Thanks to Mercury (in retrograde) as Scorpio Season prepares to kicks in

"Astrology is one of my constant navigational tools; I check my bearings regularly. Pete has come along for the astrological ride over the years and like me appreciating how he uses his box of tools and his beast-of-a-truck, my husband has an appreciation for the planetary alignments. We were chatting yesterday and he shared stories with me about his day out in the public..." Link to the rest of the story on my other blog.

How do you relate, if you do, to Mercury in retrograde?

Turn that ship around! On an 'Ole Moon?

" Mercury in Leo quinunxes Pluto and trines Uranus. The narrative of your story is bound to change over the course of this Pluto-Uranus square. But it takes a while for a big boat to turn around. Perception has to shift before your storyline can change. Can you see it shifting yet? Do you sense the changes in how you see yourself? Be creative under this influence. This is the perfect time to express yourself in a new way, maybe show a side of yourself that is shocking in its fresh and soulful quality. You’re writing the newest edition of you, and it’s okay, even encouraged, to share some spoilers." -Satori

It's an 'Ole Moon during Saturn in Scorpio Season. Translation? It's a time when deep shifting is going on but it takes a while for a big boat to turn around.  An 'Ole Moon in the Hawaiian Moon Calendar is a rest and reflect time. No new projects, good time for weeding, and repairing nets for fishing another time. The big boat metaphor Satori uses in the astrology over on ElsaElsa is perfect for me as I paddle my canoe, yet again, in the deep water of new territory. The voices of fear launch the anchors, "Throw that out there, slow her down!" they yell. "Ain't she supposed to be disabled by some disease?" The old edition of my story has me listening and heeding those dissidents. In the newest edition of me I notice I'm allowing the undertow of habit lure me like the sirens on the rocks. But, as I'm the writer of my fresh and soulful newest story I keep turning the canoe.

Saturn in Scorpio Season is a slow one but it's purposeful and deep. I need to remind myself of this. I am Scorpio and I feel. Slow and deep. The process of writing and designing a creative expression like the medicine story The Safety Pin Cafe is not easy: it's a big ship, a large canoe crossing an ocean of culture(s). Ten months ago the story began to feed itself to me; I wrote it down. Slowly, the medicine of story worked with me. I wrote it down and shared it. It was early Saturn in Scorpio ... just getting the feel for what this could mean. One month ago I fashioned a place for that medicine story to have a bigger audience (I have Scorpio in the 10th and 11th Houses-Public Affiliations.) One week ago our local public radio station contacted me to do an interview on internet-live radio about The Safety Pin Cafe. The host was very interested in my practice of Makua O'o. We talked for an hour. It's now a podcast available on-line. In six weeks I'm scheduled to present the opening of The Safety Pin Cafe, live and "in person" as a storytelling venue.

Is that a slow turn of a big ship? The 'Ole Moons give me the rest time to make sure of my direction and my commitment to my new edition of me. Writing this down in the early hours of 'Ole here I use the tools of the makua o'o and notice how I feel. I ask for clarity and wait for the rhythm of my heart and pray for the patience to not force the next beat. Ask for the reminders of muscle and cultural memory that says, "You are a seasoned traveler, a storyteller who has done this before. Sure and humble, level-headed, you know you have help feel it in your whole body. Wait, it is the time for waiting. Turn the canoe slowing to avoid huli (capsizing)."

Is there a new version of you in the making?

Playing for change 2: Stand by me

Playing for change: Shelter

Seated at the window rain drips off the rain fly, makes a rhythm on the edges where the fly is not big enough. Inside, I am sheltered, warm enough and glad enough to recognize I have all I need. What I want? Somewhere at the edge there is a rhythm of rain ... what it say? "Playing for change," maybe that's what it say.

Flowing: Practice Patience and Endurance ... timing is divine

Pete and I drove to the Pacific Ocean shore of Washington State last Sunday to celebrate a bit of mastery with practicing patience and endurance. I wrote about it on our other blog VFT. This morning the sensation of being here ... on the Ledge as the weather swiftly proceeds around and through this upland wood is pure grace. The clouds have some where to be, they move across the sky from east to west racing to some unseen destination. Or, maybe they simply race. The air is freshened by the race, a little rain has doused us with moisture but mostly the wind is primary.

This lifestyle we live as modern day Gypsies separates us from so many things and many people. In a common day the separating incidents are more than enough to turn a soul to stone. I watch my darling partner endured one more exposure in the pursuit of an ordinary goal: shopping/in-building bank. Though Pete is less sensitive to chemicals than I he is nonetheless a Sensitive. We wade through the process of unraveling separately and as a pair and as the grief rises like fermentation from raw milk or a batch of kim chee we are pitched by the brain fog or weakness and flow somewhere else. A treasured member of our ohana (kin) waivers between the realms of physical and spiritual life, she is with her sons and hospice care givers back on O`ahu. If we could be on the island we would be with her physically. We cannot so we connect through the cell phone and I tell her, "I'll love you forever." A message from her left on Pete's cell phone "See you later alligator" remains until technology erases it. This cousin has shared her self and her love with thousands of people, young students, troubled families and spiritually disconsolate souls. She has been unselfishly giving in all these years. "Maybe she should have been just a little more selfish sometimes," my brother said yesterday when we talked of this Makua O`o ... our cousin. The grief of separation is real. It is one of the deep emotions the sort of emotion that is expressed in such different fashion among our kin of humans. I feel the loss and purposefully give it my cousin's scent and allow myself the tears, listen to the music of the islands and then turn most of the rest of the grief over to Ke Akua. At least until the next time.

We went to the ocean to hear the roar of the Pacific. We went to celebrate the dream that has become manifest. We went to remember those who are separate from us and yet are never far enough to not love forever. Writing here I am reminded of the divinity of timing. We went to the ocean and found a new o'o and today I'm here back at the page of this blog to use it. "I'll love you forever R. Mokihana."

Do your best in all things … BELIEVE YOUR BEST IS ENOUGH.

From over the edge On the Ledge, this old Nurse Log is holding up a chunk of The Ledge and giving new life to tiny trees just starting out.


Shifting Makua O`o

Happy Mother's Day, mothers. It has been a while since posting here at Makua O`o, our life in a wheeled home takes a lot of energy. Simplicity is conscious, and it is not without lots of effort. To make wise use of my energy and time I will consolidate blogging and post only on VARDOFORTWO ... at least for this next little while.

Spirit is in everything I do, and it seems the message is ... simply be with it. So, join me back on VardoForTwo and I will make space for the spiritual practice of an elder in training there ... On the Ledge in the Woods.

Feel the heartbeat of the culture … MAKE TIME FOR LOVE

Spring bulbs sprouting through last year's leaves.

A major worm on its way to the compost pile.

The beauty of a compost pile with patches of wheat grass and egg shells on top.

The sun is bright today, Spring seems to have a green light. Our compost heap has been perking through the ten months we've been here in Seattle. Heaped up with a layer of fallen Japanese maple leaves our food scraps break down with the help of the hard-working family worms. The birds love the compost pile, too. Perched on it from time to time, eyes alert and poised the early bird gets at least one of those worms.

Season's change happens to us as well. I feel the season change and recognize the complementary sense I have: soon we will be changing place and move on. After nearly ten months in The Kitchenette, we near the final steps to making the vardo our home. I have become attached to the regularity of this place with all its quirkiness and shortfalls, there is comfort in the familiar. Today I give thanks for the gifts of regularity that have aided us in our journey:

• a bed to sleep on every night
• a loving partner to lay beside
• privacy when it is needed
• strength from a Source greater than struggle
• supportive friends and resources
• restorative sleep to mend what can not be done awake
  

The compost pile reminds me to appreciate the process ... life changes, breaks down into littler bits and then becomes something richer for growing anew. Simple fare. Thank you compost pile and compost workers!

Know that wisdom is found in many places … SOFTEN THE GROUND OF YOUR BEING

Returning from a cycle of `Ole Days can be like stepping back into your skin after a vacation. Now depending on the sort of vacationer you are, the re-entry can be a relief or a regret. For me, the last cycle of three 'Ole Days were a time of reflection as they almost always are, and a time when the dream messengers give me their view of me. Any of our readers who have not followed us through the resting and weeding cycles of the moon ... the times we called 'Ole Days from the Hawaiian traditions of my mother's people, please link to the site of a wonderful Maui Island hunter-fisher family, to get an idea of how the moon cycle affects human activities.

This past long weekend I became aware of the shifting taking place within me. A new and improving level of physical health and spiritual connection has relaxed me. Discovering my blood pressure had risen to a level far above healthy for me, I was led to re-assess an old decision to refrain from taking prescription drugs. In years past, that choice was the right one for me. I slowly built a sense of balance and health that allowed me to stop taking a prescription for blood pressure medication. I monitored my blood pressure and slowly reduced the prescription until no medication was required to maintain a healthy blood pressure.

Life proceeded. Change happened. Multiple chemical sensitivities increased the pressures in my life, and in my body. My attention was diverted for a time. The tide of change took me this way, and that one. Sense and sensibility (one of my favorite titles and stories ... thank-you Jane Austin) became as possible as balancing on sand at the full flood of an incoming high tide. Weeks ago, the ringing in my ears I wrote about, rang my bell of awareness. I became aware of something ... and then I began aware that I needed to soften again and consider where I needed to be open to different opinions. With my environmental doc's recommendation, I started taking a small dose of prescription medication for blood pressure.

This time it was time to change my opinion. I'm happy for the opportunity to open to a changing my opinion. My blood pressure is greatly improved, and I feel much gentler. In two weeks, I have reduced that prescription by 1/4 tablet, and still retain a healthy level. Though the exposures of chemicals continue, I notice the improved response I have to them ... my body and nervous system have a much better chance to be heard, in a language I can understand.

With less pressure from within my blood vessels, I would guess all my senses have a bit of a vacation and a well-deserved one for sure. It is often so difficult for human beings to accept, let alone embrace differences in opinions. Whether those opinions come from within or from OTHERS, I know that I am quick to tune-out opinions that clash with mine. When I am overwhelmed by LIFE in the main ... that is when I am already over-stimulated, any additional input sends me over the top. And then, sometimes, wisdom simply will wait, knock, and wait again until it is responded to.

I am thankful for the `ole days because I review a couple weeks worth of life lived. Ask guidance about the harmony of my choices, and answers come. Like weeding during an `ole day, I make room for some new to pop.

What's it like for you when a different opinion comes your way?

P.S. I've added a few new links to SITES OF LIGHT. A broader view of spiritual opinions.

Know that wisdom is found in many places … SOFTEN THE GROUND OF YOUR BEING

Physical manifestations of life are plastic and when they fail to suit the requirements of time and place they may be manipulated and changed by man. But that which is intangible is beyond the power of man, existing as a permanent reservoir from which the potential of life may be draw as the need arises."

I was once a devourer of books. Stacks of them, rose from the floor around my side of the bed. I was an avid self-help reader in search of recipes that might conjure explanations to my quandaries and discomforts. Words offered explanations I had not thought of, other times a philosophy matched the discourse in my head and I would, "Ah ..." in communion, "that's it." In more recent past, I grew to love the fiction of writers who could simply entrance me with a good tale. In the year before MCS topped off my internal rain barrel I read a dozen novels and mysteries in a week. A sort of last supper of print perhaps. Today I have read no more than parts of one or two books. The layered effects of sensitivities to the environment have screened out new books as companions, and even old books might be too musky to handle.

I appreciate the ability to be able to pick up the book from which I've gleaned the quote above. Re-reading snippets of The Tao of Architecture, a tiny book Pete introduced me to many years ago, I found a way to be at peace with today. In contemporary language of an ancient observer of truths, Laotzu, the author draws images that dip into that permanent reservoir of potentials making sense of nonsense. Here's how the quote above is softening the ground of my being today. First, we watched the inauguration of America's first Black American president this morning. Along with a billion or more other citizens of The Planet, Pete and I have lived long enough to see something unthinkable be a current reality. We listened to President Obama's message, toasting our cups of hot tea as his blue black lips carved out a space in auditory history. This is a man, a leader who reaches out his hand to a minister with beliefs that raise the hackles of the liberal gay community and others. Why do that? To embrace the common good in all if the 'other' will unclinch his fist. It seems the well of potentials has been dipped today.

On the home front, our personal journey here in the industrial center of Seattle, where the billowing factories fill the air with particulets of poisons, we build a home no bigger than most people's guest room. Small in dimensions, the process of making a nurturing home in a complicated society is large. Why do that? We do it because we have experienced many alternatives, and find no comfort or safety with those alternatives. We have no blueprint for success with materials specific, safe and accessible to two old dears. The life experiences we bring to the challenge of re-building a nurturing nest sometimes thwarts the flow of solutions; what we used to believe/who we deem as good-trustworthy/what we believe is 'right' changes. So how are decisions and choices made firm and good for the building of safety? Well, the natural flow of The Planet's elements is showing us they have a strength that will not be manipulated ... mold will gather where there is damp. If my system is truly sensitive to the materials both natural and synthesized we will need to dip into the 'intangible ... beyond the power of man' because the need does arise. Could it be a choice we viewed unthinkable shows itself as a solution? I'm looking into the reservoir, knowing wisdom is found in many places.

Joy be part of your day, Mokihana