Welcome to a World of Spiritual Harmony

Just got back from a 2-1/2 hour meeting at the Avondale Pride Center, one of a series being held around the city, led by Citizens for Civic Renewal. CCR, along with a number of other civic organizations, has created a process whereby we might return to the good old days of citizen input. Or perhaps get even better.

We were divided into small groups from the outset. Then the Community Development Budget Director talked us through the main handout, which gave us basic information on the budget now, and some possible ways next year’s $51 million projected deficit might be addressed - both in terms of cutting services and increasing revenue. After that, we were on our own as a group for over an hour, talking through and working out how to balance the budget.

It just proved to me what I’ve always known - citizens are very smart. As the groups reported out, each one had clearly taken the broad view of the city as a whole, and also taken into consideration their own personal experiences in their communities.

The citizens in that room were very willing to tax themselves for the good of the whole - and to reduce the city police budget substantially. They were much more reluctant to reduce the fire/emt budget, as well as most other city services budgets.

There are two more meetings using this process in other parts of the city, and then an overall meeting on June 5. Google Citizens for Civic Renewal - all the documents we worked with are on their website. And here’s an email for them: ccrcinn@juno.com. I hope you can make it to one of these gatherings. It’ll make you feel better about the state of our wonderful town.

I was afraid this was going to be a rather gloppy movie - too much talk, too many emotions randomly floating around, too much crying. Where I end up sitting lower in my seat and just mentally shouting out ‘Get on with it’.

It was instead an inside look at some fascinating history. Russian author Count Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer), in 1910, with two factions in his household: the Countess, his wife of 48 years (Helen Mirren), trying to protect the future for those of her 13 children still alive, and Chertkov, head of the Tolstoians (much more pure than the man himself), who wants the income from Tolstoy’s books to go to the Tolstoyan Society. Tolstoy’s new secretary (James McAvoy), swearing that he is totally celibate, ends up being in the middle of battle after battle. And forgets all about celibacy during an affair with a young Tolstoian (Kerry Condon).

There is a wonderful emotion-ranging love scene between the Count and Countess - good to see older folk getting it on. And a fair amount of screeching and dramatics. I did love the plate-throwing scene, having always wanted to do that.

The ending was sad, but beautiful and perfect. Very right. I kept thinking about the perfect storm that was going to descend on Russia in just a few years, with the 1917 Revolution, and about how these idealistic efforts of the Tolstoians played into that.

A very good movie.

So here’s an early review - I am not finished yet - of The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama, by David Remnick.

It is an excellent book. It really takes Barack’s memoir, Dreams of My Father, and adds in what all the people around Barack were thinking, the events going on at the same time, the historic trends affecting his story playing out in other parts of the world. Just a treat. I’m halfway through, and have really only objected to 2 words in the Introduction. I’m going to go back and figure out what they were, and why I had a reaction to them.

That Introduction really sets the stage, and explains at least partially the book’s title. Congressman John Lewis, badly beaten (he suffered a fractured skull) by the police as he led a march in 1965 across the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma, Alabama, said on January 19, 2009, just before the Inauguration, that Barack Obama is what comes at the end of that bridge in Selma.

David is obviously a good writer, very even handed, a good story-weaver. Most of the book is from on-the-record interviews with folk close to Barack (like Michelle) and the President himself. It is a book where I keep the Oxford American Dictionary and the Oxford Essential Dictionary of Difficult Words right beside the bed. But it is not a heavy handed attempt to show us how smart the author is - rather, Barack’s complexities require that level of language.

Several friends are already lined up to read it. I am up to the part where he is running for the State Senate in Illinois in 1995. The outlines of his life are already clear, the calmness and clear-headedness, no matter what is going on around him.

It’s also a great book for understanding Hawaii, America, higher education, something about Africa, something about the Obama marriage.

I’m savoring it, instead of dashing through. My friends will have to be patient.

Actually, s/he didn’t. The turtle was on the median line on Victory Parkway near Gilbert. Had obviously gotten cautious a bit too late.

I was zipping by to get the Sunday Enq from the guy who parks on the median farther down near Rockdale. I had never bought the paper that way before, and since mine wasn’t delivered (my Sunday puzzle fix), I decided to have a small adventure. Might have walked if it hadn’t been raining.

On my return journey, I put on my flashers and stopped right in the middle of the Parkway, to assist the turtle in completing the stalled journey. I picked her/him up and continued across the street in the direction to which that little nose was pointing - directly into the Walnut Hills Cemetery. Where, hopefully, there will be enough space to wander so that road crossing will not be required.

Interestingly, the little person pulled its head into the shell, which I expected. And then pulled up the front of the shell, to totally close up the space! Had never seen or heard about that before. Quite entrancing.

p.s. And just this morning, I learned something else…. deer like peanuts. When I threw peanut pieces out onto the patio this morning for the bluejays (and, of course, the squirrels), a doe walked up and started to munch. Very fastidious and very thorough. The deer feeder had gotten emptied, and she was probably feeling a bit adventurous, too.

Urban fun and fine food - that’s the wrap up of The Senate, right across the street from Lavomatic in the Gateway Quarter in Over-the-Rhine.

There were a number of good vegetarian choices, the meat eaters all seemed happy - and those truffel oil fries were the best I’ve ever had. Hot, crunchy, soft inside - served with an aoli dipping sauce. They were so good I didn’t ask for catsup or hot sauce. Probably will next time, just to see how they stand up to the different flavors. They were so good, I ate them first.

It’s a fun place, with a front porch, plenty of folk waiting around happily for tables. The entire front of the building lifts open, so you’re inside and outside at the same time. A skinny place, so servers have to wait at one end while patrons are walking through. Fun, prompt, interesting servers. No time wasted, but very attentive and helpful. More personality than many places, it seemed to me.

Sort of upscale, very hip, lots of buzz. And worth it, as far as I’m concerned! : >

The Alchemy of Everyday Life was the title of the workshop presented today by Richard Sweeney, Ph.D., a Jungian psychotherapist, at New Thought Unity Church, sponsored by the Greater Cincinnati Friends of Jung.

I am still processing, but it was wonderful stuff - and really sheds a lot of light on current events on the planet, as well. The language of alchemy is also enlightening. Alchemy’s purposes were to transform base materials into gold, to free spirit from matter, and, much less well known, to transform the alchemist .

One of the key things I’m thinking about is how afraid we are as individuals and as a culture of the process of changing. Alchemy, from way back in the Middle Ages, talks about all the different ways everything begins to break down in order to change.

We go get medicine for depresssion. But what if depression is Calcinatio, burning, something new in our psyches/souls that wants to make space for us to grow? What if working every day at a meaningless job really is depressing? Our trying to talk ourselves out of believing that doesn’t mean our subconscious isn’t going to try to get our attention. In other words - what if depression is a message from our souls that our life is not working, and that change will be far better for us? Instead of medication, perhaps we should try listening to the messages we’re getting.

Is there wetness - oceans, waterfalls, bathrooms in your dreams, or tears in your day to day life? Might be Solutio, dissolving. Perhaps your ego is losing hold ’so that a wider, more comprehensive viewpoint can be reconstituted’. If you’re not dealing with reality, perhaps your dreams or ideas will work on Coagulatio - hardening or solidifying, to bring you back down to the ground. Or if what you need is to be inspired and uplifted, your dreams and images might be of stairs, ladders, birds, flying - Sublimatio, uplifting or inflating.

When part of us wants to change, and another part wants to resist - too often we let fear rule the day. What we fight, what we try to push down and push away, will get stronger and push harder. We need to bring it all into the light to resolve it - to get back to the Prima Materia, matter’s original, undifferentiated, uncontaminated state - our own beautiful and powerful selves. What if we trusted our own Inner Selves?

And - as crept into our conversation today more than once - what if the Catholic Church quit trying to push down the other half of humanity, accepted all its members and became whole? We already know what has happened when it doesn’t.

The Victory of Light Expo is always just terrific. High for two days, operating at the top of my energy, having a wonderful time, not necessarily on the planet. This year was no exception.

I also was involved in two workshops - one an Intro to Reiki, with lots of other Reiki Masters, and lots of folk wanting to experience Reiki and feel better.

The other was Working with the Weather. Since I had just invented the workshop, I wasn’t sure what or who to expect. Turns out there were about 20 folk in attendance, and the weather turned out pretty much the way I wanted it, so that, after talking and sharing ideas, we went outside the Sharonville Convention Center, and played with the techniques I’d just been teaching.

The weather was sunny and warm, as I had requested - but I had wanted a collection of small clouds. What we got was a large swath of clouds, with a very sharp edge on the side nearest the earth - like a giant ribbon. So I pointed out a couple of spots where the cloud seemed a bit thinner and the group set to work. As always, nothing much seems to happen for a few minutes. Then a couple of bits of the swath floated away, and pretty soon that straight edge was gone. Within 20 minutes, there were no clouds left in the sky at all.

I raised with the group the question Scott Sloan had raised with me - what about Haiti? Could we have prevented it? I thought we might have mitigated / moderated it. And, of course, we live on the New Madrid fault. Many folk had had the same thoughts, so we gathered emails, to stay in touch, keeping our antenna out to pick up any earthquake energy.

Let me know if you have any ideas / intuition about extreme weather / natural events.

We are having a lovely spring, aren’t we? - once the unbelievable February moved on. I haven’t played in the garden much, and suddenly it’s way ahead of me. So grandson Patrick spaded up the veggie garden - he’ll have to come back and fine tune - and I had forgotten all about the rhubarb planted last year - thought it was burdock and told him to turn it under. When I got home - saw some of the red stalks. I’ll do better on that next year!

Also have the daisies from Sarah planted in the raised bed - it gets the most sun of any spot in the yard. Then Patrick can tackle the herb garden and all those beds of impatiens. Plus the compost heap. Garden work will get us all back in good shape after the heavy winter.

But in the meantime, so much just comes up on its own. The aconite and snowdrops once the snow was gone. Then incredible swaths of buttercups, with a crocus or two. Now daffodils in abundance, bluebells, tulips - with the day lilies approaching 3 feet high in some spots - and they’re not supposed to bloom until July - though they seem in quite a hurry. The peonies are growing an inch a day, the tall phlox are already making progress.

This will be quite a summer, from the looks of the spring.

p s Haven’t seen the coyotes for a couple of weeks. Maybe they’ve moved on.

I’ve had a great time this week talking about how I’ve learned to work with the weather. As a matter of fact, that’s the title of one of my seminars at the Victory of Light Expo this weekend. Victor asked me to be on Waves of the New Age, hosted by Judy Peace, with him, and we had a lot of fun. Judy is so wise in spiritual matters, sees so deeply.

Then when Scott Sloan on 700WLW wanted to have a topic from the Expo on his show - Victor suggested me again. (Thanks, Victor!) So I spent about 20 minutes last night on talk radio, and had a terrific time. I realize that teaching people how to work with the weather is a little off the beaten path. I’ve been teaching myself for a pretty long time, and I’m used to it. But I can see how it could sound strange to other folk. : >

So Scott had a good time asking questions, and I had a good time with the answers. I talked about how I had just worked with the rain for the Heart Mini-Marathon, so it stopped while the runners were out there, and about tennis matches not rained out, plus Second Sunday on Main - and the one time it was nearly rained out.

Then he brought up earthquakes, and whether that disaster could have been changed. I said that I was sure psychics there knew something awful was coming. If there was a ‘psychic hotline’, it seems possible that others of us around the planet could have worked to mitigate the disaster, shifted it to a less populated part of the island perhaps. I don’t think we’d want to totally prevent the earth from letting go of some of that pent up energy, but maybe we could do it in a less destructive way.

So I’ve been thinking about that. I’ll keep you posted as my ideas develop.

Dream Group is a different experience each time, though a couple of us have been part of the group for nearly 20 years. We meet twice a month on Saturday mornings, to talk about our dreams and assist each other in understanding the layers of meanings, puns and jokes, and outcomes of our dreams.

This morning, 4 of us gathered at a member’s home. Our routine of eating first as we settle in, then bringing each other briefly up to date about where we are in our lives, and then going on to talk about our individual dreams was interrupted - as our hostess, telling us about her very stressful week, managed to add to that stress by slicing her finger rather badly. Using both Reiki and pressure on the wound, plus having another dreamer send energy to her immune system to ward off shock, we got the bleeding to stop momentarily. A bit too soon, I took my finger away.

We continued on with our dream routine as we re-applied pressure, got a bag of ice together, and cleaned up the blood spots. Rescue Remedy pastilles (like gummy bears) helped to relieve stress for the wounded one. About half an hour later, after talking about two dreamers’ dream, the pressure was stopped again, and we had to cut off all the material we had applied throughout. This time, it held, and we used hydrogen peroxide, then a cotton ball right on top, held on with bandaids put on very tight, to successfully cover the wound.

The last two of us talked through our dreams. Some striking similarities, as often happens. And we finished by each drawing a few Tarot cards from the deck that lives in my purse, and getting even more advice from the Universe, in addition to what we had already garnered from dreaming.

Another helpful and enlightening Dream Group morning. With just a bit more excitement than is customary.