The body is holy. Sexuality is holy. The imagination is holy. Divinity is immanent in nature; it is within you as well as without. Most spiritual paths ultimately lead people to the understanding of their own connection to the divine. While human beings are often cut off from experiencing the deep and ever-present connection between themselves and the universe, that connection can often be regained through ceremony and community. The energy you put out into the world comes back.
~ Margot Adler, Drawing Down the Moon
Art: Elly Smallwood ~ @ellysmallwood on Instagram
The giant woman here appears as a vision I had not long ago of a giant woman in the waterfall at multnomah falls. She was clear as day, magnificent!!
If you used to toss cigarette butts out onto the land (they don’t decompose) then spend time picking up the ones you see. Pick up as many as you think you threw out. Balance that shit.
If you’ve been opinionated and refused to ever hear or respect another’s perspective or ways, then make it an intentional point and effort to “listen” and to “hear” people, and do your best to see and hear from their perspective.
If you’ve lived a life of addictions … porn, gambling, drugs, alcohol, over-eating .. whatever, be intentional about bringing balance to one-sided and heavy situations.
Undo the negatives. Apologize. Be the bigger person. Let it go. The need to be right all the time.
When I moved in I was not able to get to the apples right away. Many fell and were cooked by the sun. Today, I collected them.
I gathered 2 bags of good apples, some bruises, some worm holes, but all in all good, ripe apples. I also gathered 8 bags of rotten apples.
I was thanking God for the abundance. I was marveling at how all I need do is collect and prep for storage, for future use. How great The Most High God is! And to think I’ve just been blessed with this abundance, right in my own yard.
I began thinking about the Garden of Eden. I consider “the garden” to be this planet, Earth. I’ve been pondering the forest, a desire building in me about FOOD Forests … abundance for all living creatures. I wondered … what if humans are the “apple” of Creator’s Eye? What if, in the beginning, many races and species inhabited this planet (still do BTW). What if Creator told all here that they were permitted to eat of everything except the apple … the apple of his eye … humans. If they did, they would be evicted from the garden.
Well … they did. They’ve been growing, harvesting as food (meat and energy) humans, and many others who were here to love and live.
I was thinking about the separation, as I just did, with the ‘good’ apples and the ‘rotten’ apples. Have some humans turned on their brethren for money and material items? Of course they did. They were warned.
Do they think they will be able to overcome the Most High? Do they believe they will evict Creator from His Realm? Yes, they do. There are those who have inverted the codes and believe they can overcome the original.
Anyway … the apples to me, are an analogy of what is currently happening. I don’t have to see it to know it’s happening. I see what the challengers are doing, and I know full well they are running scared, hoping against all hope that what they were told, what they sold their soul for, is the truth … I have a feeling they know otherwise by now.
God’s picking up apples.
I have a lot of bruises. I have suffered being host for, and food for, parasites. They’ve eaten the soft tissues of my joints, bored holes into my muscular structure.
As I have saved the bruised ones with worm holes, tossing aside the rotten ones, I believe God is doing that right now too. This is why it came to me as I was picking up apples. He may even have been doing His work in tandem with me. Oh how I absolutely LOVE that thought!!
The Harvest is upon us.
The Most High God, He who has been given All Authority has decreed it … “They will get what they deserve.”
And I’m not even going to wonder about what that is … it is clear what they’ve been applying their effort and energy in … creating misery for others, stealing their wealth, abundance, God ordained destinies …
When you put all your effort in creating something that hurts so badly … I’m ‘guessing’ the Universe has ordained them the karma of experiencing their creation.
I’m gathering the good apples. I will carve off the bad portions. They will contribute just as much goodness to the collective (collection) of apples that will be present to enrich the coming months, and years.
To the King, The Most High, He with All Authority I offer my praise and gratitude.
Thank you for the intimate knowing. The lessons in all their forms. Thank you for forging me in the fires. I look forward to the pendulum swing in this experience, a slow exhilarating inhale of blessings to bring balance to what was.
A return to Paradise.
Home.
Update:
A man rang my doorbell. He asked if he could take the 9 bags of fruit I wasn’t able to salvage. I told him it was rotten. He said he wasn’t going to eat it … compost? Feed it to livestock? I was just so thrilled that even the bad fruit was going to be used I said Yes! Yes! Please take it!!
“When I was sixteen, I won a great victory. I felt in that moment I would live to be a hundred. Now I know I shall not see thirty.
None of us know our end, really, or what hand will guide us there. A king may move a man, a father may claim a son, but that man can also move himself, and only then does that man truly begin his own game.
Remember that howsoever you are played or by whom, your soul is in your keeping alone, even though those who presume to play you be kings or men of power.
When you stand before God, you cannot say, “But I was told by others to do thus,” or that virtue was not convenient at the time. This will not suffice. Remember that.” – King Baldwin IV, Kingdom of Heaven.
King Baldwin suffered from leprosy, plaguing him from a young age, he would fight wars and rule Jerusalem despite this illness, and die at the age of 24.
😊 Being single is a whole nuther life style. Folks who have mates and children can’t really relate … or maybe it’s just me who can’t really relate to folks who have family and children. We are different.
Do any of you remember before kids? When other friends had them, and all of a sudden you didn’t hang out any more? Priorities shift.
My priority is my dog. Others, is their children. My dog is my child. Many cannot understand this, and judge it from their perspective … it’s just a dog… if others don’t like it you should leave it home… you’re having a love affair with your dogs… they don’t value the canine as I do.
Our lives are different
That’s not a bad thing, but it does require the necessity to view things from a different perspective.
Do you know why? Because an 8 year old’s tank was empty.
The boys had already started their school day at their desks and I was preparing to leave for work when I noticed my littlest standing in the bathroom wiping his face.
I paused at the door and asked if he was okay. He looked up with tears silently dripping and shook his head. When I questioned if something happened, again he shook his head.
So I sat on the side of the tub and pulled him in my lap. I told him sometimes our heart tanks feel empty and need to be refilled.
He cried into my chest and I held tight. I asked if he could feel my love filling him up? A nod, and tears stopped…
I waited a minute…
‘Has it reached your toes yet?’ He shook his head no…
‘Okay man. We will take as long as you need. Work doesn’t matter right now. School isn’t important either. This right here, is the most important thing today, okay? Filling you back to the top. Is that good?’ nods
One more minute… ‘Is your heart full of mamas love now?’ ‘Yeah…’ looks in his eyes I see it shining in there, you’re full to the top, and you’re smiling!
Y’all. You may not be 8- you may be 28, 38, 48 or whatever- but ALL of us run on empty just like he did. His weekend was so busy and so full and his little soul was just dry!!!
We all have to pause, and take a moment to refill with the good things. Scripture, prayer, sunshine, worship, song, laughter, friends, hugs. Refill your empty, or you’ll find those emotions (tears, anger, snappy words) overflowing with no reason why.
Take a moment. Refill. It’s the most important part of your day!
“They told you about the contractions but did they tell you about the expansion? Did they tell you how your body would open to make way for the whole universe to pass through? Did they tell you how your heart would explode with a love bigger than anything you’ve ever known as you pulled your baby to your chest.
They told you about the ring of fire but did they tell you about the crown of stars? Did they mention that there is a moment when your baby enters the world and you leave your body and touch the heavens and become the light of a million galaxies? Did they tell you how the pain of stretching to receive your child would be more exquisite than any sensation you’ve felt?
They told you you would scream but did they tell you about how you would roar? Did they tell you about the power that would rise up from your belly as you called your baby forth with your mighty voice? Did they tell you how you would embody the wild woman within you and breathe fire with your song?
They told you you would bleed but did they tell you how that sacred blood wouldn’t scare you? How you would feel grateful for that magical liquid of life as it trickled down your leg? How you would honor its flow and how it would help you heal a lifetime of hating your body’s bleeding cycles?
They told you these stories and taught you to fear birth, to fear your power, to fear yourself. But you’re stronger and wiser than that mama. You know that birth is your divine dance, your soul’s song, your moment with God, and you walk fearlessly into her open arms.”
~ Catie Atkinson @spiritysoul on Instagram
NOTE: Not all pregnancies and births are the same. Some are fraught with complications and heartache. Our hearts go out to these with compassion, support, and love.
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