12.19.12.4.7 6 Manik 5 Uo
Deer energy: the balance between "running with the herd" & being solitary. Also being a tool of the gods.
Have a nice day!
Friday, April 29, 2005
Thursday, April 28, 2005
(picture) Pool of Souls
Isn't it pretty, and peaceful? And only a ten minute walk (or 1 minute drive) away!
Offerings to the Pool of Soul & what is Itza
Offerings
As part of my training elsewhere, I learned to always offer "itza"--essense--for all my rituals. Itza is your blood or any other body fluid, candle wax, dead incense, flowers, herbs or tobacco (I probably forget some, but you get it). This offering is made up of candle wax from a money candle & a wedding candle (one that was used at a wedding), burnt-up copal, nag champa stubs, and a dead flower from the 0 Pop ritual.
So I gathered all this together, and drove the short distance to my "Pool of Souls" which is the nearest body of water to the West. Actually I drive North to get to it, but it ends up to my west eventually. It's the Quinnipiac River (portrayed in the next few posts), which right now is very high due to lots of April showers.My method is to toss my offerings into the upstream side of the river, cross the bridge, and wait for the offerings to appear. Sometimes when the water is really low and stagnant they just hover there on the other side. Today, I had to wait about ten minutes (during which time I took all those photos) because the wind was blowing so hard upstream. But finally the flower did come through. :)
who am I, anyway?
I AM Gevera Bert Piedmont. My shamanic name is Ix Mahel Ek Penpen, which translates roughly to "Angelic Jaguar Shaman Black Butterfly." My patron goddess is Itzpapalotl (Obsidian Butterfly) (Black Butterfly-get it?).
I was accepted into the Order of the Feathered Serpent based on a 28-page spiritual resume submitted to the head of the Order. (If you want more information on OFS, please join the yahoo group Feathered Serpent Teachings )
Twenty-eight pages is a bit extreme, I know. But I included the complete text of a ritual I'd written, and also some sample pages from my book about the Tzolkin, Jaguar Nights, as well as a list of books I've studied.
The reason I made the resume so long is that I have little formal training. I fell in love with the Tzolkin while in college (read the complete story on my web site, www.ObsidianButterfly.com, under "Meso") and basically just started reading up on it, memorizing things, studying things, and gradually branching out to become a pagan (or embrace my essential pagan-ness). I have taken a few very basic course in things like Indian Beadwork, constructing medicine wheels, and weaving dream catchers, and many classes on generic pagan & wiccan subjects. I have master level (teacher) training in Usui Reiki, Karuna Reiki, Karuna-Ki Reiki, Tera Mai Reiki, Tera-Mai Seichim Reiki, 7-Facet Seichem Reiki, Mayan Reiki, Shamballa Multi-Dimensional Healing, 12D Shamballa, Ama Deus Shamanic Healingand Holographic Sound Healing with the Angelic Realms. I have developed my own system of healing called Elements of the Divine. Right now I actively schedule/teach Shamballa, Mayan Reiki, HSH, Ama Deus and of course ED. I am also a Master-Healer in the Magnussa Phoenix school of Reiki, from Germany.
I have studied Huna (Hawaiian Shamanism) extensively on my own, never having had the opportunity to take a course in it (except a distant-learning one I did many years ago). I am a certified Reflexologist, and I do astrological & psychic readings based on the Tzolkin.
Except for the Tzolkin self-study, none of my training took place before 1998. I have accomplished an amazing amount in relatively few years.
I am not done learning (or I wouldn't have accepted the invitation for the OFS studies) nor am I done teaching.
Other accomplishments of mine in the metaphysical realm are having edited Dennis Alexander's book MayanReiki (including writing a chapter on the Tzolkin) and being initiated by him as a Shaman of Mayanism on the Spring Equinox of 2003. I also do editing work for Steve Rother of Lightworker.com.
I was accepted into the Order of the Feathered Serpent based on a 28-page spiritual resume submitted to the head of the Order. (If you want more information on OFS, please join the yahoo group Feathered Serpent Teachings )
Twenty-eight pages is a bit extreme, I know. But I included the complete text of a ritual I'd written, and also some sample pages from my book about the Tzolkin, Jaguar Nights, as well as a list of books I've studied.
The reason I made the resume so long is that I have little formal training. I fell in love with the Tzolkin while in college (read the complete story on my web site, www.ObsidianButterfly.com, under "Meso") and basically just started reading up on it, memorizing things, studying things, and gradually branching out to become a pagan (or embrace my essential pagan-ness). I have taken a few very basic course in things like Indian Beadwork, constructing medicine wheels, and weaving dream catchers, and many classes on generic pagan & wiccan subjects. I have master level (teacher) training in Usui Reiki, Karuna Reiki, Karuna-Ki Reiki, Tera Mai Reiki, Tera-Mai Seichim Reiki, 7-Facet Seichem Reiki, Mayan Reiki, Shamballa Multi-Dimensional Healing, 12D Shamballa, Ama Deus Shamanic Healingand Holographic Sound Healing with the Angelic Realms. I have developed my own system of healing called Elements of the Divine. Right now I actively schedule/teach Shamballa, Mayan Reiki, HSH, Ama Deus and of course ED. I am also a Master-Healer in the Magnussa Phoenix school of Reiki, from Germany.
I have studied Huna (Hawaiian Shamanism) extensively on my own, never having had the opportunity to take a course in it (except a distant-learning one I did many years ago). I am a certified Reflexologist, and I do astrological & psychic readings based on the Tzolkin.
Except for the Tzolkin self-study, none of my training took place before 1998. I have accomplished an amazing amount in relatively few years.
I am not done learning (or I wouldn't have accepted the invitation for the OFS studies) nor am I done teaching.
Other accomplishments of mine in the metaphysical realm are having edited Dennis Alexander's book MayanReiki (including writing a chapter on the Tzolkin) and being initiated by him as a Shaman of Mayanism on the Spring Equinox of 2003. I also do editing work for Steve Rother of Lightworker.com.
and today I am transformed.... :)
Yay Cimi!
MY LEG IS HEALED.
After almost THREE YEARS (it happened June 11, 2002), the swelling in my leg is down. I am going to take a walk later, see how it does. It feels light, not heavy and bogged down. I am so happy.
After all this time, when all the doctors said it couldn't be fixed, or the only way to fix it was to lose weight, they were ALL WRONG. So frustrating to know I suffered needlessly for THIRTY FIVE MONTHS when I all needed was a few colonics to purge the poison out of my system.
MY LEG IS HEALED.
After almost THREE YEARS (it happened June 11, 2002), the swelling in my leg is down. I am going to take a walk later, see how it does. It feels light, not heavy and bogged down. I am so happy.
After all this time, when all the doctors said it couldn't be fixed, or the only way to fix it was to lose weight, they were ALL WRONG. So frustrating to know I suffered needlessly for THIRTY FIVE MONTHS when I all needed was a few colonics to purge the poison out of my system.
Happy 5 Cimi!
Mayadate: 12.19.12.4.6 5 Cimi 4 Uo
I am going to start using the long form dates for the daykeeper posts.
The Tzolkin is winding down. It's day 226 of 260. Start getting your energy in order, sending your requests up into the universe, for after the beginning of June things will start manifesting according the energy you held during the last 120 days of this Tzolkin cycle!
Cimi: "the energy of transformation" (to quote Hari Das Melchizedek, founder of Shamballa Multidimensional Healing, who was actually talking about something else).
I am going to start using the long form dates for the daykeeper posts.
The Tzolkin is winding down. It's day 226 of 260. Start getting your energy in order, sending your requests up into the universe, for after the beginning of June things will start manifesting according the energy you held during the last 120 days of this Tzolkin cycle!
Cimi: "the energy of transformation" (to quote Hari Das Melchizedek, founder of Shamballa Multidimensional Healing, who was actually talking about something else).
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
liver flush "failure"
It didn't fail. Yes, it did not flush stones from my gallbladder/liver. But the swelling in my leg is diminished, my stomach feels softer and flatter, and so does my neck/chin/throat.
I wasn't going to do another one in 3 weeks, like he wants, but maybe I will. If I can figure out how not to puke.
I wasn't going to do another one in 3 weeks, like he wants, but maybe I will. If I can figure out how not to puke.
notes: War of Witches
My OFS teacher reccomended the book War of Witches: Journey into the Underworld of the Contemporary Aztecs by Timothy J. Knab. I was able to get it through an inter-library loan, and I'm glad I didn't purchase it. It's a nice book, but it raises more questions than it answers, such as "what is a white man who doesn't believe doing mucking around in the Underworld of a native culture?" and "why the hell did those gods not smash him flat like a bug?"
The petaled drawing nearby this post is from that book, a drawing an old woman made for the author, which shows the layout of the underworld.
Here's what I gained in practical knowledge from the book:
pp 41-42: 3 "souls" of man: the yollo, the heart, "the life of the body....Without the heart, the body does not stir, does not move, one is dead." The tonal, "the spark of life, the heat that animates the body....our luck, our fate." It can be frightened out of the body, and travel in dreams. (The astral body, I suppose he means.) The Nagual is the animal which shares your tonal, born at the same time as you in the underworld. If it gets hurt, the person bound to it gets hurt also.
p 62 (where the drawing comes from) North: "cave of the winds, Ejecatalan or Ejecatan, the Land of the Dead, Miquitalan or Mictali" "East is the Sea, Apan" "South is the land of Heat, Atotonican." "West is the House of the Women, the Cihauuhchan in Tonallan" "The center is the true heart of Talocan, the Talocan Melaw."
And that's it. That's all I got. Mostly it was descriptions of his dreams, and rambling conversations with old people, spaced years and years apart. Much of it was quite boring, to be honest--I only skimmed the ending, where he attempted to tie up all the loose ends about this "war of witches" which happened many years ago in this town (and I believe he fictionalized the town's name and location, so he COULD have just made it all up).
The petaled drawing nearby this post is from that book, a drawing an old woman made for the author, which shows the layout of the underworld.
Here's what I gained in practical knowledge from the book:
pp 41-42: 3 "souls" of man: the yollo, the heart, "the life of the body....Without the heart, the body does not stir, does not move, one is dead." The tonal, "the spark of life, the heat that animates the body....our luck, our fate." It can be frightened out of the body, and travel in dreams. (The astral body, I suppose he means.) The Nagual is the animal which shares your tonal, born at the same time as you in the underworld. If it gets hurt, the person bound to it gets hurt also.
p 62 (where the drawing comes from) North: "cave of the winds, Ejecatalan or Ejecatan, the Land of the Dead, Miquitalan or Mictali" "East is the Sea, Apan" "South is the land of Heat, Atotonican." "West is the House of the Women, the Cihauuhchan in Tonallan" "The center is the true heart of Talocan, the Talocan Melaw."
And that's it. That's all I got. Mostly it was descriptions of his dreams, and rambling conversations with old people, spaced years and years apart. Much of it was quite boring, to be honest--I only skimmed the ending, where he attempted to tie up all the loose ends about this "war of witches" which happened many years ago in this town (and I believe he fictionalized the town's name and location, so he COULD have just made it all up).
Maypole
My husband took down the Maypole yesterday and I spent about an hour untangling the ribbons. I calculated that we've already used these ribbons four times: two times as part of Cinco De Mayo parties and twice in the Circle. They were pretty worn out, starting to crack, all the colors except the purple and teal had faded to white.
My friend who's coming up from Florida tomorrow (yay!) volunteered to bring new ribbons. I was about to cut the old ribbons off the hooks and throw them away yesterday and it felt so wrong. Not that I want to hold onto some mangy old ribbons, just wrong to toss them. So I've decided we're going to burn them (they're paper) when we burn the tobacco ties at the end of the ceremony, and then I will take the ashes and the dead copal and the flowers and give them to the Pool of Souls just west of me (aka Quinnipiac River).
My friend who's coming up from Florida tomorrow (yay!) volunteered to bring new ribbons. I was about to cut the old ribbons off the hooks and throw them away yesterday and it felt so wrong. Not that I want to hold onto some mangy old ribbons, just wrong to toss them. So I've decided we're going to burn them (they're paper) when we burn the tobacco ties at the end of the ceremony, and then I will take the ashes and the dead copal and the flowers and give them to the Pool of Souls just west of me (aka Quinnipiac River).
Happy 4 Chicchan-burner day!
Hey, I think this is the same burner day that Saddam Hussein got caught on! Nope, it was 11 Chicchan.
Anyway, snake energy today--kundalini and sex and all that. Enjoy--and try not to pop.
Anyway, snake energy today--kundalini and sex and all that. Enjoy--and try not to pop.
fragmented dream
I'm in this one too. Whoo-hoo
My mother traded in some car that she doesn't own in real life and bought a Hyundai Tucson, which is their new smaller SUV. It was black. I could not understand why she did it, because they already have my dad's pick-up truck and my mom's Santa Fe SUV. My dad's name was not put on the Tucson and he was upset, "another thing being taken from me" but eventually he made his peace with it and said it was probably better if he had nothing to do with the new vehicle. (He's got Alzheimer's, beginning stages. See my other blog.)
Meanwhile, still at my parents' house, there was this deck at the side of the house, stretching from my parents' bedroom and my old room to Velardi's house. My husband and I were up there decorating for Christmas, but it was warm out. I wanted to decorate a life-sized Yoda statue, which we had gotten from my cousin, but my husband had concerns over it being stolen. And yes, that sentence was deliberately ambiguous, because even in the dream I didn't understand if my cousin had stolen the statue or if my husband was worried someone would steal it from us. I wrapped a long silver garland around it and tied the statue to the drainpipe. That's when my mom came home with the new Tucson.
Can't remember any more.
My mother traded in some car that she doesn't own in real life and bought a Hyundai Tucson, which is their new smaller SUV. It was black. I could not understand why she did it, because they already have my dad's pick-up truck and my mom's Santa Fe SUV. My dad's name was not put on the Tucson and he was upset, "another thing being taken from me" but eventually he made his peace with it and said it was probably better if he had nothing to do with the new vehicle. (He's got Alzheimer's, beginning stages. See my other blog.)
Meanwhile, still at my parents' house, there was this deck at the side of the house, stretching from my parents' bedroom and my old room to Velardi's house. My husband and I were up there decorating for Christmas, but it was warm out. I wanted to decorate a life-sized Yoda statue, which we had gotten from my cousin, but my husband had concerns over it being stolen. And yes, that sentence was deliberately ambiguous, because even in the dream I didn't understand if my cousin had stolen the statue or if my husband was worried someone would steal it from us. I wrapped a long silver garland around it and tied the statue to the drainpipe. That's when my mom came home with the new Tucson.
Can't remember any more.
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
another OFS blog
My friend Mariposa Obsidiana has a blog too. In case you don't speak Spanish, her name is Obsidian Butterfly (yeah, just like my website).
http://mariposadreaming.blogspot.com/
cleansing
Well, my liver cleanse didn't go as well as we had hoped. No stones were cleaned out. So I have to do it again in a few weeks. I did clean out my liver, but not of stones. So maybe a 50% success? I was hoping for more.
Monday, April 25, 2005
if everything that happens to me is my fault....
I had therapy today and my inner child was very vocal. Not screaming bratty vocal, but actually speaking up and talking.
She pointed out something very obvious to me.
Everything that happens is my fault.
Everything.
I let it all in.
I allow it all to happen.
I create my world.
Basic shamanic principles that I KNOW, but somehow they are smacking me in the face today.
Therefore, all this drama and mess about eating and gaining weight and being sick is something I created and/or allowed.
If food makes me sick, I let it happen. If food makes me fat, I let it happen. If I show a reaction to food on a machine, I let that happen too.
So why am I letting all this happen? And the big question, which my child asked, is "why can't I do/eat/think what I want and create the world so I am happy and healthy doing it?" Why does everything have to be so difficult?
My therapist says, well everything has a vibration, it's all energy, and it affects you.
That is so, but only because I allow it to affect me, right?
If a colonic makes my leg better, why can't a Big Mac do the same? (Not that I would eat a Big Mac, it's just an idea.)
She pointed out something very obvious to me.
Everything that happens is my fault.
Everything.
I let it all in.
I allow it all to happen.
I create my world.
Basic shamanic principles that I KNOW, but somehow they are smacking me in the face today.
Therefore, all this drama and mess about eating and gaining weight and being sick is something I created and/or allowed.
If food makes me sick, I let it happen. If food makes me fat, I let it happen. If I show a reaction to food on a machine, I let that happen too.
So why am I letting all this happen? And the big question, which my child asked, is "why can't I do/eat/think what I want and create the world so I am happy and healthy doing it?" Why does everything have to be so difficult?
My therapist says, well everything has a vibration, it's all energy, and it affects you.
That is so, but only because I allow it to affect me, right?
If a colonic makes my leg better, why can't a Big Mac do the same? (Not that I would eat a Big Mac, it's just an idea.)
Happy 2 Akbal
Akbal is about secrets and darkness. I guess a good day for me to start this whole cleansing thing, getting out my dark secrets and putting them into the light and seeing what serves me (or not).
Thank you for yesterday, thank you for today, thank you for tomorrow.
En lak'ech.
Thank you for yesterday, thank you for today, thank you for tomorrow.
En lak'ech.
another OFS blog
My friend Chule Balam is also starting the OFS program and has started a blog at http://mayandaykeeper.blogspot.com/
He is a wonderful person. Please check out his blog and be patient; it's very new.
Gevera Bert Piedmont
Ix Mahel, Ek Penpen
www.ObsidianButterfly.com
letting go
I am letting go of food, of cravings, of shit (literally), of things that don't serve me. This is not necessarily being done so I can follow the shamanistic path--but I know it's all related somehow.
Too much stuff in my life that doesn't belong. There's so much stuff in my house I could get rid of, but how? I don't want to throw it away--it might be valuable to the right person. I have no luck selling things on Ebay. And I detest tag sales.
I continue to own every LP (on VINYL) I've ever purchased, in big green boxes in the closet of the back bedroom. I have some gtreat AC/DC collectibles, but does anyone care besides me? My AC/DC collection, including CDs is over 125 items. (I wouldn't sell the CDs, though, I still listen to them.) I have clothing in every size from 4 to 24, some of it from the 80's and good for nothing but costume parties.
So it's obvious that I know, on an intellectual level, what needs to go bye-bye in my life. it's just the DOING which is difficult. The most difficult road, I fear, will be letting go of friends. There are some people in my life that I just love so much, and they don't support me or serve my destiny. I already got rid of one "friend" who constantly criticized me ("No one else loves you enough to tell you the truth about what a horrible person you are."). Others have just fallen away, through attrition or apathy or having children (I have no kids). Although one of my friends who's got 2 sons called me last night to say he's about to have a 3d. He lives a thousand miles away, has 2 kids and no life, but he manages to support me and keep in touch.
This doesn't make it any easier, to list those who have already left (or been booted). I know who has to go. of course I know. Just like I know that if I eat less and exercise I'll lose weight. hahaha but it doesn't work, does it?
Such a struggle for everything, such drama I attract into my life. How can I have online friends I've never met, or met once, that support me so much more than in-person friends I've known for years? I guess my changes scare them.Ix Mahel, Ek Penpen
Too much stuff in my life that doesn't belong. There's so much stuff in my house I could get rid of, but how? I don't want to throw it away--it might be valuable to the right person. I have no luck selling things on Ebay. And I detest tag sales.
I continue to own every LP (on VINYL) I've ever purchased, in big green boxes in the closet of the back bedroom. I have some gtreat AC/DC collectibles, but does anyone care besides me? My AC/DC collection, including CDs is over 125 items. (I wouldn't sell the CDs, though, I still listen to them.) I have clothing in every size from 4 to 24, some of it from the 80's and good for nothing but costume parties.
So it's obvious that I know, on an intellectual level, what needs to go bye-bye in my life. it's just the DOING which is difficult. The most difficult road, I fear, will be letting go of friends. There are some people in my life that I just love so much, and they don't support me or serve my destiny. I already got rid of one "friend" who constantly criticized me ("No one else loves you enough to tell you the truth about what a horrible person you are."). Others have just fallen away, through attrition or apathy or having children (I have no kids). Although one of my friends who's got 2 sons called me last night to say he's about to have a 3d. He lives a thousand miles away, has 2 kids and no life, but he manages to support me and keep in touch.
This doesn't make it any easier, to list those who have already left (or been booted). I know who has to go. of course I know. Just like I know that if I eat less and exercise I'll lose weight. hahaha but it doesn't work, does it?
Such a struggle for everything, such drama I attract into my life. How can I have online friends I've never met, or met once, that support me so much more than in-person friends I've known for years? I guess my changes scare them.Ix Mahel, Ek Penpen
www.ObsidianButterfly.com
My fish
my fish
Okay, on first glance you might wonder why I have a picture of my fishtank on a blog about shamanism. But I haven't had fish in about 15 years, and all of a sudden, around the same time I started OFS, I got the urge for a fish. Just a simple fish, a betta. I find that having the fish (there are 3: the betta and two small albino cory-catfish, all visible in the photo) has been very calming for me. I often find myself just sitting looking at them. My husband talks to them. My cats look at them. They have had a positive impact on my household. I think I needed their water energy.
Tobacco Ties
Tobacco Ties
These are the tobacco ties we made on Saturday for next Sunday's Beltane/Maypole ritual, also hanging from the handy-dandy all purpose Sacred Tree. We filled the ties with cherry pipe tobacco and a Kinnick-Kinnick mixture that also had herbs in it. Our plan is to burn a few of them after every ritual, in offering. They are red because that's what color material we had--Red for fire, energy, passion.
Maypole & Dreamcatcher
Maypole & Dream Catcher
Here is my maypole, still wrapped from last year (that's my neighbor's garage behind it); in the foreground is a 19" dreamcatcher I made specifically for the Circle, hanging from the Sacred Tree.
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Dream (1 Ik)
Partially lost dream, which is a big deal because I'm in it: My husband and I were driving along North Plains Road, as if coming home from where he works. We were following an old, beat-up car which was towing a homemade trailer behind it. This trailer was full of albino snakes (not true white, but yellow with bands of light brown, like a sepia-toned black and white photo of a corn or king or coral snake) and on top of the snakes was a small cat/large kitten (cattin). I think the cat was grey and white and rather fluffy. The trailer hit a bump and the cat and the snakes flew off into the underbrush near PNA park (where there is, in fact, no underbrush). Worried about the cattin, we stopped and looked for it. We did not see it, and I don't think we saw any of the snakes either. The man driving the car came back in a panic when he realized he'd lost his snakes and kitty. We explained we could not find the kitty. Somehow we became friends with the man, who name might have been Alex or Allen, something like that. We brought him with us to some kind of gathering where he met a friend of mine from High School, T (who in reality I haven't seen or talked to since graduation). Apparently they hit it off, because she came up to me and asked me to be in her wedding, which was scheduled for August 18, and she was marrying Al (whatever his name was). I thought it was kind of strange, but whatever. Not my life. Then Al came up to me and tried to show me his journal of writing, saying he'd never shown it to anyone before in his whole life. I couldn't understand why he would trust me like that-a stranger. But I opened the little book. It was like an autograph book. Each page had been torn out, typed on, and taped back in. The typewriter ink was actually Ragu sauce. (I don't know how I knew this!). The writing was juvenile and not that good, and I did not want to hurt his feelings. I realized he was hitting on me, which made me uncomfortable because #1 he was almost a total stranger #2 he was, as he put it, "one step above homeless" and #3 he was engaged to my friend. (Notice that I didn't mention the fact that I was already married to the list!) He was talking to me about his snakes and being bitten by them, and I learned that they had followed him to where we were. Unfortunately I don't remember anything else.
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Dream (13 Imix)
Dream that could definately turn into a story:
Somewhere on the shore, a large building where people can go and swim with whales. These are not large whales or even "small" orcas, they are more the size of dolphins (a little larger) and sometime's there's dolphins there too. The amazing & unique thing about this facility is that the whales are there VOLUNTARILY. There is a chute or tunnel or something leading right to the water, and the little whales can come & go as they please. And it pleases them to stay and be hand fed and petted and loved. You can go into the water and hang out with them, or walk around a catwalk and look down at them. It's kind of like a big entertainment complex, but the main entertainment is these whales. And each whale is unique. In nature, biologists can tell whales apart by their tail flukes; here the whales also have varied skin tones and markings. The one I remember most clearly had mottled skin like an old man's bald head. This facility is extremely popular, both with the locals and tourists. The whales are very intelligent, seem to recognize certain people, and respond to spoken words.
But there is a dark side to this place. In one of the anterooms a blind man tells tales. If you describe a whale to him, he'll nod, think a moment, and then tell you what this whale's life was like...when it was a person. The tourists think it's great fun that this poor blind man has this job making up stories. The natives are angry and want him to stop telling their stories to strangers.
These whales really DID used to be people. It's kind of like the whole Deep Ones thing (HP Lovecraft, Shadow over Innsmouth). You're born looking human, and at some point in your life you begin to change, to yearn for the open water...A group of local people own a yacht, collectively. The only impressive thing about the yacht is that it has a moon pool--an opening directly from the boat into the sea. Every year, a different group of locals takes that yacht out and never returns. By the end of the summer, its found floating, deserted. Sometimes there are journals or letters left behind, explaining that so-and-so commited suicide or Mrs. Whozawhatis fell overboard and drowned. The police do not investigate these deaths. Near the town is a salt marsh. At high tide it's about 4 feet deep, uncomfortable for both humans and small whales. But occassionally both can be seen there...or heard, more accurately, as the whales here are not friendly and neither are the people. Every year a few tourists somehow manage to drown in that same salt marsh and get washed out to sea, their bodies never found.
Somewhere on the shore, a large building where people can go and swim with whales. These are not large whales or even "small" orcas, they are more the size of dolphins (a little larger) and sometime's there's dolphins there too. The amazing & unique thing about this facility is that the whales are there VOLUNTARILY. There is a chute or tunnel or something leading right to the water, and the little whales can come & go as they please. And it pleases them to stay and be hand fed and petted and loved. You can go into the water and hang out with them, or walk around a catwalk and look down at them. It's kind of like a big entertainment complex, but the main entertainment is these whales. And each whale is unique. In nature, biologists can tell whales apart by their tail flukes; here the whales also have varied skin tones and markings. The one I remember most clearly had mottled skin like an old man's bald head. This facility is extremely popular, both with the locals and tourists. The whales are very intelligent, seem to recognize certain people, and respond to spoken words.
But there is a dark side to this place. In one of the anterooms a blind man tells tales. If you describe a whale to him, he'll nod, think a moment, and then tell you what this whale's life was like...when it was a person. The tourists think it's great fun that this poor blind man has this job making up stories. The natives are angry and want him to stop telling their stories to strangers.
These whales really DID used to be people. It's kind of like the whole Deep Ones thing (HP Lovecraft, Shadow over Innsmouth). You're born looking human, and at some point in your life you begin to change, to yearn for the open water...A group of local people own a yacht, collectively. The only impressive thing about the yacht is that it has a moon pool--an opening directly from the boat into the sea. Every year, a different group of locals takes that yacht out and never returns. By the end of the summer, its found floating, deserted. Sometimes there are journals or letters left behind, explaining that so-and-so commited suicide or Mrs. Whozawhatis fell overboard and drowned. The police do not investigate these deaths. Near the town is a salt marsh. At high tide it's about 4 feet deep, uncomfortable for both humans and small whales. But occassionally both can be seen there...or heard, more accurately, as the whales here are not friendly and neither are the people. Every year a few tourists somehow manage to drown in that same salt marsh and get washed out to sea, their bodies never found.
Order of the Feathered Serpent Initiate am I
I am about to recieve my 3d lesson in the Order of the Feathered Serpent. One of the tasks put to me was that I keep some kind of journal of how I'm incorporating the things I'm reading into my life and what changes are happening. I already have two other blogs, about my weight loss efforts and my father's Alzheimer's. There will be overlap--after all, they are all me--but I will try to keep to the subject here, which will be dreams and rituals and the calendar.
Before I even received the first lesson, I had confirmation that the energy in me was changing as I came down with a hideous case of pink eye--this was in February. I often get pink eye when I get a Reiki attunement, which I hadn't gotten in some time.
Since then, I have learned a method of shamanic healing called Ama Deus ("I love god"), which I have taught to my OFS leader. My efforts to get bariatic surgery have been halted by an implacable outside force, showing me that probably that's not the way for me after all. I have gotten my house professionally cleaned several times and embarked on a personal cleansing regimen of herbs, colonics, liver flushes and highly restricted eating (eliminating reactive foods). With a friend, I am designing a portable sweat lodge (I have no room in my yard for a permanent one), and I was also very active in another project called the Feng Shui of Food. I am in therapy, and making lots of changes in my life.
Today, I am having a group of friends come over to make tobacco ties, something I had never heard of until I got lesson #2. We are going to use them in the ritual next week for Beltane/Mayday. I can't remember what book I read it in, but I saw a description of a ceremony where string was used in a unique way to tie the participants together and send energy, love, healing, etc, and I am writing that into the Beltane ritual.
Before I even received the first lesson, I had confirmation that the energy in me was changing as I came down with a hideous case of pink eye--this was in February. I often get pink eye when I get a Reiki attunement, which I hadn't gotten in some time.
Since then, I have learned a method of shamanic healing called Ama Deus ("I love god"), which I have taught to my OFS leader. My efforts to get bariatic surgery have been halted by an implacable outside force, showing me that probably that's not the way for me after all. I have gotten my house professionally cleaned several times and embarked on a personal cleansing regimen of herbs, colonics, liver flushes and highly restricted eating (eliminating reactive foods). With a friend, I am designing a portable sweat lodge (I have no room in my yard for a permanent one), and I was also very active in another project called the Feng Shui of Food. I am in therapy, and making lots of changes in my life.
Today, I am having a group of friends come over to make tobacco ties, something I had never heard of until I got lesson #2. We are going to use them in the ritual next week for Beltane/Mayday. I can't remember what book I read it in, but I saw a description of a ceremony where string was used in a unique way to tie the participants together and send energy, love, healing, etc, and I am writing that into the Beltane ritual.
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