Here ... hear, Sea ... see: different ways to keep story alive

Yesterday I joined a small circle of people from my community to sing to the whales. There were singing bowls -- brass and glass and tones from people real high and some low. We made sounds up and shared songs already made up. The tide was low and the mudflats long. I shared the chant of my home place Aunty Edith's E HO MAI. Passed out the words written on white paper and said the words made to remember ask permission...

My heart is beating over-time and wakes me late at night with its deep beating. Medication, meditation...supplementation...tell the story ... piece a life together, witness ... tell the story. One way, two ways, make a story that pieces surviving survival together.

Today I am here ... hearing the sounds ... not sure the story is being pieced together just right. But, it makes no nevermind, does it ... it mostly matters that the story is told, again, again, again piecing one to the other...beat, beat, beat.

Thanks to Terri Windling for the link to Tracy Chapman's "Telling Stories" and her blog that inspires me again and again to show up ... tell the story.

Ode to joy

I woke, just barely, to the songs of birds. Bleary eyed it's a wonderful reminded to know they (the birds) don't need my attention to sing.

Even before oatmeal and raisins, I'm listening to the joy of music ... Beethoven in two venues. Then a lot of silence "The Concert of Silence" from the YouTube film The Green Beautiful. A film we ate supper to. Not something we do, but Christopher thought it was something to include with a bowl of chicken long rice. The film done in the 1990's sat well with the meal though it took a lot to read the subtitles of the fast-talking French.

What sounds bring you joy?

Nimble Fingers, Fumbling Mind: an autobiography

"...The message is clear: if you want to know me, read my work." - From an interview with Barry Lopez.

There's a big outdoor fire just through the woods, up close fires are difficult for me these days. I grieve the luxury of being a Northwest type woman who used to chop, split and stack alder and fir for a season of wood burning. But, I have chosen a different sort of life and though old friends are bewildered by my limitations I cannot blame them. I've changed so in the years in between. So I close the door tight against the smoke, and sit to write behind the closed door.

The quote above from an interview with Barry Lopez shared with and reprinted by Terri Windling has me reflecting on the art, the work, the expressions that make for a hand-crafted life.This morning I sat with an open 'page' in the space of my on-line writers group. I felt something wanting to be said. Something of a hybrid between non-fictional truth telling and fantasy: myth.

Nimble Fingers, Fumbling Mind

"Mind you I know it is a blessing as well as a curse to own these nimble fingers attached to a fumbling mind," it was a disclaimer meant to put him off the scent. Rather than look up and confirm the smoke-screen I crossed the room and poured myself onto the piano bench. Half-written scores of melody lay in stacks, I pushed them aside to make room for my ass.

"Find center. Middle C. Start the scales from there. Go. Play."He wasn't buying my distraction. Poured more coffee into his china cup, added milk, two lumps of sugar, stirred slowly and sipped. Sun pulsed through the streaked windows as my fingers struck the smooth whites and blacks, tempting my mind with the bottle of vinegar ... should wash that window; the cat would love a walk before it rains again. My fingers struck the smooth whites and blacks. I'm really too old to get very good at this. My fingers strike the smooth whites and blacks.

A small mouse squeaked from the hearth rug at the far-end of the music room. My fingers loosened now the strikes on the smooth whites and blacks were quicker. The squeaking kept pace with the scales. I thought about stopping, but looked up and saw him wave me down.

"Keep playing."

I did that. My fingers were loosened enough to do the scales with less effort. Over the tops of my glasses I turned and saw the young piano teacher pull from his pocket a wad of fleecy wool. He tossed the wool into the fire. Before the wool was overly burnt, Mouse Woman rescued her prize and started making wonderful piles of mountain goat wool with her ravelly fingers. Mischief had been avoided. Music was being made. Balance was brought to a fumbling mind. A most satisfying end. Mouse Woman loves satisfying endings.

My Inspiration: http://books.google.com/books/about/Mouse_Woman_And_The_Mischief_Makers.html?id=cbFMhIafXkEC

If you have never read the stories of Mouse Woman you are in for a serving of wonderful magic. I found Christie Harris' trilogy Mouse Woman and The Mischief Makers at my local library.

Can you relate to having nimble fingers and a fumbling mind?

Stone and Copper for Aries Season

My son is making beautiful beach walk jewelry ... this sword of a stone came from one of our walks along the Salish Sea. Twined in copper (for protection) the stone shape shouts of Aries Season (and the battles sure to come). Find this and more of his work at his Etsy shop.

Aries Season ... over-come the odds

Much of my time and energy is spread between getting up and working the stories. The heavens are shifting into Aries season  squared up with Pluto in Capricorn. Elsa P. explains the warrior intense condition on her blog ElsaElsa, and ends with this quote and young Johnny Cash singing "A Girl Named Sue":

"...This combination gives you “gravel in your guts, and spit in your eye”. These are not bad things to have, on the chance they be needed! “Cruelty” is not a simple concept. This energy exists in life!
Johnny Cash’s, “Boy Named Sue” is a Mars (fight) Saturn (father) story..."

 I left a comment over on Elsa's blog to spit a little of that gravel from my gut and appreciate my astrologer's insight into what it takes to keep on keep'n on. I have a condition that challenges me to find new definitions and solutions to life/health/well-being. The condition is better on some days and good for weeks at a time; but, the dips are deep and difficult and the solutions most seek don't work for me. So ... that's a brief explanation for why there's little here on Makua O'o. Not much energy to spread around.

What is taking place is the polishing of rough stones (stories) and the joy of riding the rhythm of character and culture as I polish things. I'm nearer with the finish of The Safety Pin Cafe and think I might be able to birth it into a tiny book. My novel-in-the-works Splinters is fun to revisit. Lots of tweaking and turning up the soil in a story that stretches my experience as writer. There's a new character in the story thanks to a recent viewing of this man's TED Talk. Phoebe is a 'gangster gardener' from O'ahu's west-side. A woman with magic and knowing able to grow papayas with their own (untampered) genes ... a'ole GMO.

Elsa's post and young Johnny Cash singing "Sue" sent me searching for the original Man in Black at the end of his trail. Here's what I found ... Johnny Cash sings the Queen's "Aloha 'oe." Wait for it.

Seeds of belief ... spring-time and seasons for reasons

"Sarah and the Seed" by Ryan Andrews

There's a new bird in the woods with us. I noticed the sharp high-trill of this new bird last week and while out on the trails with GJOTS the night was filled with this bird's song. The moss is growing again turning the trails fluorescent. Forsythia is blooming, daffodils too. Winter has passed and we, my dear Pete and I grow older adjusting to the fit of life at this stage we move differently, make odd sounds and sometimes ... I lose track of the magic of EVERY time. Until I am refreshed with inspiration, and common magic.

The rewrite of my short story and fairy tale is done! The story has grown over the winter and I set out to illustrate it; something I have yet to do. There's a seed of desire to draw the the red felt hibiscus, tea cozy hat, and pile of ducks and kitties. Birthing art is exactly like birthing all babies, the process is one of enduring pain and pleasures. Expectations grow along with those births and they can hinder or help the journey. Right now, as I experience spring again, I seek out the incredibly inspiring stories being crafted and launched by young people. The drawing above is the artwork, and comic of Ryan Andrews called "Sarah and the Seed". It's a beautiful, award-winning example of just how mythic and magic a time this is ... now.

I discovered Ryan Andrews while searching Kickstarter. Ryan has recently been successful at funding his collection of short stories called "Nothing is forgotten." Awesome! Inspiration! Hopeful!

A spontaneous poem for spring

by Yvonne Mokihana Calizar

I've never lived this spring before.

And for the first time heard 

The high-pitched sound 

Birdsong out of sight

My heart feels it beat inside

I've never lived this spring before.

Imagine the possible

Seeds of magic 

To set things right

Left to ripen

I've never lived this spring before.

Age is no wall to births

Young, old and inbetweens

A season for any reason

Makes living a noun, a now.

May this spring be one filled with seeds that ripen in the long sweet seasons coming.

Mars moves into Action-Aries

The Pisces Parking Lot starts to empty one planet and heavenly body at a time, beginning today with Mars moving into Aries. My favorite astrologer says expect VROOM ... from malaise into action. I'm feeling this shift and like it. My writing projects have been swimming in deep waters for weeks, editing, rewriting, listening for the heart of the story and not giving up on the baby whose still coming down the birth canal. I printed out my latest rewrite of The Safety Pin Cafe and did a read through. It sits beside me now. This morning I opened an email from my friend who had something to share ... a video about girls forbidden from reading. After watching the video below, I picked up my latest draft of The Safety Pin Cafe. In it is this paragraph: Pale (pronounced pah-lay), the main character in the story has woken up on a bed of stones in a magical place not far from her everyday world of cottage and neighborhood streets. She is talking to Raven and thinking about the gifts she's been given. BEFORE YOU READ THIS, take a moment to breathe the sense of yourself now ... Okay.

"Not just any cloak, is it?" I joked. He refrained from answering but gave me a look. My way has long been an unusual one. Filled naturally with imagination I rode the wings of dragons and sought other places rather than fight head-on. I sought stories as a way through, learned to read early on making up endings and beginnings as a girl. I had decades of practice. It was true what our Ancestors believed:  time is permeable and more a net than a wall. Here it seems, my stories were writing me with bits of here and there braiding together. Pinning where necessary the safety pins of my childhood were enough to make something more from less ..."

These are mythic times when borders are crossed and everyone counts. Age is no barrier, imagination matters and it counts that passion fuels action ... over time. Writing is my art, but more and more I believe it's my life that is the creative expression. So here's a chance to make everyone count. This is the email I received from my friend Hope.

"Dear Everyone

Please watch this fabulous video and pass it on to others. Every time it's watched, the girls' schools get some cash.

http://portal.sliderocket.com/BBVXH/Hoshyar-Foundation <http://portal.sliderocket.com/BBVXH/Hoshyar-Foundation> 

Aloha,
Mokihana

More Manu, Manapua Man, Mana for a New Moon, March 11, 2013

The powerful and watery energy of all those heavenly bodies in the sign of Pisces has really tripped up my earthy mountain goat genes (I have plenty of Capricorn). Trying, trying, trying too hard to climb mountains and hammer out goals with all that water is at best difficult, at worst, deadly. Satori posted a wonderful horoscope for today's New Moon in Pisces, with these two lines a life jacket for a struggling goat. Read the whole post ... go here.

"...The more you’re able to fog out the extraneous worries and concerns the more you’re able to channel the bliss. It is there to experience..."

For awhile now, I've been tapping into the channel of real depth and assurance that Manulani Aluli Meyer offers. This fifth daughter of the Aluli Meyer family makes room for me to re-translate and make sense of life. I post links and videos of Manu's lifework-- her kuleana--. She's unafraid, and fully awake to the depth of her responsibility and this inspires me to keep balancing my load like the Manapua Man. It's a New Moon and a moon on which to set new intentions for the coming Malama (month). I keep my astrologers' advice in hand:

1. Elsa P. in her latest newsletter reminds me, "If you are worried about the Saturn in Scorpio transit, here is a list of 8 common mistakes you should avoid. [the list is edited ... link here  go to the sidebar and  subscribe to her newsletters and get the scoop from her first-hand]

7. Stubborn refusal to acknowledge core transformation is necessary

 8. Thinking #7 should be easy or painless"

2. Satori's advice for a good region to plant new seed this New Moon is, "Midday the Moon conjuncts the Sun, the new moon. This is a great time for goal setting and emotional intention. In Pisces, this tends to work best if you tap into compassion and connectedness..."

And last, another scoop of Manu Mana. This is a quote from a keynote address entitled, " Our Collective Remembering: Five (K)new Ideas for World Transformation delivered in 2009.

" Here is the whole focus of this welcoming talk for your conference.  It is our thinking that changes everything, but it is our actions where they are expressed.  Why not see the holographic idea and be inspired to think through your own quality of consciousness – and then to respond appropriately?  Why not see our connection through difference?  It is the Hawaiian understanding found in auamo kuleana: collective production through individual excellence.  Why again do we not actively deconstruct our hidden assumptions of society that holds us hostage to uniformity, money and shallow forms of relating?

 Read the summary of Manulani Alulli Meyer's keynote address here.


My intention for the New Moon made this morning is to made use of the life I have as Makua O'o and re-translate the definition. Re-define Makua O'o for modernity as Meyer's would say, taking it deeper and spreading it for these mythic times in which we live. I've started to conceive a new workshop called "These Mythic Times" ... coming in April to celebrate Earth Day, 2013. Interested? Stay tuned for more information.

Diving into Epistemology ... more mana'o from Manu Meyer

I'm diving here. I need this now more than ever.

These are mythic times ...

I am spending time writing here where I make connection with my roots and am inspired by Manu Meyer.

See you there. Mokihana