In some cases, this is literally true. Dream states are existing all the time; in the way we filter our experiences through our reticular system, we are not really meeting reality ‘exactly as it is.’ But, today as my little unborn baby bounces around inside of me, I wanted to write a little bit about astrology and introduce a great book I finished earlier this week, written by a woman who is both a writer and acupuncturist (as well as a stylist!), among other things… indeed.

First the dynamic astrology that was this week.

• New Moon in Pisces
• Merc Mertrograde in Pisces (leaving that typo! just too funny!)
• Uranus ingress Taurus
• Chiron ingress Aries
• Saturn/Pluto conjunction in Capricorn

This week is like a catapult of energy, and we shall all see where we end up. With creative genius Pisces, all the world could be our oyster, or our disillusion, and/or both, and/or neither. So! Soak it up!

Next:

The Book of Help: A memoir in remedies kept me engaged the entire time. There were moments when I felt I wanted to pause to read my 10 or so other concurrent books and magazines (besides blogs) that I usually have going, and those moments were nice to integrate and enjoy the ‘coming and going’ of joining with Megan, as a friend, for a tasty beverage. Naturally Megan’s book, published January 2019, by Rodale, New York, was attractive to me because I am also in the field of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine, and have an interest in writing/reading literature and living a dynamic life. What I enjoyed that was unique to Megan’s memoir is the way she organized her book. Each chapter is broken down into a little subtext with the headings and statement behind them, “Purpose, Duration, Equipment needed, Age, Cost, and Location.” In this way Megan is making a catalogue of her training periods, and being creative about what she considers trainings, workshops, and excursions along the way into self-development, and ultimately self-love. Megan’s book also reads like a bit of an expedition, as one of her main interests and her training experience is among the wilderness.

Maybe my favorite part is the end of her book, which I won’t give away. At all, or even hint, but it was tearful, and added a lot of depth to my reading of her memoir, endearing me to her. And my second favorite part of her book is in the very beginning where she dedicated,

“For all those who’ve ever needed a lantern. And for all those who’ve been one.”

Very well done, Megan. I found it interesting that you attended a couple of different Chinese medicine schools, and for your clinical training, and I appreciate that you “took your time” with the journey – as I can definitely relate to that.  Here’s to living it all.

Hello there,

We are currently under the observation of the following transits. Though there are endless notable or discussable topics, my curiosity is about these:

Venus and Saturn are forming a conjunction within the same sign in Capricorn (quite close to Pluto!), and Uranus and Mars are paired up in different signs at 29 Aries for Uranus and 1 Taurus for Mars. Mercury and Neptune are coupled at 11 and 15 Pisces. These pairings could correlate with a number of manifestations, inner experiences, etc.

I’m opening up the floor for comments and curiosities, many of my readers and/or followers have already expressed interests in astrology, no matter how deeply or superficially.

Have you observed your life running along any of the themes “governed” by these transits?

* Venus/Saturn (in Capricorn)
* Uranus/Mars (end of Aries/beginning of Taurus)
* Mercury/Neptune (Pisces)

With Venus and Saturn we might be looking at values, resources, relationships (Venus) and experiencing longevity, limitation, consolidation (Saturn).

For Uranus and Mars we might be looking at spontaneity, unpredictability, surprises, technological innovations (Uranus) with assertiveness, intensity, passion, action (Mars)

For Mercury and Neptune we might be looking at thoughts, siblings, short distance trips (Mercury) with poetry, visions, art/film/photography, vision, confusion (Neptune).

do angels really hold up the world
or is it built on Science

and the zillions of moments of
quantum observations

that build these intricate
network systems, and

when you observe this in nature
in its complete perfection

not one human can emulate
the symphonies of color in a field
of wildflowers,

nor compose all the universes that
we mathematically deduce the vector
of, as we move through space,

too.

there’s no stopping us.
we are angels,
and angels are we,

and still there are more angels
unseen.

And, yes, there is Science,
and it’s wonderful.

I dedicate this poem to the full
healing of a beloved:

Let time and space open,
and bring wholeness into your being
May you be filled with light
and balancing energy,
May the air you breathe recover your
spirit, and bring you into union,
so that your whole body is completely
healthy again.

Blessed be.

May this be the beginning of a deeper
healing for many, that joins us all together
and brings greater peace and joy for all.

fixing the bed,
making it soft.
deleting batches of emails,
joyous with
less electronic clutter –

time off from internet,
browsing, Click “erase”
instead

deleting old contacts,
acknowledging time and space
and re-imaging relationships

washing the dishes
with love

this is the stuff of poetry!

you want more passion?
how about: find it in clarity?

moving energy on out
picking it up
dancing,
for a moment,
and then, waving goodbye.

curtain draws

resuse, recycle, renew
regift,
reemploy

the plants don’t wait for their
water, they make use of what they
have

tonight is a new night
yesterday was a different story

review, renew, receive.

Happy New Year of the Pig!
Venus transits Capricorn

in this breath are kingdoms
made of small passage ways
giving freedom
of transit
moving through the illusions
of social dominance, social
hierarchies, the haves and the have nots

i want a simple life,
a small life,
just a few reliables,
and a lot of freedom

in this breath is so much more
than what I ask for.

it’s the witness of what lies
beyond the terror and the fear
that modern day living
activates.

*I’m just experimenting with words…

Ka Malana Photography, January 20, 2019

I really wanted to share a meditation from Mark Nepo’s, “The Book of Awakening,” p.29., 2000. I’m relating back to my precocious friend who told me about Martin Buber when I was about age 14, as the beginning quote below is from him. I find Mark Nepo’s own words to be incredibly poetic when he draws the analogy of the “clear bird.”

This passage is a meditation on what is not seen by others, and at the same time is full-circle and inclusive – not unlike viewing an eclipse in its unveiling/veiling moments of transformation. There is no dichotomy here drawn about self-love, from that of any other kind of love, or from even existence itself.

Loving Yourself

I begin to realize that in inquiring about my own origin and goal, I am inquiring about something other than myself… In this very realization I begin to recognize the origin and goal of the world.  –Martin Buber

“In loving ourselves, we love the world. For just as fire, rock, and water are all made up of molecules, everything including you and me, is connected by a small piece of the beginning.

Yet, how do we love ourselves? It is as difficult at times as seeing the back of your head. It can be as elusive as it is necessary. I have tried and tripped many times. And I can only say that loving yourself is like feeding a clear bird that no one else can see. You must be still and offer your palmful of secrets like delicate seed. As she eats your secrets, no longer secret, she glows and you lighten, and her voice, which only you can hear, is your voice bereft of plans. And the light through her body will bathe you till you wonder why the gems in your palm were ever fisted. Others will think you crazed to wait on something no one sees. But the clear bird only wants to feed and fly and sing. She only wants light in her belly. And once in a great while, if someone loves you enough, they might see her rise from the nest beneath your fear.

In this way, I’ve learned that loving yourself requires courage unlike any other. It requires us to believe in and stay loyal to something no one else can see that keeps us in the world–our own self-worth.

All the great moments of conception–the birth of mountains, trees, of fish, of prophets, and the truth of relationships that last–all begin where no one can see, and it is our job not to extinguish what is so beautifully begun. For once full of light, everything is safely on its way–not pain-free, but unencumbered–and the air beneath your wings is the same air that trills in my throat, and the empty benches in snow are as much a part of us as the empty figures who slouch on them in spring.

When we believe in what no one else can see, we find we are each other. And all the moments of living, no matter how difficult, come back into some central point where self and world are one, where light pours in and out at once. And once there, I realize–make real before me–that this moment, whatever it might be, is a fine moment to live and fine moment to die.”

Small note about astrology: I am relieved to see the end of the 18/19 year eclipse series with the eclipses in Aquarius/Leo (Tropical zodiac). This last Leo eclipse was in Cancer/Capricorn nodes, but it was symbolically the end and the beginning of another chapter.

Mary Oliver has passed
and her memory goes on,
like a fading song, too soon.

that gently when the lyrical sound
gets turned down,

you reach for her words
as this is what she gave you,
not her essence.

her essence belongs to the
great beyond and the
silent moments she helped you
reflect on your own insides,

borrowing her voice,

pointing to droplets of dew on shards of grass,
wind through the wings of Wild Geese,

your own strength.

* * *

Mary Oliver’s
The Journey

Poetry
By
Mary Oliver
The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice–
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do–
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Major writers block,
road block
pathway is a wall
of difficulty,
no climbing tools today,
better focus on what
“can be done.”

Climbing shoes on,
but it’s too hot,
the air is a bit
oppressive. Maybe we
can go home?

But we can’t, have to
keep going.

Rest on the wall, by the
wall, facing the wall.
Seeing the wall,
acknowledging the wall.

Maybe we can unpoliticalize
depowerfulize,
unseat this bad master
that sets us all apart from
each-other?

Or worse, from ourselves?

Climbing that wall,
will have to happen another day…

I only follow my own
assignments,

and one day –
that will get me over
the wall, through the wall,

invisablizing the wall.