Lotus Blossom

My friend Billie has one of the most peaceful, serene gardens that I personally know of. I took this photograph whilst visiting her last summer. There is an exquisite pond at the bottom of the garden, its a sanctuary for dragonflies, and tiny little frogs, and all manner of wildlife, with large comfortable rocks, big enough to sit on, its a truly magic place to pause for a while and contemplate the beauty of the Lotus flower.

Lotus Blossom

By David Taylor

Nurtured by the words of the wise

with each rain dropp calling His name

in an infinite shower of love

the lotus blossom gently unfolds

as by its very nature must

and displays the centre of beauty

free from attachment

free from fear

free from anger

the still, unmoving heart

The strange tale of The Worm, The Child, & The Madonna

Running the last leg of my morning route, up a grueling hill just a few hundred yards away from our house, I found myself slowing down to a very slow walk.. I couldn't keep the pace going, I was weak. Its funny, but some days I have so much energy and feel like I could run a 10k no problem, but this day was different, it was not one of "those" splendid kind of days. It was the kind of day that left me feeling like a wind up toy that had completely unwound, and it was only 9 am for gosh sakes!!!

As I was plodding up the rest of the hill, I almost stepped on what was left of a worm, half of it had been squished, the rest of its body was squirming in what I can only imagine to be, great pain. Well folks, I consider myself to be a pretty grounded individual, but I'll tell you, I began to sob for that poor worm, and I sobbed the rest of the way home.. Caelin arrived shortly after to find me sobbing on the front porch still dripping with sweat from the run... He immediately assumed I wasn't feeling well, and asked if I'd over done it on the run (it has been known to happen!) I managed to babble out the bit about the worm, I remember looking sideways at him to see if he thought I'd completely lost my marbles, but he didn't, he looked on patiently, listening. I felt for the worm I cried because that's how I felt with all of the political messes that are going on in the world, I felt like my nice, comfortable life might be taken away, we might have a massive earthquake, I might lose people I love, countries are going bankrupt,, etc.. (Yes, before you ask, I watch/listen to a lot of news programs.) " I feel powerless like the worm, and it scares me!" I bleated.

This is the part where I fall in love with the man I live with all over again. He came up to me and gave me a big hug, then looked me in the eye, and gave me some wonderful advice. He said, this is life, we live in an eat or be eaten kind of world. He gave me food for thought by saying life isn't all light and good, there's always a dark side, we have to embrace both aspects of life, the light and the dark. Now most folks don't know Caelin very well, (he's a bit of an introvert), but he's done a great deal of self reflecting over the years, and has a wealth of wisdom and experience in dealing with the spirit and soul work. He suggested I go and take some time to meditate and embrace the "darkness that was getting to me." (I felt like running away instead.) But, I sat down and let my sobbing continue until I was spent, then focused on my breath. I'm a bit of a novice at meditating and being quiet for any real length of time, but after a while, I got there, and I became the observer.

I saw a large dark amorphous object, it seemed to be alive and breathing, I can only describe what I felt as a series of sickeningly real, fearful thoughts that crossed my mind as I watched the darkness,,, fear of being alone, fear of being sick and no one to take care of me, fear of not being a good enough parent,, on and on it went.. then quiet... And I remembered Caelin telling me, there is no such thing as total darkness, look inside and you'll find light at the core.. I looked and travelled through the dark and found a naked vulnerable child curled up very afraid... and I was that child, and I felt all the fear she felt, and wanted so badly to be taken care of.. Then I heard my own voice speak as if I were speaking to a small child who was afraid, "its alright, I'm here I said, everything is going to be alright, all will be well." And I saw a Madonna holding that child, and I was that Madonna, I was nurturing, and loving and protecting the child, and I knew in my heart that I/ we all possess the Madonna aspect, and the aspect of the child that needs to be taken care of and loved.

After this epiphany , I can now recognize both of these aspects in my heart and for the first time in my life, I have compassion for the needy child part of me, and understood why for the longest time (since both my parents died in 1999), I have felt so very drawn to images of the Madonna and the love and strength she embodies, as do we all.

With Love,

Neinah

Madonna & Child by Vitale da Bologna

More On Little Altars....

Traditional Altar for Dia de las Muertes

New Mexico, November 2010

Altar taken from Latin root word "Altare" meaning elevated or raised up.

After writing my blog entry last week about "Little Altars Everywhere," a friend of mine suggested that I might want to look at what other people keep in the various corners of their homes, and perhaps hear their stories, (or "bios" as she put it.) I loved this idea, and after hearing from several other reader friends about their altars, I've decided that I would very much like to see others people's sacred spaces and will be including them in this blog.

If any of you have sacred corners and/or altars that you'd be willing to share, I would LOVE to hear from you, and either you can send photo's or depending on the distance, I would be happy to come and take photo's.

I leave you with this quote taken from Joseph Campbell and The Power of Myth.

"You must have a room or certain hour of the day where you do

not know what is in the morning paper. A place where you can

simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be.

At first you may think nothings happening. But if you have a sacred space

and take advantage of it and use it everyday, something will happen."

A Little Love, a little frog on a rose, & a little Hafiz...

Here is a photo taken in the summer.

I love this rose, its a David Austin English rose called "Brother Cadfael." I planted it deliberately by the front door of our house, because of its deliciously sweet scent, and its relatively thorn-free stems, not to mention the constant show of flowers from May through to October.

As you can see, we are not the only admirers of this beauty.. We took several photo's during the summer of "froggy" hitching a ride on Brother Cadfael, he spent weeks on end, tucking himself into one multi-petaled nest after another. I wondered if perhaps he too was a rose connoisseur and appreciator of beauty?

I end this post with a little ecstatic poetry on the subject of Love & Roses , courtesy of the Sufi poet Hafiz... (translated by Daniel Ladinsky)

It Felt Love

How

Did the Rose

Ever open its heart

And give to this world

All its

Beauty?

It felt the encouragement of light

Against its being,

Otherwise,

We all remain

Too

Frightened

With Love,

Neinah

A Bird In The Hand...

We're very happy to welcome back our friendly family of Carduelis pinus (Pine Siskin.) They visit us every winter and spring, and are a delight to feed and watch. Their numbers are strong this year, probably due in part to the mild winter we've been experiencing. I was a rather worried for them after last winters harsh weather. During the worst of the snow and deep frost, I would wake up hearing the birds in the nearby trees, calling me to come and put out their seed.

The deck railings had to be swept first and the snow shook off the assorted feeders.. On one of these mornings I went out, and found one of these sweet little birds, shrugged over, eyes almost closed.... I slowly walked over to him and put my hand gently next to him.. He didn't move, his eyes barely blinking. So I scooped him up and let the heat from my hands warm his cold little feet. I put some seed on my hand for him and he slowly ate. I was so surprised by how unafraid he was,, maybe he didn't have the energy to be anything, he was too frozen.

I loved the quietness that the freshly fallen snow allowed, and as I slowed my breath down, and held that little Siskin, I imagined sending not only warmth but love through my hands to his frozen little body, I spoke with a quieted voice, and told him everything was going to be alright and that he just needed to eat and all would be well.

He seemed to enjoy this new perch on my hand and even after he'd thawed out and began to look around and perk up he didn't want to leave. How special this time felt, to be able to connect with something wild and untamed....

Have you had an experience communing with a wild living thing???

Its time for daffodils..

At this time of year Daffodils "flash upon the inward eye," and bring back memories of my self as a young girl running to school, passing by the church yard filled with grave stones adorned with hundreds of brightly bobbing daffodils flowers...

They hold a special place in my heart, as they herald the coming of spring, and I would guess they're a welcome sight for those of us who live here in the Pacific Northwest due to the traditionally long grey winters we get.

So I send you all this photo and lovely poem by William Wordsworth to brighten your day.

With Love,

Neinah

I Wandered Lonely as a cloud

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed ---and gazed--- but little thought

What wealth and show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

A Taste Of Home...

My eldest "chick" left the nest to go to college back in August of last year. Though she's been home three times in the last six months I miss her very much. I know that she misses us too, (in those rare moments between classes, going to the beach and hanging out with her friends..)

Actually, what she misses, and tells me often, is food from home. Which is understandable, she eats once a day at the dorm canteen and scrabbles to feed herself for the other two meals. (Without kitchen facilities.) So I get weekly requests to send "treats."

Today I made some Gluten free, low carb, lotsa LOVE, "Orange Chocolate Chip Scones", which will be winging their way to my daughter tomorrow.

And I thought I'd spread the love some more and share these goodies with you...

Below is the recipe, inspired by Elana Amsterdam's Chocolate Chip Scones, found in her new book "The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook."

2.5 cups of blanched almond flour

.5 tspn sea salt

.5 tspn baking soda

grated zest from 1 large orange

Mix all the dry ingredients and zest in a medium sized bowl

.3 cup of safflower or coconut oil (Elana suggests grapeseed oil)

.25 cup of honey

2 large eggs

1 cup dark chocolate chips

Mix oil, honey and eggs well and then blend with dry ingredients.

Add the chocolate chips to mixture and stir in a BIG dose of Love.

Drop generous tablespoons of mix on a baking sheet lines with

parchment paper, two inches apart.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 15 - 20 minutes until brown at the edges.

Cool for 30 minutes before eating (if you can wait!!!)