Stick to it

"...you will measure your progress in longer stretches of time than a day, a week, or even a month. When things seem difficult you must not allow yourself to lose your gumption or to choose what seem like easier options...In just a few weeks, Saturn will begin the process of moving from your sign to Sagittarius. Saturn has been a consistent guide and mentor to you, and in the remaining time that Saturn is in your sign, it’s necessary to internalize the Saturn principle, which translates to self-leadership."

- November 2014's Scorpio Horoscope from Eric Francis

 

When Saturn, that consistent guide and mentor Eric Francis describes moved into Scorpio 2.5 years ago, another consistent presence was trying to get my attention. In October of 2012, I wrote this post "Inoculated by the Wild". The message and the guide was Grandmother Spider and she was doing her best to speak to me in a language I would understand. She kept biting me. The Wild's time is Nature's time, cycling around and through me I was being prepared for the medicine and healing salve of story to pull me into the ground of myself. Not, the cloudy airy domain of dreams without feet, but dreams that have substance. Dreams that are inoculated by something, something as tiny and powerful as the 8-legged one and her kin.

 

Soon after Spider took a bite out of me, on a day only a duck could love (much like this one!) I found a large safety pin on the floor of the post office. The medicine of the wild had begun to work in really and substantial ways. There was a story wanting to be told and the only way to tell it was to listen for it, write it down, give it a name, send it on the cyber surf board and keep doing my work. One installment at a time the story was told. The form of communication was unexpected. My island neighbors were intrigued as they read the installments, and wanted to know, "Where is it?" Some who read the mythical journey of an aging border witch and a silver-haired raven got the scent of magic and kept reading. Others just wanted to sit and have a cup of coffee and cinnamon toast already!

 

For two years I had to believe in the power of the story, and the potential to tell it both virtually via The Safety Pin Café blog and medicine stories, and eventually in person in a Fragrance Free Zone, safe enough for my Invisible Disabilities to be respected and acknowledged. In October, 2013 the first storytelling tent for The Safety Pin Café was raised, and people came to hear the story about the Border Witch and the Silver-haired Raven. Myth with feet wove the tale and playfulness allowed the audience to cross the border and into the 'doors' of the magical and moveable café. It was a reach, a stretch of my creative genes and it was worth the effort to see friends, neighbors and strangers from my community under the tent at South Whidbey Tilth Farmers' Market.

 

A second year, and two storytelling events this year built on the work of commitment to Story with a capital "S."

 



 

 

The stories told in 2014 were the stories that wanted to be told. I asked and the old stories came. I had to study and memorize the chants, then eat them like soup until they fed me a story that was fed by the three pikos (navels) of my cultural whole: past, present and future. These were the stories from ancient chants and elemental forces -- The gods and goddesses: Grandmother Spider and her sun Iktumi, the trickster who tells humans lies to tempt us from our kuleana (soul's path), Raven and 'Iole the rat. All of those voices wanted a place under the tent. We chanted. We asked permission. The Elements worked with us. We were granted clear skies and a brisk wind. Story loves wind! This time the storyteller's value amplified as I collaborated with our local food bank. All donations went directly into that bank. Coins, dollars and checks rewarded the work. Sticking to it made the story good, like soup.

 

Now, as the rain beats a rhythm as solid as a bass drum I consider the effect of old habits, and familiar roles and masks that I wore in an earlier life. When I created on demand for forty years deadlines were built in, and so was my regular paycheck. Life can throw you a curve when least prepared and it's those curves that have been teaching me to find the middle ground, or, accept all the notes (as above) ... the soft and low as well as the loud and high. Terri Windling has a wonderful conversation and post entitled "On Deadlines" on her blog today. It helps me to read and respond to the changing reality of what motivates, and drives creation. I hope you will link to Windling's blog post for something more to chew on. The diverse comments are worth reading. With Winter soon moving into the Salish Sea where I live, my dreams caution me to check my sources, and astrology suggests measuring success over the longer time. My body cautions me to love her at sixty-almost seven, even as I hear her say "I am a fiesta."

 

 

And finally, yesterday while I felt the muddle of too much water (that's analogous to the emotional pathways) from the heavy rains I discovered the short chick with a stick, Kris Harty. She can, and does speak for herself in this YouTube. It's a great place to end and maybe a good place to commit to sticking with it no matter what. 

 

Where are you in your creative path as Saturn prepares to leave Scorpio around Christmas, 2014?