mermaidcamp
Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water
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The border, the stoners, the Feds
November 7, 2012
— 2 Comments
Now that we can be relieved of the presidential politics for a minute, let us look ahead to the rapid change rolling into the future of the US. I live next to the border where incentive to smuggle is a traditional job creator in the region. Capital creation has historically been based on tax free labor and favorable agriculture laws that made ranching and farming possible in the state. We are now famous for SB1070, the state immigration law mostly banned by the Supremes. The political cartoon of our state is Barry Goldwater in drag flying a bomber over Phoenix to do the business of the people. His legacy lives, but it is demographically challenged and I believe will soon be destroyed by pure and simple economic reality. During Barry’s lifetime the border was a complete joke. All farming and ranching depended on Mexican undocumented labor. All hotels and restaurants in Arizona used the same standards. Tucson was the Mexican dirt weed capital of the great southwest, shipping untold tons to untold trillions of American pot smokers.
The only real change in the government that happened on election day was the legalization of marijuana by Colorado and Washington. Lester Holt cautioned the stoners not to break out the goldfish and Cheetos too soon, which lead to a comment that there is no Entenmann’s way out west. Yes, Brian , we do have Entenmann’s, and excellent medicinal kine bud grown right here in Arizona. Colorado, however, has an advanced business model in play that will be ready for Coca Cola as soon as either the Supremes or the dweebs in congress clear the active for Cannabis Coke. There has been much investment in Colorado into development of products ready to ship across the nation. These legally produced and consumed products replace some of the income lost by the attrition of traditional ( read tax free labor force) farming. Arizona agriculture has been decimated by draught, SB1070, and the same loss of interest in farming as a business experienced by the rest of the nation. We are out of water, but we still have plenty of sunshine. The new pharming is done indoors requiring intense electric lighting to achieve the pharmaceutical quality. Arizona can produce solar electricity, and we already have Dutch people here growing tomatoes in greenhouses.
Lawyers and lobbyists, come on down!!! Let us get real about laws that create liberty and justice for all, and laws that provide incentive for violent criminal smuggling. Arizona can be the crown jewell in the solar pharming phuture of cannabis. We can provide legal jobs and opportunity that will enrich our state tax revenues, or we can continue to play deadly tug of war with the Sinaloa cartel. Some profit from status quo. Incentives for smuggling must always include bribes, as is the nature of the beast. Some law enforcement individuals can and do become extra super wealthy from all this incentive, while the state becomes destitute. By eliminating the smuggling incentives we an make our tax dollars work for the public interest. Even if you are sure you never want to burn one the economic absurdity of pouring tax dollars into making sure nobody else does must be clear. The idea of securing the border is a good one. It is time to cut the cord for the Mexican cartels, and suck up to those cute Dutch people with all those greenhouses. You do not need to be high to see how this works.
Pilgrims, Puritans, and Politics
November 6, 2012
— 2 Comments
Alice Carpenter, Pilgrim
There is some gross generalization presented in the Thanksgiving spectacle/history lesson of the colonies. There was turkey, lots of lobster, and headgear similar to the hats and feathers in school pageants, but the Pilgrims and the Puritans are not the same group of people. If one traces carefully the two thought forms still exist in America, but they are distinct. Pilgrims came from Holland on the Mayflower to bring their biblical faith to another part of the earth. They believed they were sojourners on the earth destined for the holy city, and only subject to worldly law when it did not conflict with religious directives. The Puritans, as the name implies, had been working in reformation to purify religion through political action. Puritans arrived after the Pilgrims in the Boston area. They had a different attitude toward the native people, since they were not sharing a divine sojourn with them, but making a political state that they believed aligned with pure reformation ideals. Both groups shared biblical Christianity as their standard, but in practice Pilgrims sought peace while Puritans sought to dominate through harsh purifying authority (think Salem/witches). None of this would have ever been done if the Bible had not been printed, causing Europe to become politically violent about reforming, restoring, separating, and purifying. Before printing presses political power and religious power were so obviously entwined as to cause…the Reformation.
Thomas Southworth was born a Pilgrim in Holland. His father died there. His mother, Alice Carpenter , sailed from Leiden on the Mayflower with her second husband, Gov. William Bradford. After Plymouth was established as a Pilgrim colony Thomas joined his mother and stepfather. William Bradford was a shoe merchant, and many other Mayflower Pilgrims were also in clothing, hat, and fashion trades. They had spent years in Holland being influenced by the fancy colorful costuming of the Dutch. It was politically not cool to starch your ruffs (ruffles like QE I wore up around the neck). The large collar draped rather than stiff said you were so New World 1620. That explains the white scarf look we see in costumes. Almost no real Pilgrim clothing remains from the period, so the current stereotype is not accurate. Black and grey may have been worn, but were not standard. These Pilgrims were fashionable religious adventurers (with stylin’ footwear) bonding with the natives in the new commune/colony of Plymouth when the Puritans arrived. Thomas spent his career as a (well dressed, I am sure ) politician.
Thomas Southworth (1617 – 1669)
is my 10th great grandfather
Daughter of Thomas
Daughter of Elizabeth
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
is the daughter of Richard Arden
This year if you think about Pilgrims, or use little figures decoratively get something historically correct. There was no water on the Mayflower. Every man woman and child was issued beer each day of the trip. Imagine the hangover a child might get from a long sea voyage drinking nothing but beer. As sojourners of the earth they felt it was all part of the mission. Get over the concept that these people (Pilgrims) sailed across the sea to wear black and stuff turkeys. They came here to tune in, turn on, and drop out of the religious struggles in the old country. They were all about debunking the folly of corrupt authority posing as religion. Pilgrims were the big proponents of separation of church and state. They believed that they had a personal connection to providence that was more important and powerful than any civil institution. Puritans, on the other hand, had interest in reforming civil institutions. Can you link these beliefs to today’s political landscape?
Occupy Gucci Gulch
November 5, 2012
— 3 Comments
Grover
Warren Buffet made a statement that rings true to me. He said that to solve our deficit problems all we need to do is pass a law that states that if we,the taxpayers, are handed a bill for an unbalanced budget no standing member of congress can run for reelection. A certain percentage of GDP or an absolute number can be used. I am sure this would work. Congress creates deficits and therefore is the place to apply pressure and a tourniquet on the bleeding wound that is our national spending habit. All agree that loopholes of an unnamed sort are all to be closed, but the loophole of allowing congress to live in a fatal fantasy of fiduciary delusion is not tackled because of that very delusion.
When I learned that the K Street lobbyist lair is called Gucci Gulch, I became disgusted at a new and more visual level. I picture Grover Norquist ruling the country from a posh office setting wielding a big ugly man purse. I am all for rewarding risk and intelligent business practices, protecting one’s interest by knowing the law, and taking advantage of tax write-offs. Wall Street, specifically the NYSE, serves all investors large, small and institutional. Lobbies serve only special interests able to pay for access to power. K Street does not serve all investors, but exists for the purpose of gaining favor for certain segments of the society who pay dearly for it. The place to occupy and crush is this Gucci Gulch and the power it has been given. In essence, by allowing this inappropriate imbalance every taxpayer is footing the bill for the high fashion and fancy trimmings of the lobby lifestyle. By allowing our lawmakers to even go near this kind of overt corruption we limit our ability to revive American democracy. I do not want to pay for Grover’s man purse.
Bitter End
November 3, 2012
— 8 Comments
bitterness tree
What are the factors that leave the bitter and putrid taste we have in our mouths from the election year? Some feel the Supremes let all the dogs out when the allowed superpac money to influence us without disclosure. I believe we know which interests support which candidates, so the secrecy is not the issue exactly. What I notice this year is that wounds are the stars of the show. The festering rust belt unemployment wound is pitted against the draught stricken farmer wound, or the immigration wound, with the neediest winning temporary, meaningless attention. Like siblings in a poverty stricken family who must srcap for everything, childish whining leaders of the government constantly remind us of the undeserving nature of the other side of the aisle. We know never to believe the statements they make or the reason they employ. We know they are all in the pockets of the lobbyists. Nobody has any faith that the greedy, out of control people who spend our tax money have any principals that do not bend for funding. Our government is corrupt, which means that we pay for a lot of action that is destructive rather than productive.
The congress likes to tell the story that they make sausage. They throw all the requests together in order to make laws that will pass both houses. The lobbyist funding that influences every vote speaks much louder than the public interest. The public interest has no lobby, and therefore is not powerful enough to take a senator out to a fancy lunch or ball game to discuss the public’s point of view. The federal government has not had time to do it’s job for years because it is campaigning all the time. The need to feed the political machine to keep the candidate on the trail starts and ends with corporate and industry lobbies built for the purpose of creating legislation favorable to partisan causes. This is why the sausage is always full of disgusting unknown substances and crazy consequences. Nobody is the wiser, since the bills generally are almost impossible to read or comprehend. Nobody expects these laws to be enforced. That is what seems to me to be the big bitter joke.
The most important factor that creates that bitterness is lack of enforcement. The lawmakers put on some Kabuki theater of right and wrong through legislation wars. In the meantime, we maintain gigantic agencies with so little oversight and supervision that nothing works. All these laws on the books require offices full of civil servants, and buildings, vehicles, and infrastructure. None of them seems to require enforcement. The civil servants drive around in the civil vehicles ignoring fraud and corruption. They are concerned primarily with the benefits of their jobs, the continuation of their jobs, and doing as little work as possible. Enforcement is the least of their concern. Since the elected official who is in charge of the office is absent campaigning, waste is the word of the day.
Tapas
November 2, 2012
— 2 Comments
The discipline to finish, to study and to sweat out the details is the path of tapas. Yoga’s mandates for a balanced life, yamas and niyamas regulate the ease with which we find enlightenment. Tapas is right effort, or dedication. All our efforts are subject to the energy we exert and the commitment we create within our minds. Belief alone will not bring the rewards that confidence combined with focused work can yield. Self discipline often involves forsaking some addictive or wasteful pursuit for another more admirable one.
As a library freak one can proudly wave the flag of how many books one reads. I have been enchanted with libraries all my life, and consume content (as it is now known) like there is no tomorrow. Although I say health is my real wealth, the truth is that the Pima County Library is the only thing that ever actually makes me feel super rich. I free range browse, check out certain books many times for recipes and pictures, and mindlessly and greedily reserve every single book on my current obsession. I have exhausted the cookbook section in several of the local branches. I am attached like crazy fire to the idea of never ending books. The price is right, so what could possibly be wrong with this picture?
Suddenly, a pop quiz about books from my author/ally:
Chris Brogan, who is a favorite author as well as a sometime correspondent/ally issued a challenge to join him in a year of restricting oneself to reading only three books. It is called the Three Book Diet or #3BD for those who speak hashtag. When the idea was mentioned I quickly found ways to cheat and not really do it, but do it as an experiment. I was planning to make my third book a revolving cookbook from the library. After all, I could never be away from the library for an entire year. This mental rebellion itself was a strong clue to the real motives active here. When confronted with the idea that we may flit through book after book while never digesting or using any of the valuable methods or ideas acquired I did not need to ask for whom this challenge tolls. It tolls for me. My picture is in the cosmic dictionary under dilettante who has read almost every book in the world……not to mention all the various training ad infinitum….(please, not to mention). I have done my best to choose the three books with integrity, and as little cheating as possible.
The first one already has a notebook with it so I get a two for one..How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci by Michael Gelb is a great book I have read once and then some. Sacred Contracts is a book I am studying thoroughly with the tutelage of the author, Caroline Myss. The ever brilliant Mr Brogan has taken the third with his new book, The Impact Equation. The challenge involves journaling and making use of the books chosen in an interactive way. Since Leonardo and Carolyn are already in the workbook homework format, and Brother Brogan is tweeting about it, it seems like a cohesive package. Yesterday I drove a route that ALWAYS includes a visit to the library. I thought very carefully about what a year would do to my feelings of abundance. It is not an easy decision, but I believe that tapas will become my new source of abundance.
Dreaming of the Dead
November 1, 2012
— 2 Comments
As we prepare for the dead to visit earth over the weekend I daydream about all my relations. In the study of my family tree I become infatuated by the various ancestors as I learn about their lives and times. I love it when they have left a picture of any kind, even of the grave they occupy. I also become excited when I see the handwriting they used. All original documents or photos of their homes give me a connection to their styles. I am a huge enthusiast of all that I discover and learn through the study of genealogy. It may well be true that I prefer the dead to the living at least part of the time.
I am also studying the archetypes that play in the dramas of our lives, interior and exterior. We know that our unconscious is influenced by the books we read, the shows we consume, even the conversations we enter. I don’t work on my family tree each day, but there is not a day that passes without thinking about some of my dead peeps and their adventures on earth. My conscious and unconscious is involved in the ghost of everything past. I never have the urge to join the DAR or reenact battles, but have started to plan travel around the dead peeps who lived in the areas I will visit. This month I am focused on my Pilgrims, the beliefs, the hardships and the failures they encountered. At the moment I am discovering Jeremiah Rhodes. He was a wild thing of a Pilgrim.
Zachariah Rhodes (1603 – 1665)
is my 10th great grandfather
Son of Zachariah
Son of Malachi
Daughter of Malachi
Daughter of Dorothy
Son of MARGARET
Son of Benjamin
Son of Paul
Daughter of Valentine
Son of Sarah LaVina
Son of Jason A
Son of Ernest Abner
I am the daughter of Richard Arden
He drowned in the river near his home after all kinds of major adventures, which included founding Rhode Island. He was opposed to the law in Massachusetts that obligated citizens to support preachers financially. He was thrown in jail briefly for making public statements about this conviction. This fabulous rebel archetype had the right circumstances and energy to live out his ambitions without abandoning his beliefs. He married Benedict Arnold’s sister, Joanna Arnold. I can picture my own fantasy movie of the lives of these early settlers. As I turn my attention to dreaming I hope to be visited this week by these and all the other relations who contributed to my existence. I invite all these saints to come marching through my dreams. I am wishing for some period costuming of a dreamy nature, but am okay if you decide just to visit as a ghost.
The Personal Service of Farming
October 31, 2012
scarecrow
What are the personal services you use in daily life? You may not be aware of all of them. If you buy prepared foods, that preparation has been done for you. You know if you hire a child care helper or manicurist that you are buying personal services. It is hard to find all the ways others contribute skill and time to our daily lives. Compared to primitive self reliance our modern lifestyle is comprised of paying more for labor and transportation than we pay for goods. Many have lost the skills needed to make anything from scratch. Farming in the US is a prime example. We are running out of people who know how to grow food as this profession declines rapidly in young people. If we don’t train or import some people to do the service of farming we will face serious problems.
My grandparents owned a farm when I knew them so I was exposed to the milk cow, the beef cows, the pigs, the gardens, and even to the butter churn. I lived in the city of Tulsa but considered the grandparents spread in Arkansas where was assistant farmer on the weekends to be extremely romantic. I rode a mule and shot a rifle. I thought of myself as very Annie Oakley when I was about 5. My parents had grown up without modern 1950’s conveniences and liked the idea of jet setting rather than farming. They enjoyed the country club and the University Club, and garden club, and host of other urban activities that Tulsa and Pittsburgh offered them. They did not seem lazy to me, but they certainly had a different style when it came to personal services than my grandparents had. There was no way they would ever own a mule or live next to a barn. They were over all of that. They were urban, upwardly mobile, and believed themselves to be super liberated. I suppose they were.
Every generation acquires some new skills and drops others that no longer serve the moment. It is a great idea to stay abreast of technology, move with the times, and accept the reality of now. In some phases of life, however, it is healthy, good, and indeed necessary to play a creative skillful part in carefully designing reality. If one chops no wood and carries no water the disconnection from source becomes disabling. The spirit has no dwelling in a world that offers only convenience. The soul requires art, and the spirit creates those artful moments that last in memory. One’s own self realization can’t be purchased, downloaded or installed. There is no service that can impart the satisfaction derived from self expression. Once practiced, polished and realized each one of us has a gift of powerful personal charism to offer to all the sentient beings. We can only hope that some young Americans find a vocation in farming.
Alchemist Archetype
October 29, 2012
— 2 Comments
fermentation at home
In my study of the archetypes I have procrastinated badly around the character of the alchemist. I have homework that involves writing to the archetypes and tracking them in my own life. When I arrived at the second house of my own chart and found this character I stalled. Maybe I stalled, or maybe I needed a few months to consider what the alchemist does. Doing the journal project I found a few people in my past who represent this aspect of life, some of whom had not come to mind for decades before I asked myself to find them. I readily accept that this is part of me, but the definition of what it is and how I use it became a blank and a mystery. This requires great discipline. I must handle it with great respect or drop the entire curriculum. The distillation of time and space is the realm of the alchemist. I have been involved in it all my life. I still have a big interest in all the mystery schools and twirling Sufis in all of history.
If we look at all the ways magic and nature have been combined the most common use is to cure. Medicine has included alchemy, which was derived from basic observation of nature. If you go into an 800 year old pharmacy in Europe you will see the astrological signs on the wall, and the snake delivering the water used to take your pills. The unbroken tradition of magic linked to medicine thrives in places where the folk medicine still uses native plants and elements to cure. Indigenous peoples around the world do this without referring to alchemy in the European sense.
Since I am also interested in the DNA, the contribution made by the ancestors to my composite, I notice the few doctors or pharmacists who appear in my tree. On my mother’s side before 1400 a couple of generations of nice Jewish doctors lived and worked in northern Spain during the time when Jews, Christians, and Arabs all thrived in a multi cultural party of intellectual delight. Joshua ben Ibn Vives al Lorca was my 15th great grandfather.
IBN VIVES AL-LORQUI (OF LORCA), JOSEPH BEN JOSHUA: By : Richard Gottheil Meyer Kayserling Spanish physician; died before 1372; father of Joshua ben Joseph ibn Vives al-Lorqui. He revised Tibbon’s translation of Moses Maimonides’ “Millot Higgayon” and dedicated the revision to his pupil Ezra ben Solomon ibn Gatigno. He wrote also the “Sefer Yesodot.”G. M. K.
His son Joseph was also a famous physician in Spain. These ancestors qualify as alchemists for many reasons. They had the presence of mind to move to Sicily before the Spanish Inquisition. Due to their great talents as musical instrument makers and musicians, Henry the 8th imported Anthony (1511-1574) from Venice to England to play in the royal court. They used the wisdom they had to use time and space to their advantage. They turned danger into survival.
Joshua ben Joseph/Joseph ben Joshua ibn Vives Al Lorqui (1370 – 1408)
is your 15th great grandfather
Son of Joshua ben Joseph/Joseph ben Joshua
Son of Joshua ben ibn
Son of Julus
Son of Santo
Son of Maestro Jeronimo “DeDasi”
Daughter of Anthony
Son of Lucreece Lucretia
Son of John Thomas
Daughter of Sampson
Daughter of Elizabeth
Son of Martha
Daughter of David
Daughter of Minerva Truly
Daughter of Sarah E
Son of Lucinda Jane
Daughter of George Harvey
is the daughter of Ruby Lee
Restorative, the Yoga of Contentment
October 27, 2012
— 4 Comments
What does the word restore man to you? Do you think of groceries, batteries, credit, or your spirit? When stress exhausts your spontaneous zest for life, how do you recover ? If bombed out cities can be restored, so can your severely wiped out spirit. There are many methods available, but restorative yoga is an easy to learn, simple to use sequence that brings bliss to most people almost instantly. A good class will introduce the props and the various poses. The teacher can make sure the student is properly aligned and taking personal limitations graciously. This YouTube teacher gives a good guide to the uninitiated.
After some instruction one can decide which props to own. This collection can grow over time, and none really wears out, so the bolsters and straps are good investments. I also have learned how to deconstruct a hotel room to create the temporary props I want in the moment. Folded blankets and pillows work well when they are all that is available.
The undisputed queen of restorative yoga is Judith Hanson Lasater. She is a delight as a teacher. If she comes to your town I highly recommend that you seek out her workshops. She has that yogini presence that is precious in and of itself, but her compendium of knowledge is unique and powerful. She is a physical therapist, was thrown out by Mr. Iyengar (I always love the heretic) and a brilliant author. Living her yoga, indeed, is her conduit for teaching. She is a shining example of balance between the active and the restorative parts of life. If you are not lucky enough to see her in person, all of her books are excellent.
“[Let] go of your attachments: your attachment to being right, to having total control, or to living forever. This process of letting go is integral to the process of becoming whole.”
― Judith Hanson Lasater
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