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Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water
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One Step at a Time, Self Image
February 11, 2013
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Typically people want more of everything. Your ability to estimate is very closely related to your ability to execute. Risk has many faces. In the quest to be fit and healthy the biggest risk is burn out. I can say that with assurance because I have observed people in the earnest pursuit of better health for decades. Over this time the offers to remove symptoms have become overwhelming. Drugs, frozen prepaid meal plans, personal coaching, and one of the oldest, but still happening trends, the weight loss shake, are everywhere to assist the starving, overweight population.
In an effort to bypass the moment all systems are switched into deprivation mode. Suffering and tofu must follow as punishment for wild times at the Dairy Queen on the weekend. The disconnect between self image and soul is now almost complete. Confession and penance are the rituals that surround food and eating now. Joy, creativity and community are not in the food pyramid for many people because diet is presented as obsession, and denial of pleasure. The ancestors had to grow, gather, kill, render, store, dry, milk, and otherwise do something very basic in order to eat. They did not concern themselves with the calories contained in the food as much as they did with starvation. They were all constantly involved with the original exercise known as work. They did not drive to a gym or change outfits to do it. They picked up the tools of their various trades and worked physically. If they had a treadmill it was to run something, not to be run by it.
Lunar New Year in China
February 9, 2013
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The official political message this year of the Communist leaders of China is curb waste and conserve air quality this lunar new year. Banquets and fireworks are under fire for waste and pollution. The ancestors are featured heavily in celebrations of this holiday in China. The festival begins on the new moon, this year 10 Feb, 2013, and lasts for 15 days. Many Chinese people travel great distances to be at home for this time of year. Fireworks are central to the family party. I am a huge fan of pyrotechnics. I am not attracted to witness displays in China because frequent fires and accidents are the result of unregulated manufacture and distribution.
The practice of making noise to scare away evil spirits is ancient. China produces 90% of the fireworks in the world after inventing them. The original firecrackers were chunks of wet bamboo thrown into a fire. The invention of gunpowder in China around 600-900 AD changed everything. The public and private parties to welcome the Year of the Snake will last for a month. If you want to party with the Snake, clean your house, wrap even numbered dollar amounts in red paper and give them to your family, and do not wash your hair or sweep your house on the first day. You may be able follow up with Lion dancers in your community, and if you are lucky, some fireworks to scare away the evil forces in your life. Good to go.
New Age Chakra Dude Teaches Swimming
February 7, 2013
The New Age Crystal Healing People are in Tucson right now for the Gem Show. There are magic wands and crystal bowls of every kind. Miners party with geologists who party with aura photographers. It is a gathering like no other. Between 80-90% of all colored gems in the United States at this moment are in Tucson, AZ this week. Book venders, scarf sellers, and rock hounds are swimming in opportunity to connect at the right level with some merchandise. To connect to the entire show would be like connecting with the entire chakra system in balance. It would blow your mind, and may be impossible. For a taste of all that is New Age travel on over to the Howard Johnson’s on the freeway and go to town. Everything from ethnic clothing to crystal massage wands to magic amulets awaits the diligent shopper.
Valentine for Kali Maa
February 7, 2013
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The Hindu goddess Kali has protection on her mind at all times. She is one heavily armed vigilant benevolent mother. She has a red tongue to represent our carnal desires, and she prefers red flowers as an offering. Remember Kali at Valentine’s Day because she is the ultimate power ranger of tough love. She can and will make or break you. Understanding the Hindu pantheon will not conflict with your religion, and may bring to light your own relationship with the wrathful mother. You do not have to call her Kali to know who she is.
Kali is the destroyer. Her name is based on the word time. Nothing escapes time. Her job is to shatter illusion. She shows up all blue and naked with weapons and multiple severed heads and arms. She herself has four arms to administer justice. She is intent on the destruction of evil, and like all mothers, teaches her children about evil in doses they can handle. Her protection is essential for the continuation of the universe, but she gets a bad rap. Destruction is only the other side of creation. The birth and death cycle is inevitable. To grasp the power and the glory of Kali you need to see that time is at least as powerful as space. Mother Earth is the ultimate judge. This too shall pass. This year dedicate some red flowers to the eternal protective mother.
Health Care Hunks
February 2, 2013
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Educational videos about health care have traditionally been so boring as to leave no impression at all. I am pleased to see that something is going right in the fight against breast cancer. Here is practical actionable advise given by people who know how to hold women’s attention. Stay healthy, stay sexy.
Pioneer Archetype
January 31, 2013
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Mayflower document
My family in history is LOADED with Pioneers, including my own parents. I find that almost all of my people left Europe in the early 1600’s to come to America. They had both the sense of adventure and the wherewithal to make it happen. Before that they were running around Europe doing daring stuff, but the whole idea of sailing in a ship across the Atlantic to live in the New World was extremely bold. As soon as they arrived in Plymouth there was quibbling about religion, which lead to some banishment and some abandonment of the first settlements. Here we have at work both the light and the shadow aspects of the Pioneer. A passion for innovation and creativity can have the shadow aspect of a compulsive need to keep moving with no anchor.
My 11th great-grandfather, John Tilley sailed on the Mayflower, signed the Mayflower Compact, then promptly dropped dead. He did his pioneer thing and died in Plymouth Colony. Lucky for me, his daughter Elizabeth survived.
John Tilley (1589 – 1620)
is my 11th great grandfather
Daughter of John
Son of Elizabeth
Daughter of Joseph
Son of Elizabeth
Daughter of Eleazer
Daughter of Sarah
Daughter of Mercy
Son of Martha
Son of Abner
Son of Daniel Rowland
Son of Jason A
Son of Ernest Abner
I am the daughter of Richard Arden
John was a singer of the Mayflower compact which was done November 11, 1620. Therefore, if the day and month aqre correct he must have died in 1621.
John Tilley (1571 – 1620 or 1621) was one of the settlers who traveled from England to North America on the Mayflower and signed the Mayflower Compact. Tilley died shortly after arrival in New England.
Overview
Tilley was christened in Henlow, Bedfordshire, England on 19 December 1571. He was the eldest child of Robert and Elizabeth Tilley. He had four sisters (Rose, Agnes, Elizabeth, and Alice) and three brothers (George, William, and Edward or Edmund). Research done by Robert Ward Leigh, using probate records, show that Tilley’s paternal grandparents were William and Agnes Tylle, his great-grandparents were Thomas and Margaret Tylle, and great-great-grandparents were Henry and Johann[a]? Tilly, all of Henlow.
On 20 September 1596 in Henlow, John married Joan Hurst Rogers, the daughter of William and Rose Hurst and the widow of Thomas Rogers of Henlow. Joan had had one daughter from her previous marriage. John and Joan had five children between 1597 and 1607. At least one child died young. Research by George Ernest Bowman shows that John was not the Jan Tellij that married Prijntgen Van den Velde in Leyden.
In September 1620, John and Joan embarked on the Mayflower along with their teenage daughter Elizabeth and John’s brother Edward Tilley and his wife Ann or Agnes (Cooper) Tilley. Edward and Ann brought along Ann’s relatives Henry Sampson and Humility Cooper. They left behind their older children, who were married by this time. They arrived at what would become Plymouth in November. John and brother Edward were amongst the men who signed the Mayflower Compact.
Unfortunately, the first winter after their arrival was extremely difficult and a number of the settlers died. Amongst these were John, wife Joan, brother Edward, and sister-in-law Ann. William Bradford reported, “…Edward Tillie, and his wife both dyed soon after their arrivall; and the girle Humility their cousen, was sent for unto Ento England, and dyed ther But the youth Henery Sampson, is still liveing, and is married, & hath .7. children. John Tilley and his wife both dyed, a litle after they came ashore…” This left daughter Elizabeth the only surviving member of the Tilley family in America. The orphan was taken in by John Carver but he and his wife both died that spring. Elizabeth later married John Howland, Carver’s former servant, and left many descendants. I am one.
Gradual Decline
January 29, 2013
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The people who have gone through natural disasters and survived can tell us change is never what we expect. The people who languish in unhappy circumstances often believe that fate has trapped them without options. The appearance of permanence is a mind boggler. The sensory world seems permanent and meaningless, virtually everything it is not. You are an element of change, weather you acknowledge it or not. Some folks imagine they are preserving the world, others think they are destroying, ruling, or upgrading it. If sudden events alter the world around you, you will both adopt new ways of coping and adapt new skills. This is true for gradual change as well.
The median income in the U.S. of all but the top 10% of earners has remained relatively flat since 1967. Not all family groups, but most, own less than they owned three years ago. A small increase in household income is enjoyed by the top 5 percent of earners, but the middle class has lost income since the big crash of 2008. The adaptation to this reality does not look like healthy acceptance and appropriate response. The concept that the future is always better casts a dark economic cloud over real budgets. Spending as if there is no tomorrow usually results in a future of gloom. Paying the piper is inevitable in terms of karmic as well as financial debt. At both a personal and a national level new skills and perspectives are needed to break the cycle of gradual decline.
Wampum
January 27, 2013
— 4 Comments
Wampum, or shell beads has been used for centuries in New England. After colonists arrived in America a currency exchange value was set to convert it European currency. This forever changed the meaning and trade value of what was a Native American tradition and source of historical pride. Once it was adopted by Dutch and English as currency it was manufactured in New York on Long Island as well as by Native tribes that dominated the newly created market for trading currency. Since both Native and Europeans could trade with it, it’s use thrived until the end of the 17th century. Counterfeiting was a problem during colonial times as it was more widely used. It was eventually phased out in favor of metal coins as the official currency of New England.
Before the colonists changed the meaning and tradition wampum was used in ceremonies and agreements.It is important as a covenant record and means of communication. Language was commonly understood in terms of wampum color. Messages and agreements were sealed by way of wampum belts created for the specific meaning. White shells had a brighter meaning and dark purple shells indicated heavier subjects. The tapestry woven into a wampum belt was a story. I am looking forward to seeing the new wampum being made today and perhaps some of the historical pieces. I will be visiting museums as well as living wampum artists. It is a fascinating subject.
Shape Shirfting
January 24, 2013
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The archetype of shapeshifter is known as an element to build characters for plots in novels. It is also well known in mythology. Shape shifting involves skill navigating between levels of consciousness. It is related to the trickster Coyote in legend, but has less specific goals. In dreams this character can be a savvy guide. Flexibility is the theme and the great talent of the shapeshifter. In therapy or self realization the archetypes can be used to enlighten the eternal aspects of the human story. Another name for this character is spell caster.
My own direct experience with this energy came through a very funny Yaqui friend of mine in Mexico. First he effortlessly got me to wear a medicine bag made of deerskin. I am a very prissy vegetarian and asked him for one with no animal parts. He dangled it and told me it was my medicine but if I didn’t want it…I grabbed it and put it over my head faster than you could say Cachora is your shaman. It was, indeed, my medicine. A few months later he made me turn in my medicine. He freaked me out by attaching a buffalo tooth. When he gave it back with the tooth I was laughing so hard. I remember joking that next I would be wearing an entire coyote head around my neck. He announced that he would be able to be with me at night while I wore the tooth. I do still wear my medicine sometimes, although I have not seen Cachora in years. The medicine fell on the floor, breaking the tooth in two pieces, revealing the center of itself while I was at a hot spring on a personal vision quest. I thought about that buffalo. I thought it was significant, then promptly super glued it back together. My medicine still works and I still think it is funny. It reminds me to check all levels of consciousness before making moves.
Feminine Archetypes
January 20, 2013
— 4 Comments
Hekate at the Crossraods
Toni Wolfe, colleague and lover of Carl Jung, identified 4 feminine archetypes. These cardinal qualities divide feminine characters into power centers, or capabilities. Toni understood when she created this foursome as a guide that no individual is purely one archetype on the stage of life. These are ways of looking at personality and talent, not so different from fairy tales and mythological tales.
Life is circular and the core, or center of the circle, is essentially a seed from which the rest of the circle sprouts. Our DNA, birthplace and time, our circumstances at birth are at the center. We contain unique combinations of archetypal power and symbology, both in waking life and in dreams. We begin in the middle of a complex mandala, and work our way out to the edges of consciousness. Limitations are imposed for our education and edification. Dream images give us hints to our own potential as well as to danger. Fairy, Wise Woman, Lover and Queen existed in most cultures before Toni Wolfe mapped out her quadruple qualities. These can be divided, in turn, into variations on a theme.
All people have both male and female archetypes, anima and animus. These might be thought of as north and south, visible and invisible, cardinal points that must also be balanced in the fully realized being. No individual is completely masculine or feminine, good or evil, right or wrong. Tyrants represent an imbalance, a shadow or hidden quality of power, a failure to employ wisdom. Wisdom was historically embodied in the Titan goddess Hekate, guardian of the crossroads. She has three faces, looking in three directions. She carries, along with three torches, a key, a rope, and a knife. She meets you at the crossroads of life and has the power to both assist and punish humans. If she didn’t have three heads, a polecat and a pack of hounds she would resemble the Virgin of Guadalupe, and have similar intercessional powers. Her ancient symbol is a wheel with three parts.
Hekate’s Wheel
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