Standing Rock

My thoughts and prayers are with the Water Defenders at Standing Rock. Also with the people below the dam at Oroville in California. The rain is coming down. Amazing that the reservoirs are mostly full now in Northern California, after years of drought. I pray that everyone is safe. Fukushima's reactors are now sites of uncontrolled fision, burning into the ground. What happens when those burns hit water? In the meantime, whales are dying in Hawaii. Rotting carcasses. Probably from radioactivity in our oceans.

My thoughts are slipping and sliding. How many concerns can you have? And I haven't even touched on Trump and his disastrous appointees.

Well, it's time for bed. I will sleep and perchance dream. And let everything rest in the hands of God. I let it all go.

Martin Luther King Revisited

Today I picked up books from the Cordes Lakes public library on Martin Luther King, which I had reserved. The librarian told me that she had met Coretta King at an event with Amaji, her spiritual leader, and had been deeply impressed by her.

I am making a study of his some of his works right now because I think he was the most effective civil rights leader in my lifetime. I think there is much to be learned from studying his writing. He knew how to raise people's consciousness with freedom marches, but he also knew that economic boycott was also necessary to get people's attention. That is a lesson that we seem to have forgotten. Cesar Chavez also understood this strategy. All the people I know who want to see a better world that is more fair and just, who want to be free and others to be free, who want not just to survive, but also to thrive, and for everyone else in the world to have the opportunity to do the same... to end wars, violence, and oppression; we need to be inspired. And who better than Martin Luther King for that inspiration?

I have just listened to an audio book while driving back and forth for radiation treatments, "Song Yet Sung", written by James McBride and narrated by Leslie Uggams. At first, I had a difficult time getting into the story; it seemed such a dreary theme, set in Maryland when slavery was still going, and chronicling the saga of slaves escaping and making a run for the north. But I'm glad that I kept listening to it because I got very engrossed in the story.

There was this women they called the dreamer because she saw the future. And she saw a man who said, "Free at Last!", who was of course, Martin Luther King, and she understood that someone she knew was his ancestor.

I had already ordered the books on Martin Luther King when I got to that part of the story. It was the kind of coincidence that underlines how important this is for me to do. I picked up the audiobook by chance, just choosing the most appealing one to me at the tiny branch library near me in Cordes Lakes.

So I have started reading Letter from the Birmingham Jail. Here is an excerpt: 

"...I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives in the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere in this country."

I consider this an eloquent restatement of my favorite poem by John Donne, No Man Is an Island, which I have memorized and re-memorized over the years:

No man is an island entire of itself; every man 
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; 
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe 
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as 
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine 
own were; any man's death diminishes me, 
because I am involved in mankind. 
And therefore never send to know for whom 
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. 


As a feminist, I learned that the personal is political; and what's political is personal. If we want

to build a better world, it begins with each and every one of us. And as a woman committed to 

bringing about the paradigm shift of the Aquarian Age, I understand that we must work

together because our strength is in cooperation, not competition; it is in numbers, not any one

individual. We must all play our part.

Desert Botanical Garden on Valentine's Day - Spring Comes Early in Phoenix

Yesterday I went into Phoenix to the Cancer Support Community to join a group that meets weekly of other people who've been dealing with cancer, facilitated by a professional counselor. I listened eagerly to their stories, but found myself a little too empathic with their suffering, although I heard hope there, too.

After we'd finished our session, I visited the Desert Botanical Gardens. By then, it was up to 82 degrees, and I was dressed a little too warmly for comfort. Walking was an effort. I quickly tired, but there were lots of benches, and I took many photos. I had been there last fall, and had gamely explored as much of the gardens as I was able to, considering that I was still recovering from the complete hysterectomy I'd had in early October. Walking wasn't any easier this time, as I have yet to regain vitality, strength, and endurance.

I suppose there is no way that I can post on a daily basis without this also being a blog about my cancer journey, as I am feeling subsumed by it right now.

I was wandering, a little lost, through the wilder end of the park in the saguaro forest when I realized that birds were singing all around me, that happy sound birds make in the spring. I was so glad to be out of doors and listening to the birds sing, even if my body wasn't in quite the shape that I'd like it to be. As I was finding my way out to the exit, I was distracted by the blooms in the succulent garden, and found a friendly bird who seemed to be showing off for my camera while dipping its long beak in tubelike flowers.

This bird had a scratchy kind of sound that it made. I imitated it, and it flew closer to me to investigate. My encounter with this bird was magical; it was part of the paradigm shift of communicating with everything, and feeling that you are a vibrating part of all life on the planet.

I'm going to share more of my photos so that you can enjoy walking in the desert garden with me. Enjoy the flowers of the desert with me.

Next I'm going to share photos of cacti, trees, and the captivating landscape of the desert, including an oasis. Look for the dove; it's well camouflaged. And there is one odd plant that looks like it is growing flossy hair; I joked with an old couple looking at it with me that it was how my hair looked under my wig. First are two very tall century trees that supposedly only bloom once in a hundred years.

Mission Statement for Paradigm Shifts and Politics

I'm starting this blog in order to share the process that I'm going through of shifting paradigms, or, at least, in setting out to shift paradigms. I am a strong believer in the maxim, "The truth shall set you free." Of course, that doesn't work unless you change your outlook and actions when you learn the truth. Still, it sets your mind free from lies, distortions, and misinformation. You gain clarity.

So when something bubbles up for me in my dreams... or my interest gets activated by some event in the world or new ideas, I want to share my thoughts. For me, the paradigm shift to the Aquarian age means an expanded view of reality... that explores new possibilities unfettered by old ideas, that takes in the interests of all humanity, and of the planet itself. It's a shift to a higher level of spirituality, of the sacredness of life, of how our lives are all woven together in a unified field of energy.

I'm also challenging myself to post a daily blog, even if it's only a paragraph or two. I have been posting quite a bit on Facebook, which really isn't the best place for longer posts. I like to post photos as well, and Blogger makes it easy. So I'll let my Facebook friends know when I've posted a blog, and provide a link.

I also intend to interview social change activists.  For some time, I've been wondering what the next stage of my life will bring. My attempt to live in a community at Arcosanti last year was a grand failure; albeit I learned a great deal from the experience. Right on the heels of being fired there, I found out that I had not one, but two kinds of endometrial cancer, and I've now gone through three stages of treating it: surgery, chemo, and radiation.

That first half of September, after I got fired at Arcosanti, my cat went blind, I got stung by a scorpion, and a foot long centipede made its way into m my room.  Tarantulas were crawling all over the place. And my cousin Suzanne's son died of stage four cancer on 9/11... the same week that I found out that I had cancer... and diabetes.

These health challenges have both bamboozled and blessed me. I am still trying to make sense of everything that I've gone through, and coming to terms with it. Perhaps my inner life has gotten stronger; I seem to be more telepathic, but how do you measure that? My friends, family and community prayed for me, supported me emotionally and sent me healing and loving energy.

It seems more important than ever to blossom into the fully actualized person that I've always intended to become, and a big part of that is to express myself as a writer. I hope my dreams, observations, analysis and stories will touch someone who reads them.

Here's a photo of my cat, Clooney, that I took this afternoon.  I'm calling him the Mystic Cat. We often meditate together, and I go into this pure, beautiful energy we share... no words, no images, only a kind of lovely void.