Freeing the logjams to go with the flow

"Early Thursday morning the Gemini Moon opposes Venus in Sagittarius before moving back into its home territory in Cancer. If you’re up early, it helps to prioritize, maybe even make a list. This prevents dithering and promotes a sense of satisfaction!..." - Satori

Last night I finished the latest of my medicine stories Nine is for endings. The story sat for several weeks, unsure of how or if it needed something else to conclude things. My storytelling tends to flow up and over; never ending on the one hand new characters might join an old story. This winter has been a difficult one and the analogy of a logjam fits the feeling for it. Whether a jam is created solely as a result of my choices and habits or a cog in the collective energy it's probably a little of both. I write these short stories that I call medicine stories because they are a way through or over the emotional and physical congestion my immune system must manage. I am grateful for story for its powerful expression is like water flowing around obstacles and freeing me through the dialogue of imagined or pieced-together characters; a bit of this person from my everyday cobbled with an inspiration from history or a practice of ancestors. I  put together my latest experiences with the writing and my own longing to prioritize and make use of today's celestial flow and alignments as Satori suggests.

Photo Credit

Story's Medicine

Nine is for endings is a story about the power of elemental forces applied to the life of a family brought together from different parts of the globe; and include the inter-species characters as well as elemental gods. When I finished with the EPILOGUE I emailed my old friend and loyal reader to tell her I used a different sort of vessel to end the story. Inspired by the re-reading of Charles DeLint's 1984 urban fantasy classic MOONHEART I borrowed his form of closure and applied it to Nine is for endings; a fictional blog post gives the readers a reporter's view of the culminating event in Nine is for endings. 

The EPILOGUE for my medicine story begins, "The article appeared in Seattle's Blog on Monday, December 28, 2016. "Christmas Gala Brings the House Down" ... (Link here to read the entire closing.)

My friend wrote back, saying she enjoyed the story and had many questions. She knows why I write these stories and is one who can and does read between the lines. Still, I was surprised she could see the backstory in this author. I was not aware I was transparent (to her). She asked, "Are you longing for such a solution; do you know of such a solution; are you working on a joint living arrangement?"

I answered, "Yes; No, not yet; Yes." 

I mean, yes, I am longing to see creative solutions that include a wide and diverse definition of community to address issues like affordable birthing centers, and housing options for the homeless. There are challenges and reactions to the homeless issues in cities, towns and neighborhoods through the country where we live. The reactions (such as 'sweeps') of the homeless camps are not solutions, you cannot use a leaf blower to clear the streets of people who have nowhere else to go. Personally, I am in favorite of eliminating the leaf blower for cleaning leaves all together. What happened to using rakes? 

"No, not yet" meant I don't know of a solution, but can imagine one that has the elements of diversity and creativity such as the character Maydene Short implements. 

The final 'yes' is the creative bridge-work that I use to aid me in my personal, and real-time life. I am, we are, my husband Pete and I, working on a new joint living arrangement. The six year experiment of living in the woods on a Salish Sea Island is nearing conclusion. We need to re-envision safe and affordable housing for us. We have learned what works for two nearly-seventy year old human beings with MCS. We have learned to create solutions of shared living, but then we age/change, the people we live with change; and the environment around us changes as well. We have also learned there are limits to what we can do. That's where the final paragraph of Satori's Daily Forecast: January 21, 2016 comes in: "If you make today what logic would call a mistake tomorrow? Roll with it. It needed to happen. Trust and believe. Have a little faith."

 Rain has come again to the Salish Sea. Puddles grow between the Quonset hut and Vardo creating flow. The medicine of story, and the blog give me a pole to free up the logjam, writing my way through one log, one word and sentence at a time. Add to that the simple and grounding walking routine I've begun, and there is flow going on! I need to trust and believe; it's one of my core challenges in life. Here's an opportunity to have a little faith.  

Jt thanks for the questions.