falling in love is not something that happens just once,
it might start in seemingly personal ways, but it is endless and
expansive
my husband and i were out at a plant nursery, where we divided and
chased after our respective whims and I found myself
photographing,
and falling in love with this vine. Partly it was because it was fuzzy,
but mostly, it was the energy of the vine.
we will be celebrating our half-a-decade anniversary soon
(my husband and I, not me and the vine – but in some ways,
yes. that too.)
i’m already celebrating,
celebrating how this joyous experience is mostly everywhere, most
often, most of the time.
the same day, children were everywhere, it seemed
(no matter where we went) playing musical instruments.
it was the day I really remembered how much I like to sing.
and a couple of days after a friend and study buddy listed from the top of her head,(unprompted) a list! of
her favorite poems from the book I wrote and published in 2017
There is nothing to seek
lest one seek the wind and
aim to put it in his pocket.
Goals come and go
and are fun, but each post
reveals its way to every
other, an endless string
of passers, passing by,
all marks of time –
in different, creative
pathways.
I’m liking the mystic rectangle and the grand trine in this chart. Go ahead and point it out if you’d like. I also enjoy seeing the transiting North Node in Leo conjoining Venus in Leo. I’m offering no interpretations at this time. I’m fresh out of that sort of offering. But I think a picture can be worth more, anyways.
Mercury is in Cancer, my natal Mercury’s home. I’m nearing my Mercury return. It is what you make it. I’m working on that in my own heart/chart, finding my heart, and strengthening it, every day. North Node in Leo, for me, is about finding courage – and that – I am certain of. How many cycles will I need to strengthen my natal Sun? I don’t know…, but I do know that I will keep finding my way in the dark, or in the light – it matters not.
Our society doesn’t really enjoy smallness. When we refer to the ‘small,’ it’s often pejorative and the word is tied to phrases like “small-minded” and “playing small.” Smallness, the concept, is often coupled with ignorance, and not being a “major player,” which in our society, usually means ‘a bad thing.’ Granted, ignorance is not very well supported for good reason; maybe living in a world where everyday people are constantly trying to “learn” and constantly enrolling in classes has demonstrated an educational industry that has simply gotten out of hand. If you aren’t teaching these days, or running workshops, what are you doing?! The message is the same: everyone ought to be a leader, a teacher, a giver, a bestower of “the way”!
In our society, the paradigm is to aspire to be the inspirer of others (most influential!), taking big, bold actions demonstrating ‘great’ progress, demonstrating command of personal willpower, great personal fortitude, and a thick skin; meanwhile leaving room to express “vulnerability” in leadership which may or may not even feel vulnerable to the people divulging their “secrets.” After all, this is another ‘trained’ phenomenon. People are actually instructed to be vulnerable, to make themselves “real.” Each decade another set of instructions comes from research and leadership circles, and the advice trickles down to all, as each tries to become “more like” those instructions for success, the proven success. Then those who read those messages and repeat and disperse this information to their groups, ad infinitum – until maybe, maybe this news is old news. Maybe we need a new type of success – one that doesn’t look like all the other options available outside of us.
In essence, the message has been “be the best” – yet, even if you are being the best ‘you,’ how would anyone be able to recognize that? How would they even know what to look for? How could they offer support? That’s how different your success could look!
Nowadays the push is for each player to be the one who scores for the whole team – the shining star – the one who makes the biggest difference leading to the success for all. That’s still a level of shine that isn’t as shared as it could be! We value teams only in the sense that the teams occupy a great space due to the leader’s charisma, charm, and personal effectiveness: specifically if that leader is the coach. We want to point out one person to either blame or punish for success for failure.
It seems we value leaders above all, and there’s this underlying disdain for “the collective,” often relegated as “the unconscious” masses. We have to of course, “wake them up.” The entire concept of smallness in our society seems to relate back to a need for “protection” and “encouragement.” Everyone, it seems, should celebrate big gains in wisdom, intelligence, finances, etc. Progress should be unequivocally upward and regularly consistent, for all. Underlying these messages are some worthwhile intentions: we do want everyone to be happy. So, what does happiness real look like, though? Is it really the same for everyone?
Is there a possible different world, in which small places can hang out without being bull-dozed by the great and the awesome?
Are people allowed to simply “exist”?
When did we start attacking “existence” so strongly – all the while celebrating that existence in the non-human realms? I used to do fundraising for animal welfare groups, and many of the individuals I would talk to literally hated humans, above all.
Many of us love nature; we love how it exists. But if anyone actually tries to emulate nature, that individual will receive exactly zero praise. It might even be fought by the powers that be that apply pressure to this existing. This isn’t about praise however. This is about being allowed to live and let live, without the constant encouragement for self-disdain for being ‘normal’ or ‘regular’ and even gasp, “slow to grow.” Are we not giving enough, doing enough?Have we not changed the planet yet?How can this relentless pursuit to be big and grand, occupying as much space as possible physical or digital, while being uber productive, be the way to freedom and peace – for everyone?!
However there are a minority of quotes/adages that go something like this, “great is the enemy of good.” Each quote and concept needs some deconstruction.
I offer these thoughts merely as a reflection, realizing that this viewpoint that I am experimenting with is also temporary and transient.
for every time, i couldn’t word it, “it” slipped from me and word confined me and stifled me and “it-brush” didn’t have a problem with my choices. The brush, had texture, the brush had ears for every word I couldn’t translate from the other side of language, or what language? Or what symbol?
Artist.
—->Who I am.
not in my dna nor my Q&A (but there, too).
not in where I live and who I know
or all the pulses I’ve felt now.
it’s not in one piece of art that I make, but in all the art that i haven’t made yet.
or how vulnerable I make myself to the “strangers” who seem to want to talk to me wherever I go. even when quiet time may be most appropriate for me. I say hi and try to be as friendly and welcoming and open as possible.
the rhythm of the drum 🥁
The wildness in me who refuses to be scheduled by others.
the me that is happy to connect with people and Happy to close my shutters and say “me time, or close friend time, or family time.”
the selfless “i” who employs much time figuring out what would be best for others (and that I be myself. And how can I know that without asking. And that I sleep soundly. And that the ways of the world and the business of things will never confine my spirit).
my Spirit.
Ka Malana 🌅 2018
the painting is what it is. This piece I wrote felt more like spoken word. I hadn’t planned on posting daily to my blog, so I don’t know how long I will keep at this, but for now…
it is what it is
social media has been awkward. I started writing on this subject but still haven’t managed to communicate in a way that I can build on yet.
Oh – I forgot to add one of my favorite songs that came on while painting – here’s the live version!
As many losses as we experience, as a people, so grows our courage and our ability to face what we face, each day – and when we find the resources, we want to share them, and so we do. Thank you for this post Venus Lotus. Sometimes we allow that sense of loss and confusion to help guide us back to remembering why we are here and how each and every one of us is worthy of peacefulness
“As you move through this life and this world, you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life — and travel — leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks — on your body or on your heart — are beautiful. Often, though, they hurt.” -Anthony Bourdain
Several years ago now, I started disseminating Tulsi tea to friends and family. I had forgotten about it, but then remembered. The tea is often combined with Rose 🌹 which I have been on quite the binge with since April, having recalled the love of rose – which brings me to earlier memories of my love with roses, sharing this love with my grandmother’s cat 🐈 named Meesh (probably was more my grandfather’s cat) who was left to the wild and visited when he wanted to (mostly because of me and the asthma I had when I was a child) thankfully hasn’t been a problem in years, but I still don’t have a cat 🐈. As far as the cat’s love for roses, there was an image hanging in their house (which was just sold) with Meesh (white cat) pictured smelling one of my grandmother’s red roses. I always absorbed that image, and it made me so happy. It’s still in my mind.
I might update this post about Tulsi, Rose, or cats, in more detail later, but I’m here today because I really wanted to share these rose images that stunned me on my walk yesterday.
Yes, I had with me only my smart phone but glad I did. Sometimes I want to be free of that, too! 😉
Here’s where I am in A Course of Love, Combined Volume: The Course, The Treatise, The Dialogues
I stopped high-lighting everything in this crazy blaring green color. (at least for now).
Here’s a favorite part in a Course that’s quite whole
“The sameness that this Course calls you to is not a sameness of body or of habit. It asks not for monks or clones. It asks not that you give up anything but illusion, which is the giving up of nothing.”
This makes me chuckle, and sounds like a good idea. Oneness and sameness without clone-ship and illusionary sacrifice. There’s a lot to digest here, not to mention all that came before – thankfully my mind is on the present moment.
Wanting to bring to your attention a blogger whose blog I’ve been participating in whatever capacity as I come and go for a couple years now, and wanting to support her in her journey of consistently and upwardly spiraling…. to be a consistent presence as she offers the same.
It is a joy to have a moment’s pause to share about her upcoming journey of healing for all are welcome. Often Susan’s journeys match the astrological “chemistry” as the journey of worth – 40 days – has ended. The Sun, Mercury, and Uranus by a greater energetic shift, has been bringing a lot of energy into the sign of Taurus, “Worth.”
Soon the journey of Healing is taking place/ “being supported” – you can read about it on her blog, along with the explanation for what her journeys do. I’m simply highlighting the astrological correspondence. By month’s end, we’ll have some planetary energy shifts Sun (21st) Mercury (13th) into the sign of Cancer and will be in opposition to Saturn in Capricorn. There’s lots of healing support as all move through it!
This can be a wonderful and gentle process as we are all moving ever more into our greater clarity!
Back when I was an aspiring photographer and taking a photography class in college – I went out at night with my special camera 📷 filled with 35mm film.
i was enchanted by this slug and so “framed” it in this thoughtful composition, as “going to the light.”
Little did I know, I was preparing a gift for my photography teacher who gasped, “I love slugs!”
Thanks for inspiring this post via comment conversation – Sue Dreamwalker!
We both know the power and mystery of animal medicine.
*this is a photograph of a photograph that I processed myself in the darkroom back in the day. There is no orange hue in the actual image. This was posted as such for the sake of expediency, ironically.
*more photos in the queue and I’ll be updating my cooking blog…. potentially.
this whole time she was
chilling with polly pocket
in her tiny mansion
in the fuzz of my left pocket
the whisper, she is
delicate and beautiful, as always
with a smile full of pink cotton candy
from the fuzz of my left pocket
i thought i was alone
but the friendly whisper
returned and brought with her a little
star that only i could see.
she told me that she can transmigrate
to any pocket i am wearing, on any given
day, even to that dress i wear with no pocket,
there,
she will be waiting for me
in polly pocket’s
decked out mansion,
When I was much younger than I am now (although I do feel like I am getting younger), I attended an undergraduate bachelor program and dual majored Anthropology & Art History and I got a film studies certificate. If I were to be doing ‘right now’ everything that I ever started (in order to finish it? – hopefully never), I wouldn’t be visiting your blogs, or etc., So – I learned over time that ‘little by little’ was the only way I could release the sharing valve in a way that didn’t tear up my own eyes and cloud my mind, so that I could continue to “allow in,” at the same time, more grace, as I try to release gradually all that energy that I’ve been consolidating within my being – and has been taking up space.
That said, I used to decorate some of my college notebooks.Then there are more sketches and forays…
I’ve needed to upgrade my own website for a while, but it keeps getting pushed to the bottom of the list, as I am in school/clinic now in a busy and rigorous graduate program, being an intern (trying to be that best one of me that I can be), and that is demanding pretty much all of my heart and soul (and body). I have understated that, or perhaps not. My blog is a tip of my proverbial iceberg, and I love what I do here. I use it to empty out what has been stored away, and is ready to transform.
Sometimes this arises in the form of poetry, sometimes it arises in the sharing of others’ work, or my photography, or the astrology that build Fiestaestrellas.com. Sometimes I just want to dazzle or delight, as I am receiving the same from so much Source at once! Thank you: Uranus moving into Taurus! Thank you New Moon! Thank you Mercury! Thank you Goddess/God/Spirit etc.
There’s a story about everything here, and some memories I have forgotten ~ for sure. But in every detail there is a whisper, a reminder, an impression, and a hint of a flavor or a smell, or an experience….
**The Gecko from the Temple at Lawaii International Center – where one can tour the 88 shrines, has made it to the page** He/she adds something very new…. and a warm welcome to all passers by… I met him/her and he/she is a gem. So that’s why the photo, I suppose.
**This and all published pages are subject to updates at any time, and may or may not become private at the author’s sole discretion.
Ahhh…. every time I See the Tao Te Ching, I remember what my heart 💜 will never forget…. everything has its flow 💗🌸 Happy Mother’s Day to all the nurturers. Thank you, Deborah Brasket, for your incredible blog posts throughout the years – and a wonderful image to cherish!
My novel From the Far Ends of the Earth is about relationships between mothers and children and all the ways that is expressed, from the most fearful and destructive to the most trusting and freeing.
A huge influence on my understanding of what “mothering” is, or could be, is found in the Tao Te Ching (CHXXV):
There was something complete and nebulous
Which existed before the Heaven and Earth,
Silent, invisible
Unchanging, standing as One,
Unceasing, ever-revolving,
Able to be the Mother of the World.
This Mother of the World, of course, is Tao, the all-pervading, all embracing, unchanging, and unceasing. It’s the thing that evolves, supports, nurtures, protects, and provides space for its “children,” all individual being.
A tall order for a mere human.
Yet something about that passage spoke to me as a woman and mother. It drew within me the desire to embrace my children…
Margarita Sikorskaia 
Fiesta Estrellas 
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