If I’m middle-aged, I spent the majority of half of my life uninterested in ritual. Growing up I felt the rebellion to any type of ritual. For one, “ritual” meant to me as an activity that most people were disconnected from. I saw those who were living their rituals as just doing them for reasons unknown, usually out of habit, or by the shear influence of their society and culture. I saw a lot of people who seemed confined to their rituals. I didn’t want that for me. I didn’t want any structure for me. That was because I didn’t *understand* structure. However, the beauty of my path led me into true empowerment to where I could make and define rituals that were truly meant for me (and now my family).

To begin with, I started to become enlightened to the meaning of ritual when I studied anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh for my undergraduate degree. I learned that ritual not only provided structure but highlighted and connected people with their purpose. This doesn’t have to be religion–which is what the word ritual used to be confined to. Fortunately ritual is related to spirituality and this is why: with ritual we are creating space for our spirits to live. Ritual helps us “house” our time.

Now, I have always been interested in astrology. But not for the conventional reasons, but maybe for some of those too. Astrology has helped me connect to time in a ‘larger than community’ way. However, it has also connected me with community. There are so ways I could assess and think through how astrology has led me to ritual, but I don’t make a stink out of ritual. I still don’t want to be confined to it-so I’m not. It’s as simple as that. A ritual can be a simple “nod” to the inner part of me that wants to acknowledge the importance of space and time.

So, back to time: here I am. I am almost all planned for 2023. On that list of activities that I am signed up for is seeing Neil Degrasse Tyson. I am over the moon excited to see Neil Degrasse Tyson in 2023. My daughter has been attending a very wonderful “science” preschool with the most amazing humans who run it whom I have ever met. I’ve always loved science. But, I am not confined to science, either.

Back to ritual: I am writing out my calendar for 2023, and I am visioning and planning in ways I would never, ever have wanted to when I was younger. I’m doing it with delight and joy. This is not work. This is definitely pleasure. The previous 5 or so years, I started looking back over the last year. Basically the first part of my life, I had no ritual for reviewing the past or moving into the future. Now, I do. There’s momentum gaining in this process, and I’m excited about what’s around the bend.

Do you have rituals or do you dream? Do you do both? How do you organize your life? My years of “letting it happen” have finally co-joined with “making it happen” in a way that doesn’t constrain my soul. I feel this immense freedom I have not felt before. A lot of that freedom is coming from a new teacher I have been working with the last 6 months. I am looking forward to sharing more. But, I’d also like to hear a lot more from you!

P.S. One of my future goals is to take my family on an ancient library tour of the world. When shall I plan it for? Maybe in my 60s… Not sure yet.

My Florida friends,

I always think of you all during hurricane season. I don’t really know specifically where any of you are but I do wish you all safety and protection from the Ian storm surge.

Please share here how you are doing 🙂

Thank you 🙏🏼

Faith.

Full stop.

Never give up.

Belief in myself,

In my courage,

In my heart.

I trust me, to deliver, and keep delivering.

My Blog is 11 years old, from March 2011. It didn’t get its celebration in 2020. Between 2020 (pandemic) which I was not depressed, and 2021, when I was depressed–there was no celebration. Since it’s my birthday on Sunday and this blog is named after the idea of celebrating, (“Fiestaestrellas” is my made-up word which means: celebration of life, time and everything), I’m gonna call it a re-birthday today. It’s also an homage to the stars. The stars do not rule us–but they make an excellent tapestry or “green screen” for all our events and grand plans. The stars follow us.

Astrology is the work of story-tellers. We need to tell the best stories that inspire that reclaim the meaning of our lives and that help us have hope for the future. I believe this is the purpose of astrology. I have really not focused on it for a long time. One of the main reasons is that I lost my voice for it. The second reason was that I was very distracted with deep and intense study in other fields of endeavors that I put all my focus there, instead. In the meantime, I occasionally and randomly blog here about all sorts of different things. Many of those things are more personal in nature. I blogged about my own healing journey through pain. I blogged about my milestones, and I blogged about my spirituality at times. There are times my writing was about writing itself, or about meditation and maintaining spiritual practices and developing discipline. Lately, I’ve been more interested in cultivating passion and commitment. I’ve blogged a number of poems and published a poetry book in 2017, and posted about it here, too. Also I have sometimes included my art from my past, and thoughts on art, while I contemplate how I will feature art in my future again. I love music and have not added enough songs to my posts. In the future, I want to spend more time on the ‘craft’ of my writing, my art, and return to my photography and also, astrology: the language and programming of light from the stars and how it relates to how we define meaning, consciousness, and togetherness.

HAPPY RE-BIRTHDAY, FIESTA ESTRELLAS!

You all make Fiesta Estrellas “a thing” and she and it will grow beyond me–as I’d love to expand into the horizons beyond, for the good of all of us.

fit for starry nighttime visions

glowing morning opening decisions

will you rise and walk with your chicken feet like

baba yaga within my own fairy imagination?

Dear magical house–

Thank you for finding us: our bright cottage lush fruit tree and palm oasis

i can hear the laughter joining in with the birds!

i’m imagining my herb and wildflower gardens.

i can see the mansion in your wings and arms.

i can see the wilderness, forests and streams in your yard.

Thank goodness we found each other to enjoy companionship,

our new sweet house–full of childhood glow, sunsets, and easy sleepy nights,

morning inspiration and a luminous sky and deep ground to nurture

our new stories, and story times.

the sun will set with my happy, closing eyelids as your cozy, charming embrace

is already beckoning.

She is stone

Made of sand and grit

She’s weathered the extreme heat of the kiln

Temperatures predicted for the future

Devastate her visions of what is to come

But her hope has more grit

Than 10,000 suns

Because. Why not? She’s stone.

And half-way clean.