It is my belief that dogs are outlawed in many religions because they try to stop males from being abusive.
My dogs would die trying to protect me from harm. Many others who have dogs will say the same thing.
They tend to put a damper on the actions of those who control through fear and abuse.
Long live DOG! Faithful companion and protector.
Since a young girl, I have had a dog, or sometimes two, as now. They are my family. They warrant much respect by me, and some in my life have even saved me from serious harm, if not death.
I pledge allegiance to this gentle, and when necessary, ferocious creature I call sister, or brother.
May they always be well, nurtured in lovingness, and honored as the royal guardians they are.
They would willingly die for you, in fact, many have … that’s really something in a world that seeks to crush the spirit of people.
If it weren’t for the unconditional love of this particular animal, many people would believe Love does not exist.
Some people in this world would like very much for others to believe this to be true, to trample the spirit of them thoroughly.
DOG will never let you forget Love is here for you, always, no matter what.
No one tells you that when you are MET it will HURT.
The ego is shaken, and you will experience what it is like to truly want something.
To really be all in.
You can no longer haphazardly vaguely be involved in your life. All of a sudden you WANT and you WANT BIG.
And to want something means there is an emptiness. To hunger means you have SPACE in your body, to let it in.
A divine delicious painful hungering.
All of the rules that worked before, won’t work here.
This one LIVES OUTSIDE of the rules.
All of the games you play and the ways you hide, won’t fly.
This one is IMMOVABLE and UNSHAKABLE.
All of the stories you have taught yourself about love, no longer exist.
This person wants to write a NEW story with you.
One where you both have no idea what you are doing other than you value the PARTNERSHIP over all other things like:
ego
being right
looking good
living safely outside of needing and wanting the other
It is DANGEROUS to really need someone else. To wake up in the morning and feel a subtle unease, until you can nuzzle their neck.
It is MORE dangerous to try to keep yourself from the need (that blessed wretched aching for another). In an attempt to stay safe. To keep things simple.
Being met is not pretty.
It means all of your parts are called out. All the ugly, the true, the mean, the gentle, the perfect, the dirty, called out to be loved and seen in a way you never thought possible.
And the ugly doesn’t want to be loved. It wants to hide and become worse and grow bitter and resentful and hold onto all the old beliefs like:
“I am not good enough to be loved by someone good.”
“I will destroy anything beautiful I have.”
“No one normal will want me.”
You get to live outside all the things you told yourself about love. And create something better. Scarier. But so much better.
THE WINTER SOLSTICE FALLS ON DECEMBER 21 EACH YEAR
In the spirit of self care, community care, accessing our ancestral memory and our most powerful selves, here are 14 different ways that you and your loved ones can spend the winter solstice in observance of a natural phenomena that comes only once a year. Take what works for you from this list, and if possible, consult with elders and your own traditional teachings for guidance on the best ways to acknowledge this event and deepen your spiritual connection during this time.
1. TAKE THE DAY OFF OF WORK OR JUST SLOW DOWN AND REST
2. COOK AND SHARE A HEALTHY, COMFORTING MEAL WITH LOVED ONES
3. REFLECT ON THE PAST YEAR
4. GIVE THANKS FOR ALL OF YOUR BLESSINGS
5. CLEAN AND HONOR YOUR LIVING SPACE BY DECLUTTERING
6. SHOW THE PEOPLE WHO YOU CARE FOR THAT YOU APPRECIATE THEM
7. CHANNEL YOUR CREATIVE ENERGY THROUGH ARTS, CRAFTS AND EXERCISING YOUR IMAGINATION
8. DRINK NATURAL AND MEDICINAL TEAS
9. PRACTICE SPECIAL SELF-CARE RITUALS FOR SELF AND OTHERS
10. GO TO A CEREMONY OR HOLD A PERSONAL MOMENT OF PRAYER IN YOUR HOME
11. PAY ATTENTION TO THE MOVEMENT OF THE SUN
12. LIGHT A FIRE
13. MAKE OFFERINGS
14. SET INTENTIONS FOR THE LONGER DAYS AHEAD
We know and our ancestors knew that in order to show up for our communities as good relatives and as energized agents of change, we have to be grounded and strong.
Have you ever toyed with the idea of what ought to be done for the minds and hearts of man in order to bring blessing to this world?
I have. And it always seems that somewhere along the line there is a ‘thing’ that over-steps free will, even if the best of intentions are meant.
I took my bath and came out to the living room. The lighting is dim. I decide to see what comes out, written onto paper I can barely see.
“The bell tolled six. (Gotta start somewhere). An alarm went off in her head.
The Great One has arrived.
He looks upon the earth and sees the destruction, near bankrupt is the planet. He taps in to the inner minds of those who dwell here.
He hears madness. Anger, thoughts of harming self, others and the animals … whoa, the animals … Pain and blame …
As communication attempts are made, the anger multiplies, as does all else …after all … the Human is a walking antennae. When activated all channels amplify.
What dwells within the heart is known.
This appears to be an enormous mess.
Lo and behold, through the plethora of crap, a light shines, two lights, three, and more as minds and hearts begin to align, the globe over.
Soon, the ‘stories’ can be heard for what they are, chaos calming ever so slightly.
Prolonged pain … perpetuated generation after generation. People had forgotten who they are. Only a sliver of a glimmer of recognition shows up for them, occasionally.
As they find each other, He sees their glow grow. Empathy builds between people, between cultures, between countries.
He adds to their humanness. An inner trigger which reminds them when they are about to cause harm, to self, or others.
This trigger is invisible for it is called Compassion and it resides in every heart. The blackness which had been covering it has been lifted, the heart sanitized from its filth.
The beating of this newness within the human body is strong. The heart energy of it glows and connects straight and true to the Great One, and each other … a ‘true’ World Wide Web.
He blesses us with a new heart and an opportunity to clean up the damages we’ve done while ‘sleeping’, disconnected from Care.
He provides us with a way to purify and cleanse the earths polluted waters and soil.
This creation He sees has potential.
He sets to work building a black cube where He sends the darkest of energies from within the hearts of people. These energetic tendrils, the twining snakelike substance are sealed inside this cube for a time, while they too, undergo a purification, a cleansing, renewing their original light bearing ability.
Forgiveness is given, and also well received. The light now allows them to see each other’s hearts, their truest compassion for each other and all sentient beings.”
Fantasy building scenarios which are pleasing to the mind and the idea of growing capacities for love and connection in its purest form is a great way to spend the evening.
This is a synthesis of several stories from the Cherokee, who were the native people of northern Georgia and Alabama, western North Carolina, central and eastern Tennessee, and Kentucky. The stories were told to James Mooney of the Bureau of American Ethnology in the late 1800’s by older Cherokee men in western North Carolina. The principal story teller was Ayúnini (“Swimmer”), who was born in 1835 and never spoke English, although he served as sergeant in the Confederate infantry in the Civil War. He died in 1899.
When the plants and animals first came to earth, they were told to stay awake for seven nights, as in the Cherokee medicine ceremony. The animals all stayed awake the first night, and many stayed awake the next few nights, but only the owl and the panther and a couple of others stayed awake all seven nights. They were given the ability to see at night and so to hunt at night when the others are asleep. The same thing happened among the trees, and only the cedar, pine, spruce, holly and laurel stayed awake all seven nights, which is why they can stay green all year when the others lose their leaves.
Humans came after the animals. At first they multiplied rapidly, and the first woman give birth every seven days. Eventually there were so many of them that it seemed they might not all survive, and since then to this day each woman has been able to have just one child each year. Among these early people were a man and a woman name Kanáti and Selu, whose names meant “The Lucky Hunter” and “Corn”, respectively. Kanáti would go hunting and invariably return with game, which Selu would prepare by the stream near their home. She also would always return home with baskets of corn, which she would pound to make meal for bread.
Kanáti and Selu had a little boy, and he would play by the stream. Eventually they realized that he was playing with another little boy who had arisen from the blood of the game washed by the stream. With their son’s help they caught the other boy, and eventually he lived with them like he was their own son, although he was called “the Wild Boy”.
Kanáti brought home game whenever he went hunting, and one day the two boys decided to follow him. They followed him into the mountains until he came to a large rock, which he pulled aside to reveal a cave from which a buck emerged. Kanáti shot the buck and, after covering the cave, he headed home. The boys got home before him and didn’t reveal what they had learned, but a few days later they returned to the rock. With a struggle they pulled it aside and had great fun watching the deer come out of the cave. They lost track of what they were doing, however, and soon all sorts of game animals – rabbit and turkeys and partridges and buffalo and all – escaped from the cave. Kanáti saw all these animals coming down the mountain and knew what the boys must have done, and he went up the mountain after them. He opened four jars in the cave, and from them came fleas and lice and gnats and bedbugs that attacked the boys. He sent them home, hoping he could find some of the dispersed game for the supper. Thus it is that people must now hunt for game.
The boys went home, and Selu told them there would be no meat for dinner. However, she went to the storehouse for food, and told the boys to wait while she did so. They followed her instead to the storehouse and watched her go inside. She put down her basket and then rubbed her stomach, and the basket was partly full with corn. Then she rubbed her sides, and it was full to the top with beans. Watching through a crack in the storehouse wall, the boys saw all this. Selu knew that they had seen her, but she went ahead and fixed them a last meal. Then she and Kanáti explained that, because their secrets were revealed, they would die, and with them would end the easy life they had known. However, Selu told them to drag her body seven times around a circle in front of their house, and then to drag her seven times over the soil inside the circle, and if they stayed up all night to watch, in the morning they would have a crop of corn. The boys, however, only cleared a few spots and they only dragged her body over it twice, which is why corn only grows in certain places on the earth. They did sit up all night, though, and in the morning the corn was grown, and still it is grown today, although now it takes half a year.
In these early days, the plants, the animals, and the people all lived together as friends. As the people multiplied, however, the animals had less room to roam, and they were either slaughtered for food or trampled under the humans’ feet. Finally the animals held a council to discuss what to do. The bears experimented with using bows and arrows to fight back, but they concluded that they would have to cut off their claws to use the bows. The deer held a council and decided to send rheumatism to any hunter who killed a deer without asking its pardon for having done so. When a deer is shot by a hunter, the fleet and silent Little Deer, leader of the deer, runs to the blood-stained spot to ask the spirit of the killed deer if the hunter prayed for pardon for his affront. If the answer is no, Little Deer follows the trail of blood and inflicts the hunter with rheumatism so that he is crippled.
The fish and reptiles likewise met, and resolved that the people would suffer from dreams in which snakes twined about them. The birds and smaller animals and insects all met too, and talked long into the night about how they had suffered from the humans. Eventually they created all sorts of new diseases to afflict humans, which have since become a scourge to the animals’ oppressors.
After this the plants met, and they resolved that something must be done to counteract what the animals had done. That is why so many trees and shrubs and herbs, and even the mosses, provide remedies for diseases. It was thus that medicine first came into the world, to counteract the revenge of the animals.
James Mooney, 1900, Myths of the Cherokee: Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology for 1897-1898, Part 1, p. 1-576. (J84.SI2.1 pt. 1 1897-98)
Whenever something doesn’t work out the way you thought it would, instead of thinking that something went wrong, see it as something that went unexpectedly well, but for reasons that are not yet apparent.
Like steel, your firm planting allows my soul to rest.
The warmth of your heart is reflected in every ounce of light … beaming into my center, my love, healing my hurts.
The beauty of your simple crookedness allows me to know, without doubt, there is beauty in my crooked places too.
I am eternally grateful for you.
Your treasures are not hidden, nor can they ever be marred, for every use, every gifting, only increases the portions which give you value … Loving, Bright Value.
Even in your plain state it shows that no other could potentially replace you ~ the calm of a winter storm, the freshness of a slow wind, the ‘fire’ of a warm sun, and twinkling flow like a glistening river.
So very much can happen in a lifetime, or even on a single day of any lifetime. Yet I can assure you that whatever has or will happen in yours, no matter what chasms you cross, heights you scale, or how many people you love and are loved by, when all is said and done and you take that final look over your shoulder, what will humble you the very most, will be that you got to be You.
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