Yet Again – Day 1104

Posted on November 20, 2021November 20, 2021 by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment

Partial Lunar Eclipse and the Pleiades – Photo: L. Weikel

Yet Again

Yet again we’re set back on our heels, reeling at what many believe to be a gross miscarriage of justice. It’s exhausting. And let’s face it: most of us, if we’re not people of color, are only just now starting to get even the tiniest hint of an idea how crushing it must feel like to be them – every day – in this country. In their own country.

I vowed I wouldn’t write about the Rittenhouse verdict tonight. What more can be said? The people who feel the verdict was a vindication of all that is right in our country are exultant. Those of us who feel otherwise? I don’t know…perhaps we’re seeing that the system has slowly been corrupted and is now a caricature of its former self. Or perhaps it’s always been more corrupt than any of us wanted to admit. For many, I fear this to be true.

Jury and Judge

I don’t necessarily disagree with President Biden’s statement that the jury did its job. Given what little I know of the details, I have a feeling the jury did its best to follow the law and apply the law – as written – to the facts of the case as they understood them. I do believe, however, that the judge went out of his way to make it clear to the jury the result he believed must be reached. And that pressure, while we wish it held no sway, is profoundly difficult to ignore – and harder to buck.

At the same time, I do not believe our justice system can survive without the citizenry’s inherent respect for its conclusions. And quite honestly, Judge Schroeder’s blatant bias and defiant refusal to provide and maintain a neutral forum blighted the entire system. The list of outrageous interim orders issued by this man began early and continued throughout. There was no way the truth could be discerned without fear of incurring the judge’s wrath. The fix was in.

And therein lies the most unforgivable facet of this tragedy: the judge himself was instrumental in corrupting our faith in the system he was sworn to uphold and protect.

Sound familiar?

Photo: L. Weikel

Turn to the Eclipse

I catnapped after posting my missive last night, managing to rouse myself every half hour or so to check on the moon’s progress as it entered the Earth’s shadow. The night sky was beyond vast and captivating. Every star seemed to shine its brightest, while the moon knew it held center stage, even as it grew dark and rusty-red.

A pang of utter delight shot through my heart as I witnessed a long-tailed meteor streak across the sky. A persistent rustling of leaves in the woods beside me caught my attention. Opossum, mouse, I’m not sure who was holding space with me. But I knew I wasn’t alone.

I suppose the eclipse, in revealing to us that which we may not want to see, did its work via the verdict today. The bigger question, I guess, is what we’ll do in response to what’s been revealed.

I recall the cards I chose at the beginning of this week. New Beginnings – built on a foundation of Truth. The truth right now is ugly for a vast number of our fellow Americans. What’s it going to take for us to see what’s right before our eyes, dismantle the institutions that no longer serve the greater good, and create systems that actually deliver the ideals we say our country represents?

So vast; so clear; and so revealing – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-7)

Weird Week – Day 886

Posted on April 16, 2021April 17, 2021 by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment

Exquisite Spring Day – Photo: L. Weikel

Weird Week

This has been such a weird week already – and it’s not even Friday yet. (Well, it will be by the time this is read; but you get my drift.) And I have a feeling the weirdness isn’t done with us yet.

There’s been a dramatic acceleration of activity in many spheres. Notice I didn’t say a dramatic acceleration of movement or forward momentum. No. There’s just been a lot of activity – some of it constructive, some of it obstructive. And some of it just downright maddening and perplexing. Even a lot of spinning in place, one might say.

It’s hard to describe the shock I feel, in some ways, of dealing with so many people all at once in the span of four days. It makes me realize just how profoundly my baseline sense of ‘normal’ has changed in the past year.

I’ve literally engaged with people face-to-face (masked where appropriate, socially distanced in every instance) every single day this week. Tomorrow I have the opportunity and responsibility to engage further with more people and I’m simply agog at the thought.

Don’t Get Me Wrong

I’m not complaining. I’m observing. I always knew I was an introvert; that’s what’s actually made navigating the pandemic this past year relatively pleasant and comforting. I’m one of the lucky ones. I have space. I have direct access to innumerable expressions of Mother Nature and the ability to take a walk and enjoy them without a lingering fear in the back of my mind that I might not make it back to my house alive.

Yes, I’ve missed giving people hugs. Funnily enough, I think I’ve discovered that the circumstances in which I miss the gift of hugging most acutely are those that involve people who I would not ordinarily hug, but who I sense need them the most. What I mean by that is, yes, I miss giving my kids and my dear friends hugs. But I exquisitely miss the comfort and care that I sometimes feel can only be conveyed in a hug that transcends all words.

And the wordless expression of transcendent love and compassion are sometimes the precise and only gift that’s worth giving.

Buffeted

I find myself buffeted by the extremes of our existence. The yearning desire so many have to receive the vaccine that will protect them from catching a deadly disease – to the point that they burst into tears when they receive their inoculation(s). And then witnessing the casual indifference to the snuffing out of the lives of Black people by those we wish could be trusted to protect us – all of us – regardless of our skin color. As a mother – as a human – I just cannot fathom the relentless injustice and the disregard, time after time after time, for the preciousness of these lives.

I groused last night about feeling the effects of tree pollen. At least, that’s what I think was afflicting me last night. And yet…I stopped in my tracks when I looked at the exquisite beauty of the trees and clouds and grass I found myself driving past this afternoon. I almost drove right past this stunning hug from Mother Earth herself.

I’m glad I stopped in the middle of where I was driving and tried to capture the essence that overwhelmed me in that moment. It was a wordless moment of unconditional love and compassion. She was giving to me what I yearn to give to others.

More goldfinches amongst magnolia blossoms – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-225)

Strategically Holding Space – Day 586

Posted on June 20, 2020June 20, 2020 by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment

Nighttime Messenger – Photo: L. Weikel

Strategically Holding Space

There’s so much happening in the cosmos this weekend. Well, not just this weekend; we’re not out of the thick of things for quite a while, actually. But this weekend feels huge to me, and the best recommendation I can make (that I will be following as well) is that we engage in strategically holding space. We must hold this space for each other and ourselves. Our country and our planet.

There’s no other way to describe what’s happening in the U.S. right now but to say we’re being bombarded. Information, revelations, lies, conspiracy theories, a pandemic, isolation, fear, sickness, death. We’re being confronted with irrefutable proof that people of color do not share the same freedoms as white people. And we’re seeing a huge majority of our brothers and sisters (or perhaps for a lot of us, our sons and daughters) stand up and say, “The system is broken. It doesn’t stand for what we’ve been taught it does and we won’t pretend or allow it to persist any longer.”

Some of us will join in the protests continuing to unfold all across our nation in support of Black Lives Matter. Some of us will lend our support in other ways. Each as they are able, as they say. But as we witness injustice, as we begin to see with clear eyes the ugly parts of our history that have conveniently been left out of most of our educations, I do believe we will unite to create the ideal we all, deep down, want to believe is possible.

New Moon

We have so many indicators of a new paradigm coming to the fore, and a new moon (coupled with all the other major aspects) is, as we know, the time to set in motion the dream we wish to manifest.

As a result, I feel in my heart and soul that we are also being confronted with radical hope. Deep within our souls, thousands – perhaps millions – of people of all skin pigmentations are resonating with a seismic shift that will change our country forever.

Perhaps, just maybe, we are witnessing the birth of a new world.

Opossum Reminds Us

This opossum was just visiting me only minutes before I sat down to write this post tonight. I felt like its appearance was fortuitous. It’s urging us to use strategy to accomplish the change we demand. We need to expect the unexpected; be clever in seeking our goals. And above all, we’re being reminded to use our brains and sense of drama and cleverness to change the world.

We don’t need to stoop to the level of violence. We’re smarter than that. All of us.

We need to strategically hold space for each other to get this done. We can do this. It’s time. Time for an evolution.