perspective

Wrong Somehow – ND #45

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Photo: L. Weikel

Wrong Somehow

Have you ever had that experience where you write down (or type) a word that you use often, perhaps even daily, and it suddenly trips you up? You can’t stop looking at it. You’ve spelled it the way you always do (or at least you think you have), but no matter how hard you try to just move on, in this moment, it looks misspelled. It looks wrong somehow. So you try to spell it another way but that doesn’t look right either.

I wonder about that. What little blip or glitch took place in side my brain that has me looking at a word I’ve seen and spelled and used a million times, only to have it feel entirely unfamiliar?

Perhaps it’s got nothing whatsoever to do with the insides of my brain. Maybe it’s simply a function of perspective.

Not Always Words

Actually, my most recent experience of this phenomenon didn’t have anything to do with words. It had to so with a photo, an image I collected.

The photo is of the reflection of some birch trees in a puddle that’s on the verge of freezing solid.

I know exactly where I took the photo and how the milieu appeared to me at the time I took it. Indeed, it stopped me dead in my tracks. There was a quality to the moment that demanded I capture it.

The thing is, every single time I try to ‘save’ the photo in my laptop’s library, it refuses to behave. It apparently prefers a sideways stance. But that’s when that funny feeling suddenly starts up.

It looks right to me sideways. In fact, when the photo is on its side, I’m reminded of something that feels like a visceral memory. I’m reminded of a view from the inside of a cave looking outward, and it feels like I’ve been here before.

I feel like I’m looking up and outward. Photo: L. Weikel

Change in Perspective

All of which, again, reminds me of the power of changing (or at the very least shifting) our perspective. But it’s tricky, isn’t it? Is there a way to trigger a shift in perspective? I can’t say I’ve ever been able to consciously attempt to do it with words (as in, make myself think a word suddenly looks misspelled or out of place).

And maybe that’s the thing. Maybe it isn’t supposed to happen with the words. Or maybe it just… doesn’t. Maybe it’s all about our ability to transport ourselves elsewhere through our mind’s eye.

(T+45)

Massive Evergreen – ND #26

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(Eerie) Massive Evergreen – Photo: L. Weikel

Massive Evergreen

Before the season ends, I want to post a couple photos I took of a massive evergreen that’s in a yard near my home. The way this tree is decorated thrums my heartstrings. I don’t know why, either.

Perhaps it’s the sheer effort it took for the homeowners’ to decorate such a huge tree. That’s a consideration, for sure. And even though I know people hire firms to come and do their decorating using all sorts of major equipment, it doesn’t feel like that’s the case in this situation. I don’t know why – and maybe I’m totally wrong.

I think the biggest thing that impresses me about this tree is how they took the time to swoop the lights in arcs. It looks like a classically decorated old-fashioned Christmas tree. And it is simply lovely.

Spooky Photos

The neighbors who decorate this tree so lovingly have done so for a couple of years. I drove past a number of times last year, though, and didn’t see the tree lit up even once. So I was doubly delighted to see the lights back on this year.

Thus I found myself stopping completely in the middle of the roadway the other night and rolling down my window. It was rainy and miserable, yet there were no other cars approaching from either direction. I wanted to try to somehow capture the beauty of this tree to share with you, and this seemed to be the perfect opportunity.

Cue the Eerie Music

None of the photos I took came even close. But a few actually seemed especially odd. The one at the top of this post, for instance. Honestly, to me the tree looks like a phantom, with a bluish tinge that could be straight out of a Tim Burton movie. (OK, it would probably also need some huge bright red teeth or something to morph out of the center of the tree to swallow my car to be truly Tim Burtonesque.)

I tried with and without the night setting on my phone, adjusted the timing, tried other techniques, but nothing could capture the utter beauty I find whenever I look at this tree.

And maybe that’s a truth I need to sit with this year. We can’t always capture the essence of a moment, experience, or companion on film. Indeed, it’s rare. So the best gift we can give ourselves is to truly be in the moment of first-hand perception.

Why am I fascinated by this tree? – Photo: L. Weikel

(T+26)

Shying Away – Day 1032

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Photo: L. Weikel

Shying Away

If you are shying away from the inevitable commemorations and wall-to-wall coverage that will be taking place over the next several days (especially on Saturday), I’m with you. And I’ll admit it: there’s a part of me that feels a little guilty about my visceral desire to avoid revisiting that horrific event.

That’s why I’m the first one to confess how shocked I am that I’m rushing to get this post written. Why? Because I’ve been immersed in the MSNBC special Memory Box: Echoes of 9/11. It is well worth your time.

We All Cope Differently

Everyone deals with the unthinkable in their own way. I’m not one for hashing and rehashing trauma and tragedy. That’s not to say that I don’t see the value in it for others. Sometimes we need to see and replay what we experienced because it was too shocking in the moment to comprehend. I get that. Believe me, I’ve hashed and rehashed some of my own traumatic moments. But over the years, it’s often felt to me like our honoring of 9/11 was exploitive.

The attacks on 9/11 not only inflicted devastating wounds on thousands of people personally, they also ripped away a lot of illusions we held as a country, leaving us feeling uncharacteristically vulnerable and afraid. Airing repeated images of the devastation only picked those scabs and made us bleed, year after year.

Transmuting the Pain

My personal preference is not to relive those excruciating hours of disbelief, fear for loved ones, and uncertainty about, well, everything. I would rather focus on transmuting the heartache into greater understanding and solidarity. I feel this was a huge missed opportunity as both our country and the world came together immediately afterward.

Indeed, it’s probably fair to say the unbelievable horror and loss (on so many levels) of that day and its aftermath – both short and long term – changed most of us. Indeed, I have to wonder if our focus on vengeance instead of understanding was the poisonous seed that, in its sprouting, has led to the rending of our hearts and our country.

Perspective and Story

My belief in the power of speaking and writing our truth is unshakable. I’m particularly fond of the written word because it is so accessible to all of us and also gives us the opportunity to go back and reflect upon what we’ve written after time has intervened. It’s through the telling of our stories that we effect that transmutation of our pain and transformation of our lives.

The artistic and healing project represented by Memory Box: Echoes of 9/11 is powerful, heartfelt, and hopeful. I’m glad I watched it. It’s soulful and poignant and personal, and gives us all a unique perspective into the varied experiences of those who were right there and how their lives have been transformed by that fateful day.

Lightning – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-79)

Spooning – Day 847

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Cletus & Tigger Spooning – Photo: L. Weikel

Spooning

Spooning, cuddling, call it what you will. I venture a guess there are only a few people out there who don’t find immense comfort in the ritual of holding or being held. Or, as in our case, switching off in the middle of the night by mumbling a barely recognizable, “Hold or be held?” and then adjusting ourselves according to the wishes of the one being asked.

At least we take turns giving each other priority preference.

But the pleasures of spooning do not end with homo sapiens in our house. No sir. As can be seen from my photo, above, even two of our three cats were recently caught spooning with each other.

Cletus and Tigger

A few weeks ago I managed to take this photo of Cletus and Spartacus sleeping sort of adjacent to each other (more sharing a pillow than cuddling – with Tigger  hanging out on the periphery). Precious, of course, was nowhere to be seen. She tends to sleep by her self, often choosing to perch on the back of a couch and snoring so loudly you’d swear it was another human.

Cletus, Spartacus, Tigger – Photo: L. Weikel

While the animals definitely have affection for each other that genuinely seems to be more than mere tolerance, it is nevertheless rare to have two male cats (albeit neutered) who are completely unrelated to each other actually cuddle up.

But then you give the whole scenario some perspective and you realize just how potentially stereotype-shattering this whole ‘spooning’ exercise really is in our household.

Perspective

Ah yes, there it is again: perspective. It really is fascinating just how much of a role our perspective plays on everything we perceive. Our perspective – or the overall context in which we perceive creatures or anything, shapes and colors our entire experience.

It was with this truth in mind that I pulled back from my closeup of Cletus and Tigger spooning in order to give a wider view of the potential sleeping arrangements available to our pets.

Many rooms at the Inn – Photo: L. Weikel

Clearly, there was a deliberate choice to share a deluxe pillow together, as there were a plethora of beds available for them to sleep independently.

I’m left to wonder, in all honestly, just how much comfort and reassurance our cats require in these strange times. How similar are they to us when it comes right down to it?

No matter how you look at it, it’s pretty adorable.

(T-264)

Puddle Reflection – Day 837

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Photo: L. Weikel

Puddle Reflection

Every once in a while I like to take a photo from an unconventional perspective. The reason this appeals to me, I suspect, is because time and again I see how much can change when we shift our perspective. Usually when I think about perspective it’s in terms of looking at something emotional or experiential in our lives differently, such as a friendship, a conversation, a life choice, or an attitude. But every once in a while it’s fun to just get full-on literal – like a puddle reflection.

I think what I like most about these is that they sometimes cause those almost cartoonish double-takes. You know, the ones where we shake our heads so rapidly that our cheeks flap noisily?

And I suspect the reason for that double-take is that we already have it in our head what we think or ‘know’ we’re going to look at. At least, we’re assuming we know what we’re going to look at. So we look and we see. At first glance, we see what we expected. But then…

All of a sudden, we realize the truth. We’re looking at something that’s not at all what it appears to be. We can’t reach out and touch it. If we do, our hand either hits something flat and solid or it causes the entire charade to shimmer and waiver, disappearing into a million incoherent echoes. Either way, what we thought was real and right in front of us – wasn’t.

Lunar Effort

Last night the growing moon just begged to have her photo taken. She felt vain and perhaps a little insecure. Maybe she feels she has something to prove? I don’t know. The fact is, she is following on the heels of last month’s utterly enormous full moon, the one that seemed to take up all the room in the sky.

I tried taking her photo; several times, in fact. A panoramic view: nope. Close up: nope. Nothing I took did justice to her efforts. She was much more brilliant and beautiful than she was permitting herself to believe.

And then I saw her reflection in the puddle on the side of the road. The February snows are still a good foot deep in many places around here in spite of the near-50 degree weather of the last two days. Melting is happening, though, and puddles are appearing.

So I took a couple of those puddle reflections.

Trickster

And it’s only now, when I look at these photos, that I wonder if this month’s waxing moon is happiest trying to trick me. Maybe it’s her travel through Leo, actually – the drama queen sign – ok, the sign of high drama. Curiously enough, I just checked and the moon was literally moving into the sign of Leo precisely as we were taking our walk and I was taking these photos.

Maybe the Leo moon wanted to get lost in a Milky Way galaxy of stars but found itself grounded, so had to pretend its way out? I don’t know; but it is a cool experience to think you’re looking up at the moon in the sky, surrounded by globules of celestial stuff only to realize – wait – what exactly am I looking at?

Makes Me Wonder

How often do we see what we expect to see or hear what we assume is being said – but are actually getting it totally wrong?

Photo: L. Weikel

(T-274)

Powerful Aspects On Deck – Day 762

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Orion’s Belt – 12/12/2020

Powerful Aspects On Deck

2020 has been an intense year so far no matter how you look at it. I don’t need to recite the myriad ways in which life as we knew it a year ago seems almost like a dream. But applying the concept of ‘as above, so below,’ I’m here to tell you: there remain breathtakingly powerful aspects on deck in our lives. December isn’t over yet.

While experiencing a meteor shower is not an astrological transit (although I believe it’s an astronomical weather event), I have to say my experience of leaning against my car and staring into the vastness of space the past two evenings has felt, I don’t know – deeply significant. Humbling. Perspective enhancing.

It’s easy for us to get lost in the crises that scream for our attention day in and day out. A pandemic. Systemic racism. Shocking threats of violence. Contempt for democracy. Vast swaths of our fellow Americans facing profound food and shelter insecurity.

The pain and chaos surrounds and threatens to drown us.

And yet for the half an hour I spent staring at the sky, talking out loud to the stars, to the cosmos, requesting insight – and absent that, a couple of shooting stars – I felt an odd sense of being re-set. It almost felt like the Universe pulled the plug on my systems for several minutes and just forced everything to recalibrate and calm the hell down. Staring upward and drinking in the incomprehensible, my perspective shifted.

It helped that I saw five meteors.

Monday’s Solar Eclipse

The next major astrological transit we’ll be experiencing will be a new moon on Monday, which is always a great time to plant the seeds for whatever we may desire to manifest in our life. But Monday’s is no ordinary new moon. It will be perfectly aligned with (conjunct) the sun, resulting in a total eclipse. While it will be a total eclipse, with both sun and moon at 23 degrees Sagittarius at 11:00 a.m. ET, the classic experience of the event, complete with a corona, will only be visible from South America and locations in the south of Africa.

Sagittarius classically occupies the 9th house of the zodiac, which highlights higher education, spirituality, beliefs, foreign or long distance travel, and adventure. Something tells me that we might want to consider planting some seeds that will expand our perspectives, broaden our horizons, and encourage us to learn new concepts and ways of approaching old problems.

My sense is that our old ways of dealing with conflict and problems that not only impact but expand far beyond our everyday lives will require strategies that will permit us access to new perspectives.

I’m going to be offering whomever is interested opportunities to learn and incorporate just such strategies as we enter a whole new world.

(T-349)

Harbinger – Day 739

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Photo: L. Weikel

Harbinger

We managed to get out for our walk today a little earlier than usual. When we started out, I actually grumbled to Karl that I didn’t see any clouds in the sky that might make for some interesting photos. Nothing like looking a gift horse in the mouth, huh? But as we walked, the sky seemingly burst into flames and produced a sunset of epic unexpected proportions. So many people saw it and so many appreciated it, that it makes me wonder if it was a harbinger.

Just before sitting down to write this tonight, I logged onto Facebook. There had to be five or six different postings by friends of mine who are not friends with each other sharing photos of tonight’s breathtaking sunset. If people were anywhere near a window or simply outside for any reason, they couldn’t miss it.

If it were a harbinger, though, what might it signify? I’m not sure.

Hope?

Danger?

Dragon Swooping In – Photo: L. Weikel

Quiet

It’s been quiet lately. OK, quiet in a circus-like manner. But what I’m noticing now is that we’re entering a new phase. A phase in which we, as a country, need to be extraordinarily vigilant because desperation is setting in.

Aha. Yes. That’s what it is. The sunset this evening was the equivalent of a flashing red danger sign. We’re being asked to sit up and watch what’s going on around us. It’s essential that we pay attention to the details. Notice the lengths some people are willing to go in order to retain power.

I have a feeling we’re going to be witnessing some unprecedented gyrations by certain people in the very near future. There are apparently no boundaries that won’t be crossed. No arms too small to be twisted. No debasement of democracy too crass not to at least be given a try.

Photo: L. Weikel

Desperation

As desperation sets in and fires are lit, it’ll be important for us to maintain our perspective. Sometimes the entire view and understanding of a situation changes completely when we just step back a few steps and move our gaze just 90 degrees. Quite suddenly, everything can return to the mundane.

It may not be the prettiest picture. But sometimes mundane with a tad of cloudy is just the ticket that’ll fly us right into our future. Safely. Lovingly. Protectively. And without burning us up. Or is it more accurately ‘burning us down?’

The view just 90 degrees away from all those red sunsets.            Photo: L. Weikel

(T-372)

Another World – Day 669

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M’s Magic Garden – Photo: L. Weikel

Another World

Yesterday I wrote about how getting a wider view of a situation can sometimes yield a bit more of a distressing perspective than expected. I think part of the reason the revelations made in Bob Woodward’s soon-to-be-released book, Rage*, were so jarring to me was the fact that I’d just spent several hours in another world.

Many of you may be thinking I’m referring to journeying, as in I’d taken a shamanic journey, and therefore my consciousness was literally in another world that afternoon. While that could easily hold true on any given day, that wasn’t the case yesterday.

No, prior to the walk on which I took the photos of the clouds in yesterday’s post, I’d driven not ten miles away from my home and entered a paradise. Upon my arrival, I stepped out of my car and yelped in joy over the calliope of life and color bombarding my senses.

Dahlia – photo: L. Weikel

Only Fair

It seems only fair that I share with you the source of the open-hearted joy I felt earlier yesterday – before I returned home. Sadly, it was hard for me to recapture last night the essence of what I felt when I stepped into this wonderland earlier in the day. I allowed my perception of national events to suck almost all of the magic out of my day.

M’s Garden – Photo: L. Weikel

 

But luckily, I remembered. And I’m reclaiming that joyful life essence now – and want to share it with you.

Some of the dahlias remind me of the glass artistry of Chihuly that Karl and I saw when we were in Seattle a few years ago.

Chihuly Garden and Glass (Seattle) – Photo: L. Weikel

There’s so much beauty in the world, whether it’s Mother Nature bursting forth in multicolored dahlias to blown glass artistry that bursts the imagination. In the midst of the dark and ominous clouds that are approaching we must not forget how things look different in this direction, too.

*affiliate link

(T-442)

Expansion of My Yet Again – Day 661

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XXI ~ World  – from Tarot of the Crone – Photo: L. Weikel

Expansion Of My Yet Again

A few days ago I wrote a post that described an additional message I received through two cards I chose from my Tarot of the Crone deck. As I was writing my post that night, sharing the astonishing synchronicity of the messages I received on my walk that night with the card I’d chosen for ‘all of us’ the night before, I started pushing up against my ‘witching time’ of having to post by 1:00 a.m. As a result, I chose to leave out a paragraph from one of the card descriptions, figuring it wasn’t as important as the paragraph I did include. Well, that card appeared again today, and in re-reading it, yet again, I feel it’s important for me to create this expansion of my Yet Again post.

I’m hoping you’re allowing my posts on Perception and Yet Again to percolate within your consciousness as this week unfolds. There’s a lot going on in our lives and in the world, and it’s important for us to be mindful of how we’re perceiving it all.

To that end, you may recall that the primary card I chose a few days ago was the World.

I’m getting the sense that it’s important for our contemplation to consider the entire reflection on this card, so I offer it here:

XXI ~ World

I am all you have been

And all you will become

 

I am the exercise

Of your power

 

And the key

To your future

“In the World, a large black figure holds twenty-one smaller figures within her. Each of the smaller figures has a face colored to represent the special power she possesses. The face of the larger World, however, is transparent. Through it and haloed around her is the swirling blue and white of a beautiful brave new world. The overall shape evokes a keyhole, outlined in a glow of blue against rich black.

The entry to a new world and your ability to create it, is in giving all that you are a place, Devil and Empress and Fool. Forget none of their lessons. Give up none of your power. Within your World, all of them come together and create a whole more than the sum of any amount of parts. More than a balance, more than integration like some locking together of pieces, when you are all, you are on another scale entirely.”

My Perspective

As I read this card yet again today against the backdrop of so much that we see unfolding in our country right now, it was obvious to me that the highlighted paragraph, above, is an essential component of the process of shifting our perception that we’re being called to undertake. Not only must we claim and integrate the various and unique powers we hold within ourselves, we must also honor, claim, and integrate the unique powers and identities of those with whom we share this planet.

I hope this adds to the richness of your reflections this week.

(T-450)

Retrograde – Day 549

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Maple Seeds; Heart’s desire? – Photo: L. Weikel

Retrograde

There’s a lot of astrological activity occurring this week that you’re probably already feeling on one level or another. I know I am. Perhaps most significant in my mind is the fact that Saturn went retrograde on Sunday, Venus went retrograde on Tuesday, and Jupiter is going retrograde tomorrow (Thursday, May 14th).

I’m pretty sure I’ve provided an elementary explanation of what it means for a planet to station and then go retrograde. It’s all in our perspective which, when you think about it, is so true of practically everything in life. In this case, though, a planet going retrograde means that, from our perspective on Earth, it looks like a planet is stopping in its orbit around us (stationing) and then appears to be moving backwards.

As I say, this is all an optical illusion based on our perspective from here on Earth. It all has to do with the length and pace of a planet’s orbit around the sun vis-à-vis the Earth’s orbit.

Different Influences

Nevertheless, as we are complex creatures influenced by a myriad of factors that we often aren’t consciously aware of, including the moon, sun, and planets, it can be a deeply powerful time of reflection and change when they go retrograde.

Most people have heard one thing or another about Mercury going retrograde. Because Mercury is closest to the sun and is the planet that moves most rapidly in its orbit, it’s the one that’s discussed most often. When Mercury goes retrograde, an occurrence that happens four times a year, I believe, the length of time it is appearing to move backward is about three weeks.

When the larger planets go retrograde, their periods in that state happen less frequently and are longer in duration, although they vary. The thought is that the influence of the larger planets is generally more profound and long-lasting.

As I’ve written about a number of times over the past year and a half, the planet Mercury is associated with communication and electronics, to name two of the most common factors influenced by that planet. Obviously, then, when Mercury goes retrograde, there are certain activities that are enhanced during that time, such as editing and going over details with a fine-toothed comb.

Not Mercury

When Saturn, Venus, and Jupiter go retrograde this week (joining Pluto, which went retrograde at the end of April), we are called upon to stop our relentless efforts at moving forward or maintaining the status quo. Instead, we’re asked to take time to reflect upon and really take stock of those aspects of our lives (or the life of the society we live in, or the country, etc.) that are associated with that particular planet. We’re asked to decide what is working for us in those areas – and what we need to release or surrender.

For instance, Venus has to do with our values, our ways of earning a living, what we hold dear, the things or aspects of our lives that mean most to us. When Venus goes retrograde, we’re called upon to reflect on just exactly what we value most. What we can live with losing. Who we are if we lose what we value.

As you know, I enjoy the work of Kaypacha and I like to listen to his weekly Pele Reports. He knows his astrology – particularly evolutionary astrology – and he translates it into information I can apply to my own life. I recommend you give this week’s Pele Report (for May 13th) a listen. The interplay of each of these planets going retrograde and what and how they influence us is fascinating. And the application of these influences to what the world is experiencing right now is fascinating and provides an abundance of food for thought.

Just planting the seeds for all our growth…

(T-562)