain experience through this career. The job benefits were great. I was always winning awards and making a decent income while working special shift hours. Then my boss was demoted due to his on-going health problems. It was then that I decided I need to do something radically different. I needed to work for an organization that cared about their employees. Even more than that, I wanted to go into business for myself, and sell something I actually cared about. So I started learning massage in 2008. However, it wasn’t until a couple of months ago that I actually started my own business.
Are you someone who is successful at business? If so, what do you think made the difference in your success?
Do you struggle with business?
Are you in a family of entrepreneurs?
Have any of you realized that business and growing business can be a an act of service?
Fiesta Estrellas 
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