The Triple Spiral. Also known as the Triskele and Triskelion, and often believed to be the oldest symbol of spirituality.
My very first tattoo was this also. A much more simple design. That sits on my back, on the left shoulder blade. The Triple Spiral. Maiden, Mother, Crone. Surrounded by flowers. Because I got more tattoos. After this first spiral, shortly after this, I spiraled. Tattoos of plants and flowers that lie on my skin as art planted in the dirt that is my flesh. Watered and nurtured by my soul and breath. After that first Triple Spiral, shortly after this, there have only been flowers and plants. And trees. A ton of leaves of trees. Until now. Because a few months ago, reflecting on… well, reflecting, the spiral dropped in. I need this again. And I went googling for images and found this one that is now here, (did you know that now here, combined is nowhere?!) on my arm. My virgin arm. The Triple Spiral is a symbol of the cycle of birth, life, and death. And of the three elements—Earth, Water, Air. And the three Celtic worlds—Spiritual, Present, Celestial. And the Maiden, Mother, Crone. This feminine power of transition, growth, transformation. This ethereal energy radiating outward or inward of growth, birth and the expansion of consciousness. This path, never linear, as each step winds us ever inward into ourselves. This Triskelion, it is a symbol of the perpetual journey of growth. And evolution. And transformation. And it is a reminder of the interconnectedness of all things. Phew. This is a lot of words. Worlds. Words. I get these tattoos, all of these plants and leaves and flowers and spirals, for many reasons. They honor my family, my husband and my children and my grandchildren and myself, in the tradition of Celtic Tree Astrology. They are an adornment. An amazing collection of art lives on my body. They are a planting. I was a wise herbalist healer Wiccan woman in a life past. Celtic based and potion making, with gardens that grew out from my green thumbs. In this, current rendition of my life, not so much. And so flowers and leaves on my skin is a way to keep these plants growing. To keep me growing. And these tattoos, they are a reclaiming. Marking my skin. My body is mine. This is important. I went to this amazing artist for this most recent piece. In Massachusetts on this most recent visit east. Fat Rams Pumpkin Tattoo. (I know, what a great name, right) in Jamaica Plain. I worked with Binx. She worked with me. And we created this intricate piece that took five hours. My arm is sore. This piece is beautiful. I am thinking I now needs hands, adorned with flowers of course. This will be my next tattoo. Stretched from my wrist upward and holding this Triskelion Triskele Triple Spiral Orb as an offering to the heavens inside me. I was really mad last week. And wrote a writing that I planned to share last Monday. I had already written the ‘My Back’ piece as the writing for last Monday’s writing, but then Hersh Goldberg-Polin was brutally murdered along with six other young and beautiful people and my heart broke. And I was mad.
And I wrote a piece that I thought I would post. And then, last Monday morning, I woke to the clarity that this anger, while it serves a part of me and while we need it—we need to be angry— this anger, coming out on this page and shared, it puts me in this place of possibly alienating others. And in this moment of grief for the loss of these six brave souls, and for the continued trauma of my Jewishness, and for the constant violence against my people, and the violence against all others who are the focus of this organization that calls itself Hamas, but is really a cancer, I don’t want alienation from others. I want inclusiveness. I want light. I want connection and understanding. And love. And so I posted the ‘My Back’ piece, that I had written first, knowing that this newer piece, that came up out of me in response to my grief , and in response to my grief camouflaged as anger, and in response to my anger too, that I would sit on this piece over this week and rewrite it in this way that is more in alignment with where all of me is at. So I’ve rewritten this piece. This piece that I wrote last week after all six beautiful souls, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, age 23 and Eden Yerushalmi, age 24, and Carmel Gat, age 39, and Almog Sarusi, age 26, and Alex Lubnov, age 32, and Ori Danino, and age 25, were murdered. I rewrote this piece so that, while there are parts in here that embrace this anger, there is also possibility. There is responsibility. There is humanity. There is saving our humanity. There is honoring the existence of our humanity. Honoring the existence of our humanity because perhaps if we notice it is here, it will appear. 2. “Nothing happens to you. It’s happening for you. There are times where you might find yourself buried in a very deep and dark place. But just know, that maybe you have not been buried at all. Maybe you’ve just been planted.”--Berel Solomon 3. I wrote a piece a while back. A long while ago, November 23, 2015. I wrote a piece called It’s Time (Again) To Save (Our) Humanity. This is that piece, edited for now-- I have been thinking a lot about the pain that surrounds us these days. Whether the violence that has hit upon every shore of every country, the silent weeping of birds and beast, or the deep, soft murmur that echoes from the earth as her essence is ignored and we soil her skin. At first, this pain, it pained me. To the extent that I could not take it in. It was too much. The news hurt my soul. The information was toxic to my spirit. My skin, like the earth, was tender. And so I shut it down. I stopped letting the information in. I checked out. And felt, for a short but sweet time (or so it seemed sweet in the moment of it) that I was separate from it all. And so safe. But this is not my truth. It was merely a temporary rest. A getting ready. For my opportunity to save myself. Because what is really going on, whether man against man, against beast, against earth, it is a trigger for us to tap into our higher selves. To rediscover our connection to each other and to Spirit, God, One. Call it what resonates within you. And let it resonate within you. Because this is what this time is. It is not about saving others. It is about saving ourselves. It is about finding our true essence. Embracing our beauty. Seeing our potential. Our power. Our grace. Our love. And so when you see the news on the television, in the papers, on the ever-in-use computer, see it for what it is. A wake-up call. Our wake-up call. A kick to our soul's ass into getting going again. The world—earth and animal and air—it has aligned again to move us to see the work we need to do. Because we have lost ourselves. And the little reminders, they did not work. We needed something big. Something our bodies and our minds and our egos cannot ignore. Something that shocks us so we can get out of our own way. So that we see again. So that we wake up. And so the Universe—Spirit, God, One— it has given us this. This moment. The Universe —Spirit, God, One—has given us this moment. The Universe—Spirit, God, One—is begging us to wake up. If we believe, as I believe, that we are here, in this physical body on this sweet, soft ground called earth, to reach our fullest potential—find our true power, embrace the light within ourselves—then we can see clearly that all of this, the mess of it, the pain and sorrow and loss of it, it is here before us to move us forward towards the place where we are journeying. And at this moment when we rediscover ourselves we will remember each other. And see (again) that we are not alone on this journey. That we are connected. To each other. That we have been connected all along. All of us. 4. Julia Haart released a video last week. In response to the murder of the six hostages that were found in Gaza. The six hostages that were murdered by Hamas only shortly before they were found. Let this sink in. These six beautiful souls didn’t just die. This was a deliberate killing because, Hamas, these heinous humans, would rather these six beautiful people be dead rather than be saved. When I first heard that Hersh Goldberg, age 23, an American citizen, kidnapped and tortured in Gaza, had been deliberately murdered before he could be saved, along with Eden Yerushalmi, 24, and Carmel Gat, 39, and Almog Sarusi, 26, and Alex Lubnov, 32, and Ori Danino, 25, my heart broke. My heart is broken. And I am angry. And I feel paralyzed. And hopeless. And angry. A friend of mine sent me a text. “Fuck Hamas. And fuck these stupid college kids.” And I thought, yes. Fuck those stupid college kids. And anyone else, anywhere in the world who, in anyway, supported Hamas. Which means not denouncing Hamas. You don’t have to just be raising the banner for terrorism to show support for Hamas. Complacency shows support. Silence, silence shows support. And then my sister shared Julia Haart’s video. Yes, I said, when I listened to this. Yes. Their blood is on your hands. If you are not repulsed and angered by the murder of these six beautiful people, shame on you. This is not about who’s side you are on. This is not about your political beliefs. This is about your humanity. If you are not repulsed and angered, shame on you. Shame on you. Any of these hostages could be you. If you are not repulsed and angered, shame on you. Their blood is on your hands. Please watch Julia Haart’s video. Please share this video. It is a call for our humanity. It is a call for our humanity. What is happening right now, it is call for our humanity. 5. “If you want to see God save the innocent, you must get off the couch and save the innocent. If you want to see God feed the hungry, you need to feed the hungry. If you want to see God stand by while innocent suffer, all you need to do is stand by and do nothing yourself.” —Rosh Hashana service prayer book commentary ~ I wrote a piece a few weeks ago about a piece of the puzzle. I wrote, in the “You’re I, And I Am You, And The Only Map You Need is Love” piece, about this piece of the puzzle that is big while it is small. Big, in that it is dense and full and weighted. Small in that it is just this tiny last piece of a vast and complex whole.
A last bit of the whole to fill the hole. It’s the essential part, the root, the beginning. It’s small in size, like the size when you put your thumb and pointer finger together and make a circle. It’s that size. But it’s big. It’s the size of a vertebra, yet as big as the all of me. But let’s talk about my back. I have this thing with my back. It’s called spondylolisthesis. My photo with this writing kinda sums it up. It is the slip of an upper vertebra slipping off a lower one, in my case, L5 and S1. It happened either when I was 12 and fractured my spine or I was born with a fractured spine. Either Or. The doctors don’t know and it really doesn’t matter when. It matters that it is. This fracture in my spine (the Spondylolysis) that causes the slippage (the Spondylolisthesis). The fracture creates an instability. And a continued slipping at times over this so many years. Anyway, this spine. One of the reasons why the Drs thought I fractured my spine when I was 12 was because that’s when it started bothering me. But it could have just been that this is when it started bothering me but it happened much earlier. I have been managing my spine for 50 years now. Lately it’s been awful. There are other times that it has been awful. When it’s awful it hurts to stand. And sleep. Those things mostly. Standing and sleeping. Oh, and walking. Walking fucking kills me. When my spine is bad, I am in pain. Or I can’t feel my legs. Or feet. Mostly my left one. This has happened before. And then I manage it, and often it’s ok, and then it’s not and I manage it again. But this time, this last rendition of my unstable spine thing that I have, the pain has shifted to the right side. This is new information which means I need more information. When you have an injury (or spine defect from birth) for your entire life that you discovered 50 years ago, and in all that time the transfer of pain from the spine to the leg went down the left side…and now, at year 50, of my 62 years on this earth, the pain runs right …well…this is new information. And so I need more information. This is going to be a long, and dense, piece. And (just so you know where we’re going here) we will end up back at the missing puzzle piece. So I had a new Xray taken by my (when I broke my foot and when I tore my meniscus) Orthopedic Surgeon that I love because his goal is always to avoid surgery if we can and he referred me for 12 weeks of PT, which is like the very best thing ever! And he also referred me to a neurosurgeon because “this is a pretty bad Spondi” and well, you know, this is where my spinal cord lives. And I called my son, because, well, you know, he is this gifted Postural Alignment Practitioner and Somatic Experiencing Therapist and Healer. And I went to my most favorite Chiropractor to look at my Xray again and he checked my feet, which I can’t feel, and now I have a program in place to work on nerve regeneration and spinal mobility in that unmovable spot. So… This structural instability that is my spine. This structural instability while certainly a structural trauma, is, I truly believe, the physical manifestation of the lack of safety that I feel. Both. Because while it is a structural injury (from birth or after), it is also the space/place, where this last, deep and challenging but we’ve got to heal this shit trauma, piece lives. My trauma settled into this space. This is where it found its home. Or it found a home and my body, in all its infinite and intuitive wisdom, circled round these emotions and formed their home. Either Or. And it really doesn’t matter how. It matters that it is. And I know that this is. How do I know this? Because every time I do the physical work to help stabilize my spine and alleviate the pain, every time I do these somatic and PT and alignment exercise movements, I cry. This is Somatic Therapy in its truest form. Release the physical and the emotions are set free. But not until I feel them. A lot. It would be easier if the emotions released quickly through the trauma space in the body out into the air to heal with the universe. But no, first I get to feel them. And process them. Wade through them. Perhaps pick up pieces of information but not always. And heal them. I get to heal them. This is hard. Which makes it hard sometimes to do the Somatic and PT and alignment exercise movements because I don’t want to feel the deep feeling emotions that come out. I don’t want to feel them and heal them. They hurt. And I’m tired. So back to the beginning of this piece and the solving of the last piece of the puzzle piece that is the size of my vertebra but heavy and soupy, dark and concentrated. The Universe, in all her glory coupled with this beautiful sense of (compassionate) humor I know she has, she re-misaligned the misalignment of my spine so that the pain, it is so really bad that I can’t function through it. So I have to heal it . Which means I have to heal the emotional piece, that last piece of the piece that is the size of my vertebra but big. I have to do the physical work because we are not messing around now. I don’t have feeling in my feet. This is bad. And so I can’t escape the physical work which means I can’t escape the feelings. That’s how this work works. So, here I am, with my back that is my Achillis Heal and also my Savings Grace. Because without its pain message, I could choose to ignore this last small piece. That is so fucking big and sits, just the right size, inside my misaligned spine. Without this pain, I could maybe ignore this. But I can’t And so I do it. Because I am brave. We had a peaceful day yesterday. The day after the day that we got back home after a two week away trip back east with our kids and grandkids.
We got back home and then on this day, yesterday, we slept in just a bit and then went and got our dog. God, I love our dog. I am sure you all know about him. I write about him. I don’t believe I write about him as much as I did about Nava. A constantly wrote about Nava. I also constantly wrote. Every week. For four years. And constantly wrote about Nava. With Moose, I don’t write about him as much and I also don’t write as much, so perhaps the % of the time that I write about him is about the same % that I wrote about her. I’m not sure. And don’t have the attention span at just this moment to go back and take stock and calculate whether this is true or not. But perhaps it is. Suffice it to say that it’s possible enough that I will change what I wrote above and not say that I don’t write about him as much to that I may write about him as much. Regardless, this writing is not about him. Though God, I love our dog. This writing is about the moon. I mean, look at this moon. It looks like the sun. It’s the moon being the sun. At least in this picture. In real life, when my eye looked without the lens of an i(eye)phone camera, the moon was the moon. In this photo it could be the sun. But not. I have this theory that this is kinda what the moon is all about. We were talking about our astrological signs on this trip we were on. Did I say that we were away on a trip with our kids and grandkids. To Maine. On a lake. God, I love my kids and grandkids. And we were away on this trip and were talking about our signs. Our sun signs. Those rising signs. And that moon sign. The moon sign represents our essence. Our ego, that’s the sun. Makes sense, since the sun is surely egoic knowing that without her, the moon would have no light at all. And our rising sign, let’s just say this is the energy we put into the world. But back to the moon. So the moon was rising last night. Slowly up from behind the mountain that sits behind my house. And we caught in on (film) digital with our i(eye)phone camera. And it was so bright. Like the sun. Except it is the moon. The moon is our essence. It governs our emotional nature. It ebbs and flows our selves like the tide. It accepts the gift of light from the sun and uses this glow to illuminate the darkness of our nights and light up the sky when it reaches its full potential full moon shape each month and also when it is just a sliver surrounded by stars. We dance to the light of the moon. Mayflower Beach, Dennis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts I was on the Cape Cod Playa Saturday night. But first, Burning Man, 2019 with my daughter, Teagan. I remember getting there and lying on the sand. This was the rite of passage moment for the first burn experience. To lie on the sand before entering the playa. I lay down and I dropped in. This was exactly where I was and where I was, was exactly where I was supposed to be in that moment in that week with my daughter. It was amazing. So Cape Cod. Yesterday, we were on Mayflower Beach, in Dennis, Cape Cod. This was the end of the day, of a day that was quite beautiful. We were on Mayflower Beach to catch the sunset. The clouds were in, in that way that diffuses the light so the rays of pink that mark the end of the beach day were nowhere to be seen. But still. We walk the sand flats. The tidal markings hold ridges beneath our feet as we head to a distant point out in what is the ocean during the hide tide, to a party of sorts with the sound of music steeped in bass. It feels like I am on the Playa. A Cape Cod Playa with music in the distant, a party of sorts, and sand as far as we can see. When you are on the Burning Man Playa, in the distant, with the heat the way it is and the light the way it is, there is this twinkling that looks like water. The mirage of the desert in the distance that is really just the dance of heat and light against the white of sand. On this, the low tide, Cape Cod Playa, the water though real, is far enough out that sand is what we first see. We walked, more than half an hour, to this distant party. At one point, because the tide, now turned, is heading back in from the sea, the ocean reaches up our legs. I hold my skirt high in my hand. We reach this party of sorts that is a reunion. A Russian Reunion. How cool is this. A 25-year Russian reunion. Turns out that this group of people, now 25 years later so with kids in tow and new partners and spouses and friends pulled along, have been coming here to meet. Every year. At Mayflower Beach. At sunset. For 25 years. A Cape Cod Burning Man Playa Russian reunion. There is music and one woman plays an electric violin. And the sun, hidden behind those clouds, sets without the pink of dusk we hope to see on our excursion to this beach. The sun sets and the tide rises and, in mass, this Russian Playa Party Reunion turns their back to the incoming water and we all make our way back to the beach that stands above the high tide mark. This is the end of our day. The beginning of our day is in Yarmouth. At Dave’s home. Our Chief Marketing Officer for GenRocket, my husband’s company. We are here for the day, to spend the day at this lovely home that lives along a salt marsh sky. The day is warm, the air moist with that summer humidity as we sit on the deck and eat fruit and shrimp. Then a long kayak excursion through the salt march streams, in boats with battery charged motors that push us along though the tide has turned and the current often pushes us against the mud and reeds that frame the waterways along the way. This makes us laugh. The depth is not deep and we look for the surface chaos that warns us of the bars of sand that hoped to snag our motors for just a moment. And, once back on land and because the tide is now low, we walk across the deeper ocean floor, now shallow, to the sand bar before heading back home for a take-out seafood dinner from The Marshside. Swordfish and Haddock and a Lobster Risotto. And Pepper Potatoes, Calamari, and a Beet Salad with Blue Cheese. I eat a ton of Tootsie Rolls that Dave has on the kitchen counter because, how can I not, and we talk about souls and spirits and loss and grief. And we talk about guilt and love. And how do we understand the purpose of it all if there is no one way to understand the purpose of it all. It is a sweet night after a sweet day. Steeped in gratitude. Anchored by appreciation. Easeful and love filled. Oh, and I ate one orange Starburst, too. I love the orange ones best. Scenes from the Mayflower Playa Me and Dave on the Mayflower Playa View from Dave's porch, the sand bar, the Salt Marsh
A couple of weeks ago I met up with Shame. I was in a therapy session and remembering something that I don’t really remember and “what emotion lives here” and it was Shame. I knew she was around. But wow, like she’s big.
I met Shame the other day. Her arms are like tentacles. She sits on a throne. She’s been running the kingdom since, oh God, when has she not been running the kingdom. She is soul eating. (Shame is a soul eating emotion says Carl Jung). This is disjointed. I’ve been disjointed. I have parts. We all do. Different parts of ourselves that show up when we need them. Archetypes maybe. Some of them anyway. So these parts—we all have them in this, we hope, seamless flow of ourselves. The parts that make up the whole. But the question begs (I do love this phrase, who coined this phrase?) the question begs, who’s running the show? Shame is a soul eating emotion. (Says Carl Jung). So these parts, there are a lot of them. And they show up during all the different parts of my life. Each one when I need her. We all have them. The different parts that serve the whole and serve each moment we are in. It’s the Internal Family Systems model. Do you know about Internal Family Systems? IFS assumes that we all carry multiple parts playing multiple roles. These parts often emulate sub-personalities, and they drive you to act in certain ways. One of the goals, in IFS, is to unfuse our parts from our core self. So that we’re in control. Our parts, they serve a purpose. We just want to choose them. They don’t get to be the leader. They don’t get to run the show. So Shame. She’s been running the show. Been. She’s not anymore. I met up with her. A few weeks ago when I was in a therapy session and remembering something that I don’t really remember and “what emotion lives here” and there she was. It is interesting to me (curiosity) that she’s been running the show all these years, and never told me. All these years. Like 62 years! I thought it was me running the show. But it was her. All these years. Now don’t get me wrong, I knew she was around a little bit. Well maybe more than a bit but running the show? No fucking way. But then, wow, here she is. On her throne with her tentacle arms. Here she is. So where was I? This is the curiosity part. (Did you know that moving from shame quickly into curiosity takes you out of the self-shaming of shame?) So this curiosity part. Like where was I if she’s been running the show? This is weird. I know. But not really. Because when I ran into Shame these few weeks ago, in that instant—it was truly an instant—she was gone and there I was. Well not gone, she’s here, but I’m on the throne now. In an instant. Shine the light on Shame and, man, she bolts from that seat. And I’m on the throne now. In an instant. When we find ourselves, we know ourselves. And we say “I am so glad I found you.” So I’m driving home from this play that I had gone to see yesterday.
And I’m having a conversation with God. I always know it’s Him talking because He answers me before each thought is clear because He knows what it is I am going to say. When I’m talking to myself, I have to get my words out before I can answer them. It’s a timing thing. I know I’ve mentioned this before. So anyway, I’m talking to God. God He’s smart. And I’m working through this piece of this puzzle that I’ve been putting together for like, God (yes, He says), almost two years now. It’s tricky. This piece. Because it’s highly focused in but it’s big. Like it’s the missing link piece. It’s the big shebang. It’s the thing. Like I get this, and I’ve got this. And I’m thinking “I’ve just gotta trust this.” And He’s saying “you can trust this.” And I’m thinking “I’ve just gotta let go.” And He’s saying “you can let go.” And “I’m scared.” And He’s “I’ve got you.” And He’s “I am You.” So anyway, I’m talking to God. God He’s smart. And then this song comes on. I feel compelled to share this song. I mean seriously. This song. Sent to me from God. On my drive home. During a conversation that I know He’s answering. Because He answers before I form my words. That timing thing. Like this song. Timed just right. Perfectly dropped in. Right in this moment. My God, it’s a beautiful song. Without A Map, by Markéta Irglová— https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dFp4SIMlbs —Lyrics-- God, I've been sent here blind to learn to see Remembering you were always there with me But do you know just how hard that's been? Could all of this have really been foreseen? I'd like to say a prayer, how does it go? I'm tired. Tell me, God, does it show? What could have called for such a handicap? I was sent out here without a map All this time I've had to guess the way To keep moving when I wished to stay I've been wrong as much as I've been right You tell me: 'Walk by faith and not by sight, and Keep your heavy heart afloat You are a timber carved by knife, but Someday you may serve as a boat.' What I lose here on earth… …Is lost in heaven If I ask you for help… …it will be given But you've waited this long… …you weren't ready My devotion was strong… …it wasn't steady I have one more question… …you have the answer too But what does that mean? You're I, and I am you Why speak in riddles? Then let me show the way That's all I've wanted That's all you've had to say Well come on then, God, show me Which way you would like me to go, and I won't resume to question How I was ever supposed to know There have been signs along the way, but They've been so very obscure At times I thought I knew their meaning, but How could I've ever been sure? God, I was sent here deaf to learn to hear To have faith in you and never fear Life is an ocean, you its every wave Your arms would cradle me, and keep me safe You're right, all this, and more I need to learn All this unease just makes my stomach churn It was I not you who set this trap, but You did leave me here without a map All this time I've had to guess the way To keep moving when I wished to stay I've been right as much as I've been wrong, so All I hear from you is: 'You are strong enough For all you'll ever have to face The only map you need is Love To guide you through this illusion of a maze.' Our Father, who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done On earth, as it is in heaven Give us today our daily bread Forgive us, Father, all our sins As we forgive those who sin against us, and Lead us not into temptation, but Deliver us from evil, for thy is the kingdom, and The power, and the glory Now and forever more Amen ~ Did I ever tell you about this time that Phoenix brought me a bunny. It was a gift. Not the most attractive gift because it was dead and bloody on my closet floor. But a gift just the same.
We had gone away overnight and Phoenix got locked in a closet by mistake. When we got home I heard him meowing and let him out. And not ten minutes later, he brought me a bunny. He placed it on the floor of my closet—my safe and most sacred place as we all know—he placed it there as a gift to me for letting him out. This is how kind and thoughtful he is. First he was Fenix. F-E-N-I-X. This is how this went down. My son had a friend and they played StarCraft together. All the time. And this friend had a cat. And this cat had kittens. And this kitten, this was this friend’s favorite kitten of the litter. And he named him Fenix—after a character from StarCraft. But he couldn’t keep him. And gifted this now named Fenix kitten to my son. Fenix, the Protoss zealot and praetor (a Protoss rank of the highest standard and prestige) of the Protoss Defense Forces who personally led his fellow warriors into battle against those who called themselves the enemies of the Protoss Empire. Fenix, revered by his warrior-brethren. Fenix, dubbed the Steward of the Templar and one of the most celebrated heroes in Protoss history. Fenix, legendary for his deeds on the battlefield. This is so him. There was this one time he came into the house with this cut on his head. He was an outdoor/indoor cat. He loved being outside. He used the dog door and went out and in when he wanted. And he once came in with this cut on his head. It was deep. I can imagine what the coyote bobcat bear lion looked like! This cat, he hunted wild boar. I know it. Did I ever tell you about how he would lie in the middle of the hallway floor while tons of kids would run through our house. He would lie on the cool onyx floor, not a care nor a worry that anyone would step on him. Or that he was in the way. He was never in the way. When he lost his hearing he still heard us. I know this because my son and daughter in law and grandkids came to visit and my son, he sat on our lawn, and asked where Phoenix was. He asked about his cat. And Phoenix, the now non-hearing cat, came running from upstairs and to his boy, who he heard with his heart. While his name was Fenix, I heard Phoenix because I didn’t play StarCraft so didn’t know the other spelling/that that other spelling existed/that that other spelling was his name until it was too late and he was Phoenix to me even though he is still Fenix to my son. Fenix is so a Phoenix. The Phoenix is a symbol of endurance. The immortal Phoenix never truly dies. He continually rises from the ashes. Reborn again and again, each time with a deeper and a more profound spiritual awareness. He almost died a ton of times. He has thousands of lives. I know this. He could likely have more. He has grit. Rose grit, my youngest daughter calls it. We all have it. Phoenix is a Rose. He has this grit, too. But his paws are sore. And his teeth are gone. His hips are weak and he walks tenderly. He is tired. He told me this the other morning. He, of the still clear eyes and the ability to jump up on the dining table despite his failing body—God his grit is impressive—told me. I walked into his bedroom—the guest room is his bedroom. It smells like kitty litter and shit. I walked in, and he looked up at me from the drinking fountain that I bought him because he prefers running water, he looked up at me and “I’m tired” dropped into my brain. I have been waiting for this. For him to tell me he is ready. It’s hard because he is fearless. He says he has mountain lion energy. Sometimes. And this morning a few mornings ago, he said, “I’m tired.” Thank you for letting me know, Phoenix. On Friday, we held ceremony. We burnt Sage and Palo Santo. And shared stories that filled us with smiles and remembering. And we passed him thru the portal with love and intention. He traveled fast. He was tired. His face, old and weathered, became young again and his eyes shone vibrant and clear for just a few moments until opaque and cloudy as he left his body yet lingered still in the room around us. This is the end of an era. We all feel this. This is twenty years of life together. Thank you for loving us so much and staying with us for so long. You are a light in the life of our family. Rest in Peace, Phoenix Pussycat. We love you so much. Headshots--
When I had my headshot done recently, she took a bunch of pics. Like a ton. You need to take a ton to get a few. These are the few. I like the laughing one. A film of Joy-- I found this quote a bit ago. “You’re not healing to be able to handles trauma, pain, anxiety, depression. You’re used to those. You’re healing to be able to handle joy.” I found this quote and I was like…. ohhhhhhh…. um. Yeah. Oh yeah. This. Because this is interesting. I wrote a piece way back a long while back, about being a shadow dweller. And being addictive to grief. I wrote—my grief is a marker. And also my lover. And it’s hard to step away. I am working with this, lately. With this addiction to the moistness, and darkness, the inviting-ness, of these shadows of grief and despair. I like it in here. I liked it in here. And I am addicted to it. And so I am working with this lately, with this addiction to this. Because, like other addictions, it pulls me in as familiar and safe even when it’s not. It pulls me and it feels good. Until it doesn’t. And it doesn’t serve me anymore. But it is a habit. I wrote, a while back, about emotional coupling. I wrote about the tractor and the cart. And wherever the tractor goes, the cart is attached and it goes, too. And the tractor is Joy. And the cart, it is grief. And so Joy and then Grief. Joy. Grief. This is part of this habit. The habit of keeping the cart attached. So I am working with this. (With this. Not on this. With). I am working with this. With feeling the Joy and when I feel the pull to pull the cart and to fall into my addiction of not Joy, I pause. Joy. It feels like grief because it became grief quickly but now… Now I sit in the Joy and when I feel the pull to pull the cart, I pause. And stay in Joy. It’s lighter. And sweet. Who knew. So, I filmed a film this weekend. A film about a woman in her sobriety seeing the world through new eyes. Eyes of Joy. Not clouded by addiction. Eyes that laugh. That twirl. That see color and don’t then see despair. And this sobriety. It is mine, too. To see the world without the addiction of despair that is a habit. That is my cart pulled behind me for a long, long time. And so this film. I did this film. It was a beautiful day. A bunch of quotes and bits of thought-- You must replace shame with curiosity as quickly as possible. Move away from the spiral and begin to explore what your behavior is trying to protect you from. Mastering detachment while craving connection is genuinely one of the hardest things to do. Where your fear is, there your task is. Too many people think the grass is greener somewhere else but the grass is green where you water it. The detour I sent you was actually an upgrade. ~The Universe I think it’s important to realize you can miss something, but not want it back. If it breaks your heart but opens your eyes, take that as a win. The portal to every next level is through the parts of yourself that you avoid. The Universe will never give you peace in something you were never meant to settle in. You will be free when you understand that the cage where you live is made of thoughts. The thing that didn’t work out will turn out to be the thing that did. You will know that you are completely done with something when you give it up and you feel freedom instead of loss. You will be ok. Or you won’t. One of those. Thank you for reading my writing today. I read this really good quote about the loss of a soul mate, whether for now or for ever. I read this really good quote—"we must somehow come to understand that our separation is just as significant as our coming together.” (Satya Colombo)
And this reminds me of this importance of bringing ourselves back to ourselves. Of grounding in to our selves. Of trusting our selves. This is often hard to do. Especially when we have others in our life who fill that need to feel grounded. Or safe. To feel loved. Now don’t get me wrong. These connections with others, they are this beautiful thing. We are community beings and these deep dives with those of our tribe… well you know. But sometimes (often) they become a need not a gift. We seek them out for outside input. And we forget that our soul mates are our mirrors. We think they are our maker. Our other half. The one that completes us. The place we find love. And often it feels like a sacred contract. This soul connection, it feels like an agreement was made and this contract, it is binding. And here’s the thing. It is. This sacred contract, it is binding, but not to who we think it is. We think it is a soul contract with another when this contract, it is really a sacred contract with ourselves. This is the life dance with the Creator. With the Universe. With the oneness of us with each other. With the oneness of us with ourselves. And so our soul friends. Maybe we do get to dance this dance throughout this lifetime of humanness. Because it is healthy and wise and full of grace and love. Or maybe we now must separate, because the connection enables that other bucket of need and validation. Of good enough and not enough. And maybe we now must separate. And then we are reminded. Because the pain is deep. The loss is great. The void is big. Like really big. Like huge. And so the only choice is to turn internal. To take the separation and the loss of that love that this other soul gave us and find it in the only place that it truly exists really anyway. Inside us. This is the great lesson. The cosmic teaching. The home we seek and the space we can really only ever truly ground into. |
Elizabeth RoseMother, Wife, Friend, Sister, Daughter, Dancer, Rower, Runner, Dog and Cat lover. Archives
January 2024
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