There’s a truism here: we tend to like what we know.  Anything unfamiliar is less appealing than something recognizable.

Maybe if I had gone out on the tarmac, I could have sorted out the keyboard, vocals and three guitars to appreciate their original music.  Now I know, if it’s too loud, you’re too old…I get it. I’m old.  Even Mac Arnold’s band  sounded better out in the parking lot, later on  as I was headed to my car, than he did in the hangar. Acoustics is part of the delivery, and the sounds weren’t working for me.

But I decided to enjoy the performance. The singer was very much the front man, dancing, sweating, jumping around like he was hooked up to 220 volts. The kids (high schoolers, maybe?) at the stage seemed to be having a great time, some of them dancing, but mostly leaning on the stage to get as close as possible. I had to wonder if the Beatles sounded like this to my grandparents some forty years ago today.  The band was obviously professional in their onstage communication with each other, and they appeared to be having a blast.

Even though the band wasn’t to my taste, nor was the country band the Piedmont Boys,   I could pay attention to what they were doing, rather than complaining or being upset. That is how to change vibration. Make up your mind to do something different, to change your experience, and your world changes. I found some things to enjoy even though it wasn’t the music.

The theme of the tour is “I can do anything.” Yes, I can  if I change my vibration.

Sunbow

Finding a moment requires looking for it. Photographing takes preparation and maybe a change in perspective.

I always look for sunbows or sundogs as some folks call them.  It only takes a hazy day when the sun is about a quarter of the day above the horizon and the clouds around it are the right kind–wispy, very high in the stratosphere and at the right angle from the viewers perspective.

Once I learned to look for them, they are not hard to find. They are hard to photograph though, at least with my cellphone from my car, as you can see below.

Sundog at Sunset

The colors of the sundog fade into the brilliance of the nearby sun, and well, telephones are not the best cameras…could also the the operator?

This post is not so much about frozen clouds or how light scatters into the arc of a spectrum as it is about looking for what you want to see and being ready to look in a different way.

From my previous lack of success in capturing the colors of the sundog, a short arc (15 degrees maybe) of rainbow, I wanted to get a shot of the larger sunbow, hoping that the colors would come through.  I stopped my car in a church parking lot, where I was able to see the sundog through my sunroof  (I love my Kia Soul!!!).  With the sunroof masking the sun, I could see the sunbow, and so could my camera.

While I won’t be winning any Pulitzers for photography, this does illustrate the concept of looking for what you want to see, and not looking at what you don’t want to see–focusing attention.  I knew if that if I got out of the car to take the picture, as I did with the sundog,  it would turn out with no colors.  But using the sunroof in my car as a mask shaded out the brilliance of the sun so that the lesser shine of the sunbow could be recorded. Using Photoshop to enhance the image brings out what I saw, not what my camera saw, so that I can share it.

The only point here is to look for the moments in the day where you can find the beauty of the earth. Take some time to focus on them, to see them from a new perspective, to record what you see and feel.  This is how you build your world, your life: one moment at a time.

Nyx - Goddess of the Night

I used to get aggravated at my cat who seems to think that a 4 am wake-up call is in order, but it seems that I wake up now whether the cat does or not, even if she is outside for the night.  I’m at the age where answering the call of nature often  requires me to roll out of my warm quilt sometime after midnight, and getting back to sleep can take a while. If I ignore the thoughts running through my head and cover my eyes with my quilt, I may oversleep and have to dash out to get to work on time. Another morning, another call wasted.

It seems that I have not been doing my due diligence, taking the action that I need to feel happy and soul-fed.  I haven’t been writing, not on my second novel, not on my blogs, and not on anything else except cryptic comments on student papers.  My brain seems to be backed up, too full of unwritten stuff to think clearly, and with several projects at work and at home that need my attention, the backlog needs to be cleared out.  Part of wish craft is doing the action steps that present themselves, even if answering that call to action involves hauling oneself out of bed at 4 am and pecking at the keyboard.  The call must be answered.

Alice Walker writes of being awakened by a poem that demands to be written, how it sends her on a guilt trip of awareness of where she has been and what she has seen with her one good eye. People who only know Walker’s deep fiction should read her often deceptively simple poetry.  She answers the call, even in the dark far before dawn.

If the call is not answered, it gets louder, and puts more stumbling blocks for us to fall over, to get our attention, to yell from the lair of the soul, like Seymore the carnivorous plant: “FEEEEED MEEEEE!!!”   Such a call cannot be answered by food, drink or other sense-numbing substances, like a sugar-tit for a baby. It can only  be answered in reply, in expression, in action. All the productivity gurus, such as Simpleology’s Mark Joyner, talk about taking action, but it’s important to listen for the call, to understand what action needs to be taken, the next logical step.

So I am up this morning, only an hour or so earlier than usual, when the house is quiet except for the waterfall sounds of the turtle pond filters,  and the street outside is dark, except for the orange security light the neighbor put in that reflects the broad shiny magnolia leaves in front of whatever he is protecting in that dark corner of his yard. But I am answering the call, opening the way for the words to flow, and feeling a sense of relief that there are words, that there is substance within that wants to be expressed, and giving up an hour of restless tossing and turning is a small price to pay.

I’m still working on my findagoddess project, but yesterday I was able to spend five minutes on an update. That’s what I wanted, even though the delete process is not complete.

But I can see that some of my projects are going to be shelved for a while, so that the others can prosper and develop. That takes planning, which I am working on now.

If you need some help getting your plan together, visit Janet Conner’s Blog Writing Down Your Soul.

Visit Veriditas Voice of the Labyrinth

This is the time of year when Nature prepares for hibernation – just as she always has. She will shed what she no longer needs, but which served her well at one time.

This is the time of year when the tree prepares to humble itself – to stand naked and silent against the winter cold. It is brave and fears not. It knows instinctively its own magnificence, which is sure to follow its faded beauty and sacrificial loss.

This is the time of year for us to look closely and become aware of just how in sync with Mother Nature we really are. This is a time of year for us to still our minds.

This is the time of year to discover the labyrinth and how it can hold, support and enfold as only a mother can.

This is the time of year that affords us the chance to reflect, to remember, to mourn those who went before us, and to let go as we walk the labyrinth’s twisting path. When we reach the center it can be like stepping into our own center, our own stillness and source of our personal strength.

This is the time of year when, if we allow it, the labyrinth will provide a safe haven for us to look within. If we peer closely we may realize an old belief system or out dated behavior or thought pattern that may no longer work for us. This is the time to release into the energy of the labyrinth that which is worn. This is the time of year to free ourselves and allow the labyrinth to enfold us against the winter winds of loss or fear of change.

This is the time of year for us to step into the labyrinth, not only to reflect, but to feel and notice our bodies. They, like the labyrinth, speak to us.

This is the time of year to realize just how thin the veil is between life and death, between the old and the new, between those living and those who have passed on, between the past and the present, between what was and what can be. This is the time of year to discover yet accept ourselves just as we are. This is the time of year to realize what it means to be fully human.

This is the time to prepare to gift our beautiful selves with the fresh chance for new possible possibilities. So as the light fades and the leaves drop, this is the time of year to walk the labyrinth. If not now – when?

Follow the labyrinth below with your finger or mouse on the screem, or use the interactive labyrinth meditation at Grace Cathedral.

Chartres style labyrinth

Today is the first day of the new year in some pagan traditions, the return of the sun after the longest night of the Winter Solstice. The rise of the sun on this day represents the leaving behind of that which no longer serves, and the turning towards the Source of grace and power for growth, symbolized by the sun.

Many avatars, Jesus among them, are believed to have been born on the Winter Solstice, but the calendar has not stayed in alignment with the precession of the stars. Still, Yule is a time of reflection, sorting out, discarding and renewing.

Our visualization in the ceremony was the dark of the Void, where the potential is greatest for creativity and rebirth. In the ceremony, we used deep breathing and toning–using sound to voice and release the tensions from our bodies, mental, physical, emotional and spiritual. Then, as in any clearing gathering, we each lit our candles of clarity and purpose. We chanted and sang together, an action that imprints the experience into the cells of ones soul.

The chant that stayed with me goes like this:

You are (I am, we are) the heart. You are the hands.
You are the voice of Spirit on earth.
And who you are and all you do
Is a blessing to the world.

This is another one.

I send my love (power, peace, joy) over the mountains
I send my love over the sea
I send my lover into the Heavens,
and it returns to me.

Today I feel more clear than I have in decades, open not only to change, but to being an agent of change. I am ready to move in the Void and work with the dark matter of the Universe to create myself as light.

Donald T and Pam live their music and their spiritual path, and their music reflects their joyful and grounded approach to the physical world. Please check out their music, especially Songs from the Sacred Spiral. Unfortunately these two chants are not on that album, but the ones that are will give you ear tunes enough to empower and enlighten the coming year.

Rowling should be the poster child for Law of Attraction and Manifesting. She created a whole world and world view from the mythology of Europe and the legends of magic, with her own modern humorous twists based on understanding of how people think and what makes them afraid.

Her hand crafted version of this book was a new item last Christmas, and now both a collector’s edition and a standard edition are being pre-sold for this Christmas season, to be released on Dec. 4th. The

These tales provide backstory of the wizarding world, with footnotes by Albus Dumbledore. I can’t wait to read it, and it reminds me of all the fairy tales I want to write. Rowling is my hero. I have a novel based in fairy tales that is in the editing stage, and part of my wish is to share in the readership that Rowling has built, even though my characters are much older than Ron and Hermione.

In European tradition, the Solstice was the middle of summer, rather than the beginning. There was much work to do to keep the crops growing: weeding, tilling, fertilizing. The work of preparation is done, and now the work itself has begun, with the work of preserving the harvest to come later.

While many of us think of summer vacations from school, we may miss the intense energy that is available to us to make our goals happen. Half of the magic is creating the visualization, writing down what we want, and getting the picture clear in our minds. But the other half is doing the work.

What are the actions that you can take today to begin living the life you desire? If you want a garden, but you live in an apartment, perhaps you could get a plant for the window. Perhaps you could volunteer in a community garden or park, or at least visit one.

Rather than focusing on the money that you want, focus on what you want to do with it. I am still deciding what kind of new car I want, but I’m pretty sure it will be painted copper, unless the car makers come out with a purple I like better. I got to drive an HHR when I rented a car in California last week, and I liked it a lot, even though it is much narrower than my minivan. I could turn that baby around in two lanes with one hand! I will be test driving other cars to see what it feels like to drive them.

I have a vision of a cabin high in the mountains with geraniums hanging from the wide shaded porch that faces south. So I have geraniums on my front porch. I stand on my porch and listen to the breeze in the trees and imagine the mountains in the distance.

That summer solstice energy inspires me to write, and I admit, I’ve been very slack about keeping up this blog. But with the summer energy, I want my skills to get growing, so I am working the ground they come from. This post is a result. I am doing the thing that I want to do, which is writing. Writing is easy. Writing is fun. And the summer is the best time to let the words flow.

What are your goals and how can you them a bit more today?

If you need heapin’ helpin’ of lovin’ that does not come from the oven, go there now: http://www.hochstadt.com/category/better-than-tv

Instead of filling your mind with stories that activate what Eckhart Tolle calls the pain body, each video gives uplifting information to help you become more conscious and aware, present in the present. And the best part is that you can stop them to take notes, back up to hear a part again, and listen over and over until you hear what they are saying. Thanks, Marcus!

What a gift!

Most ofthe videos come from TED.com, which presents short presentationss from experts in every field and is well worth the free signup.

After reading Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth, I wonder if all beliefs actually do contain a lie…the misunderstanding that well meaning people create by thinking from their egos about the messages given by the avatars….Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tse. According to Tolle, these messages are not factual, but are pointers to the truth that must be experienced to be known. Allthe opinions and interpretations are morelikely to lead away from truth than toward it.

If you know, you do not have to believe. An ex-mentor tells of meeting people in a religious organization who knew rather than believing, and he was converted to their path. I have had direct experience with that which is more than the individual, that which is the connection of all of us, ALL THAT IS.

As a teen in the 60s, I was in a fishbowl group in a UU church in Charlotte NC, when I felt an energy flow through the group, a sense of deep love and connection with every person in the circle. I don’t know if the people watching from the sidelines felt it, but they said that they saw something happening. I don’t remember what we were discussing, but I know that it started when one girl became upset about something someone else said. All at once was an outpouring of concern for her, and a sense of connection as if a beam of light passed through each of our hearts to connect us like pearls on a string. That’s how it felt to me anyway. I know there is a connection, and I have felt it at other times in ritual and in mundane life, though never as intensely as that moment.

I don’t pretend to understand what I know and experienced, and it would be a piss-poor universe that could be understood by one human mind. Bu I know it to be real. I also know the fundamentalism of preferring one set of metaphors or fairy tales for the ineffable over another set. I confess to being a fundamentalist pagan. Yet ALL THAT IS, by definition, is obviously available to ALL THAT IS. Who am I to tell someone else that his or her opinions (which everyone has) are less valid than mine?

All I can do is to shut my ego up, and open my awareness to that connection. Mike Dooley’s notes from the Universe, Jerry and Esther’s chanelling of Abraham, and even some of the teachings of Jesus point to the idea that the world is fine just as it is, and it is up to us to open to its abundance: “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:22).