Covid-19

Dark Day – Day 715

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Incoming  – Photo: L. Weikel

Dark Day

While not unexpected, this is indeed a dark day. The shameless behavior of the Republicans in the U.S. Senate this evening will have repercussions that reverberate into the very foundation of our country.

There are few people in this country who are paying attention to the startlingly hypocritical maneuverings of Mitch McConnell (and his compatriots that vote in lock step with him) who cannot know, deep in their bones, that our country is broken. This brazen and disgustingly transparent and craven manipulation of our system is unsustainable.

Shocking Revelations of Intentions

I’ve been writing occasionally about the dramatic alignments and aspects of the planets that we’ve been experiencing, particularly since right around December, 2019. The position of three of the four major outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto) in Capricorn and their going forward and then retrograding and now moving forward again very recently have shown quite a correspondence with the arrival and response to Covid-19. These ‘big three’ are not done with us yet. However, more large-scale aspects are starting to come into play now as well.

For instance, we’re starting to feel the effects of planetary interactions (aspects) with Uranus, which usually signals revelations and expositions that feel like lightning strikes. Ripping away lies and revealing harsh secrets and truths can be expected, especially with Mercury currently retrograde, because Mercury is all about communication, and when retrograde, we’re going back over old ground. Digging up stuff that’s been hidden – until now.

I see that happening in two major areas affecting all of us in the United States:

First of all, the Administration is admitting now that they have no intention of fighting the spread of Covid-19. That’s actually a fact that’s been obvious since the very beginning, but driven home by the relentless refusal to advocate the simple precautions of wearing masks and social distancing. The refusal to utilize the Defense Production Act to ensure that the entire country has plenty of PPE and test kits was also (and continues to be) a dead giveaway. The mind boggles at the sheer ghoulish disregard for human life that these architects of a deliberately inept response to a pandemic show toward all of us.

The second example of the ripping away of any veneer of continued lies is the utter hypocrisy of the Senate. And I’m not speaking solely of this disgusting installation of a blatant ideologue onto the Supreme Court (for the second, if not third time). No, I’m speaking of the deal with the devil that Mitch McConnell and the far-right-wing dinosaurs made with DT to attempt to yank our country back into the 1950s, if not further back into our ignominious past. It’s all becoming all too harshly transparent.

Let Him Run Roughshod

The deal? Let him run roughshod over all the basic norms of civil society and a government based upon everyone at least having a modicum of honor and an agreement as to fundamental values of fairness, respect, truth, and integrity, thereby distracting the populace. Let him destroy our alliances, enter into dubious (at best) relationships with dictators and enemies of our country, all the while distracting us from seeing that they (the Republicans holding all the power in the Senate) were fulfilling a 50 year long game of installing right wing ultra conservatives into the judiciary.

This little screed of mine is just scratching the surface of what’s being revealed. But the fact that the Senate left Washington D.C. this evening and will not reconvene until a week after the election – without providing any economic relief to either the states or the millions who are on the brink of losing everything as a result of this pandemic – screams their ill intent from the rooftops. And now we can look forward to the prospect of this newly installed ‘justice’ participating in a decision that will almost certainly obliterate the Affordable Care Act and most certainly shaft every single person who has a pre-existing condition.

But not a single one of those Senators needs to worry. Nope; you betcha – they have top of the line, Cadillac health insurance. And steady paychecks. And investments in the vaunted stock market that are doing oh-so-well. (Shall we take bets on how long it will take before an investigation reveals that some – or many – of them have lots of money in the companies working on the proposed vaccines or touted ‘therapeutics’ for Covid-19?)

Vote

All I can say is, I hope beyond hope that I’m not tempted to have ‘Dark Day’ as my post title next Tuesday, too.

And while I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir: please, please, please: VOTE.

(T-396)

Distracted – Day 654

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Photo: L. Weikel

Distracted

I’ll admit it: I’m distracted. Karl and I held to our commitment to refrain from watching politics this evening and instead indulged in some back-to-back episodes of Schitt’s Creek. But once 11:00 p.m. rolled around, Karl hit the sheets and I turned the channel from Netflix to cable news, where coverage of Hurricane Laura is dominating the news.

The enormity of the potential destruction this Category 4 hurricane is likely to inflict is hard to fathom. The meteorologist was describing a 20’ storm surge – which, first of all, is basically water as high as a two story building, right? But then he reminded us all that on top of that 20’ storm surge another 10’ of wild waves will be crashing against anything and everything in the storm’s path.

If you ask me, that sounds like the makings of an apocalyptic movie. And that wall of water? The most recent prediction that I heard (just now) is that it could extend as far as 40 miles inland. Forty miles. I imagine people living 40 miles from the coast do not ordinarily expect the sea to reach their doorstep.

Kenosha

And then there’s Kenosha, Wisconsin and the brutal race-related shootings that took place both Sunday night and then last night, too. Jacob Blake – another name we’re going to have to remember. At least it appears he will be able to speak up and speak out on his own behalf, even if he is paralyzed from the waist down (at least temporarily) and sustained grievous injuries to his vital organs. His sister’s statement rocked my world.

I don’t even know what to say about a 17 year old kid from Illinois showing up at a protest in Wisconsin (about Jacob Blake being shot in the back seven times by police) with an AR-57 and blowing two people away. “Only in America?” “Is America great again?”

The Republican Convention

From what little I just saw over the last several minutes, between the other two massive stories, above, it looks and sounds like there’s precious little overlap in realities anymore. That’s scary. But it’s not a scary that makes me sacred. It’s a scary that makes me angry. And determined.

Wild Fires

Oh – and lest we forget, California is battling unbelievably ravaging wildfires sparked by dry thunderstorms. Yes, they’re a thing. And I’m pretty sure there were something like 1100 dry lightning strikes that set the current blazes alight.

Pandemic

And we hit 180,066 – make that 183,653 – deaths from the Coronavirus tonight.

I think I need to stop writing for this evening.

I’m really sorry for being such a downer tonight. I am trying to find my Hope. (Pats pockets. Looks around blankly.) Maybe I left it in my other clothes.

Portal between worlds – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-457)

Taken Aback – Day 634

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Tigger – as disgusted and taken aback as I feel Photo: L. Weikel

Taken Aback

I had a conversation late this afternoon that completely surprised me. I was so taken aback, as a matter of fact, that I did not fully comprehend what was being said to me in the moment. As a result, I failed to respond the way I think I wish I had.

Let me set the scene:

At the grocery store today, I ran into a friend whom I haven’t seen in probably two or three months. We’re both wearing masks, of course. We exchanged pleasantries and inquired about each other’s families.

As conversations are wont to go nowadays, we drifted to the pandemic and mused over whether we’ll ever really and truly get to a point where we can live entirely ‘mask-free’ again. We didn’t describe it that way. It was more a vague wondering on both our parts whether things would ever really and truly go back to the way they were. Both of us expressed a deep sadness that resigning ourselves to a new normal may be what we have to do, but it won’t be without deep sadness.

The Surprise

It was at this point that the conversation took a turn that I definitely did not see coming. She told me that her daughter had taken her five year old grandson to his pediatrician the other day for his well-checkup. It just so happened that the boy woke that day with a slight sore throat. Hmm.

They went to the doctor’s office and, sure enough, the boy was running a slight fever.

When the doctor came into the examining room, he told the boy’s mom that he was not going to test the child. She should just take him home and keep an eye on him. If he got worse, she should bring him in again.

When I asked why they didn’t test him, she told me the doctor said, “Most children and healthy adults don’t get sick with Covid. It’s nothing to worry about. The numbers are being exaggerated by too much testing and they’re being all conflated.”

I was stunned.

A pediatrician said this?

My friend concluded our conversation with, “So they came home and sure enough, the next day he felt completely fine.” As if this proved what? That the boy doesn’t have the virus? Have they not been paying any attention to the way this virus can manifest?

What I Was Thinking

My mind was boggled. In that moment, I could almost literally feel the gears in my brain getting stuck, backing up, and trying to re-engage along a completely different track. Not knowing for sure where her daughter lived, I asked if this was a local pediatrician. Sure enough, he practices in the Lehigh Valley.

I am still somewhat reeling from this revelation. This was a five year old. Why in the world would this pediatrician NOT test this kid – when he was exhibiting symptoms?! I’ve been thinking about this over and over again all evening (hence the reason why I decided to just sit down and write about it).

This kid could easily be spreading it. Who’s to say the whole family doesn’t have it and maybe most of them are asymptomatic? What if my friend, who is a few years older than I am (thus in her 60s) catches it? And I’m not even saying that the kid has it or doesn’t.

My point is: Why in the world would a physician NOT order a test, particularly when the child shows up with symptoms? This is a kid who is kindergarten age! I didn’t ask, but I do wonder whether the plan is for him to go to school whenever it starts…?

Upshot

I regret that I didn’t speak up and question the wisdom of not having the child tested. Then again – would that be my place? And what would that have accomplished? The deed was done, or rather – not done.

I wish I had defended the need for MORE testing – not LESS. I am feeling freaked out that a person I consider intelligent and practical would actually express skepticism over ‘the accuracy of the numbers.’

I definitely was taken aback by this conversation – and now I’m feeling more than a little bit of despair.

(T-477)

Full Moon Dreaming – Day 631

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Full moon in Aquarius – August 2020 – Photo: L. Weikel

Full Moon Dreaming

I’m glad I managed to get some sweet shots of the very nearly almost full moon last night, because there’s not a chance it’s visible this evening. No, we’re relegated to full moon dreaming this evening – and hoping it doesn’t turn into a flash flood nightmare.

Indeed, we’re lucky we even got a two mile walk in. Only minutes after returning home tonight, my phone pinged to alert me to a meteorological prospect I’d already sussed out: we were on the verge of being hit by a severe thunderstorm. While we did receive a reasonable storm (it was nothing like what hit us last Thursday evening), the amount of rain that fell was a mere drop in the bucket to what we’re likely to experience in the early morning hours tomorrow.

It seems a bit weird that here in eastern Pennsylvania we’re getting hit with a tropical storm calling not only for up to 6” of rain falling ‘in a short period of time’ (causing flash flooding), but also winds potentially ranging between 58-73 mph and even the possibility of tornadoes.

I think I can pretty confidently say that Pennsylvanians, on the whole, did not sign up for this. Or tornadoes. Tropical storms are generally southern and mid-western state issues. What the heck is happening here? Mid-Atlantic states say, “No thank you!”

Timing

I’m sure the effects on the coastline of Tropical Storm Isaias (which I believe has regained hurricane strength as it makes landfall in the Carolinas this evening) will be exacerbated by the full moon, undoubtedly creating higher than normal storm surges and even greater erosion than usual. But beyond that, I hate to think of the suffering and risk people will endure as a direct result of the confluence of these battering storms and the unavoidable reality of the pandemic.

It seems like every day we’re bombarded with more and more stories of the precariousness of life here in the United States. Meanwhile, Congress dithers.

Something’s gotta give. And that’s usually when a full moon comes in and gives us a well-timed push.

Choices

Since the inception of 2020, all of us are facing choices day in and day out that we never imagined we would have to make. I think it may have been in this podcast that I heard that this full moon is in the fixed air sign of Aquarius, which is completing a cycle begun at the end of January, at which time we experienced a new moon in the fixed air sign of Aquarius.

I can’t help but wonder at the choices that have been made in how we viewed and dealt with Covid-19 from the earliest days of its arrival here in the U.S. (our first awareness being at the end of January) to how we’re viewing and dealing with it now (at this ‘fullness’ of the same moon as when it all began). I’d like to think that this full moon could represent the climax of the virus’s impact on our society – and had we made other, significantly different choices on how to respond to the virus’s arrival, surely wresting it under control would have been a possibility we’d be enjoying.

But sadly, this full moon could actually signify the virus just starting to hit its stride in taking us out.

Taking a Stand

This full moon could very well be challenging us to stand up to the bullying we’re enduring to have our children and teachers return to school as if the virus is contained. We must acknowledge the truth: it isn’t contained. Not even close.

And a point is going to come – soon, I sense, urged on by the pressure and illumination of this full moon – when parents are going to rise up and demand accountability. Demand testing. Demand a national strategy that will protect all of us, but especially those our government is insanely threatening us to sacrifice: our children, our teachers, those who feed, transport, and clean up after them. Our future.

The present disastrous predicament we find ourselves in did not need to happen. And as unpopular as it might be, there still exists an opportunity for us to dream another future into being. But it would entail short-term but rather draconian sacrifice. Short-term pain for long-term gain. (Something we’ve already squandered once, but hey – maybe we can still turn it around?)

In the meantime, I think Spartacus has the right idea: he’s dreaming, and possibly projecting, himself into a future featuring American humans making wiser, more compassionate choices.

Spartacus – Dreaming of Humans Making Better Choices – Photo: L.Weikel

(T-480)

August Arrives – Day 628

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Photo: L. Weikel

August Arrives

Yes, by the time this post is read by any of you, August 2020 will be here. We will be seven full months into the cataclysmic year of 2020 and embarking upon month number eight.

Who amongst us isn’t freaking excited by the prospects? Huh? Come on. I know I can’t be the only one on the edge of my seat with anticipation over what revelations and curveballs await us this month?

Glad to See July End

Don’t get me wrong. I’m the last person to challenge worse. But I have to tell you: this last day of July has been a rough one. I’ll almost certainly write about what made today particularly discomfiting for me, but I have to sleep on it and assess the damage tomorrow.

But it’s not looking good.

Let’s just say the wild, torrential rain that accompanied some excellent thunder and lightning last night took an unexpected toll.

Biodiversity Project

I might as well use this opportunity to remind everyone that tomorrow is, indeed, the first of August. That means it’s time once again to lend your energy and intention to the Perelandra Biodiversity Project, which I’ve been encouraging participation in for well over a year now. (And just so it’s clear: I have no financial interest in Perelandra. I do not get a single penny for my enthusiasm. I simply love the concept and the sincere dedication of the organization and its founder to promoting our conscious partnership with Nature.)

This process, using Essence of Perelandra, is incredibly simple and quick. The whole procedure from start to finish takes no more than five minutes. And the loveliest part about it, in my opinion, besides the potential for fulfilling the overarching intention of restoring balance and harmony between all living things on your land or in your space, is the simple act of bringing awareness to the land on which you live.

Whenever I open Sacred Space, I specifically include and ‘call in’ the Spirits of the Place where I am doing the ceremony or engaging in sacred work. As a species, we’ve grown more and more oblivious to the sentience of anything other than other humans. Some people acknowledge the sentience of animals (especially their pets), but fewer and fewer still consider wild animals, insects, or plants as having a form of consciousness. It’s extremely rare for anyone outside of our brothers and sisters who retain their indigenous roots and connections to accord the land – and Mother Earth herself – sentience.

So beyond the explicit intention of restoring and healing the balance of diversity ‘in our own back yards’ that the Biodiversity Project fosters, I personally love the awareness it brings to each of us who engage in it. In the midst of these chaotic, uncertain, and oftentimes frightening times, engaging in this process asks us to simply STOP for five minutes and BE with where we are. It asks us to acknowledge our interconnectedness with All That Is. And it’s so incredibly simple and easy.

Simple – Like Wearing a Mask

The ease with which we might make an enormous difference in the energetic balance of our environment (including the environment within our own selves) by doing this simple process is akin to the huge difference the simple act of wearing a mask can make in protecting all of us and contributing to stopping the spread of the Coronavirus.

I guess I’m left wondering why we resist engaging in little steps that very possibly could make a humongous difference in the trajectory of our existence here on Earth. Are we afraid they won’t work and we’ll look foolish? If they don’t work, and we all die or the Earth becomes so out of balance that climate change inundates us (and kills us all in other ways besides the current pandeminc) to whom will we look foolish?

Community

Another significant benefit to engaging in the Biodiversity Project is knowing that I’m joining people all over the world in a collective and sincere effort to make things just a little bit better. I love envisioning the web of interconnected love and caring that is established when I contemplate our united efforts.

As August arrives, if you have a bottle of Essence of Perelandra, join me. Read the instructions here and take a moment – at any time during the 1st day of the month – to help reclaim balance and healing for us all. We’re all connected. What benefits one benefits all.

If you don’t have a bottle of Essence of Perelandra – order one for September 1st. Goodness knows, I’m sure we’ll need more and more intentions set for balance and healing by then.

And although I’m sure I don’t need to say it, I will say it anyway: Wear a mask. For you. For me. For us.

(T-483)

Wind Goddess – Day 622

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Wind Goddess from afar – Photo: L. Weikel

Wind Goddess

I had a really hard time focusing today. I’m not quite sure what it was. It was hot out – and muggy – but it wasn’t nearly as oppressive today as it was last week. As indolent as we felt, Karl and I struggled to finally drag ourselves out for a walk this evening, but didn’t actually manage to get ourselves out the door until a bit later than usual. I’m so glad we went when we did, though, because we encountered this fabulous Wind Goddess along the way.

Doesn’t she look like she’s flying across the sky, long hair streaming behind her? I think she was trying to cool things off a little bit as the sun sank below the horizon. But maybe the cooling off was more metaphorical than literal?

This month is turning out to be as volatile as both the astrology and numerology would have us expect. Yes, the roadmaps are all pointing to the same thing: dramatic upheaval and a resurgence of the virus, as the alignments that were occurring when the Coronavirus started spreading here in the U.S. are actually reoccurring, bringing the lessons learned (and not learned) home to roost. Believe it or not, this is probably the calm before the storm.

Expand My Horizons

I’ve been trying my best lately to skirt the massive elephants in the room. Let me tell you, that is not an easy task.

It’s hard not to talk about everything that’s happening before our eyes. The pandemic, the social justice and Black Lives Matter movements, the deployment of secret police by our national government in an effort to create photo-ops for campaign material, the use of tear gas by these armed nationals on our own fellow citizens. The list is far longer than this, as I know you are well aware.

Given the difficulty I’m finding in talking about other things, it’s become clear to me that I need to expand my horizons. I just re-read that sentence and had to chuckle at myself. Here I am, trying to maintain what essentially comes down to a self-quarantine (or close to it) and I’m musing about expanding my horizons. How oxymoronic is that?

I need to sign off now and read my book. Sometimes, we all need to just escape for a while.

Perhaps instead of cooler weather the Wind Goddess is bringing in some new ideas and musings for me to explore. Let’s hope.

Photo: L. Weikel

(T-489)

Another Perfect Pick – Day 619

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Ocean Oracle – Fog/Stillness – Photo: L. Weikel

Another Perfect Pick

I don’t know about you, but between the relentless heat and mugginess that’s blanketing us (if you live on the East Coast of the U.S.) and the relentless and increasingly horrifying events unfolding in our country on a daily basis, I feel like I’ve reached my saturation point. So when I asked the Ocean Oracle (by Susan Marte) for a fresh message we could all hold as a new Point of Focus, I chose what feels like another perfect pick (PP).

As can be seen from the photo above, I chose Fog – Stillness.

Why do I feel this is a PP? Because I am finding it increasingly difficult to continue ‘going with the Flow.’ Don’t get me wrong. There’s no doubt that keeping Flow as a Point of Focus in my daily life has served me well. And it’s not even as though I intend to just throw Flow out the window.

No. If I sense Flow is an appropriate response to a particular situation or stimulus, I will continue to embrace its wisdom. (And I have to mention, Karl and I were amazed at how often, since I chose that card for our collective contemplation, the word flow has shown up in the Medicine Cards* I’ve been selecting on my day, as well as tarot cards I’ve been consistently choosing in our early evening walks.

I’ve been receiving, “Flow, flow, flow” over and over again. So yes, this message has been received and reinforced.

Recent Escalations

And if you’ve been joining me each day or at least mostly keeping up, you know that the guidance we’ve been receiving from other oracles (The Crone Tarot, by Ellen Lorenzi-Prince for instance) has also been pretty consistently advising to come together to recall wholeness, goodness and caring.

While I can only speak for myself, and I probably need to bear in mind that I’m still a bit sleep-deprived, I feel it’s important to acknowledge that making the conscious choice to remain in the flow, and do our best to heed the call to encourage wholeness and goodness while in the midst of a pandemic – is no small feat. While it sounds relaxing and easy, it’s actually a lot of work.

Yes, we can do our best avoid getting caught up in (or snagged) by the rocks and branches we encounter every day, the fact remains that it takes a lot of energy to keep our heads above water. And over the past couple of days, I started to question just how much more ‘flow’ I’d be able to manage.

Photo: L. Weikel

Dearly Needed Respite

And so it was with a huge sense of relief that I chose the Fog card this evening. Stillness. It feels like the perfect message for me in this moment, and I trust it will offer you some welcome permission to be still too.

I want to share what the guidebook offers:

“The Story

She sat in the hollow, surrounded by fog. She didn’t know which way she had come, or which way to go. The vapour was tangible, but her direction was not. She wasn’t scared – the veil of fog felt safe. She had never realized the stillness of fog, the cloak of silence it offered. She was in her own little world, fully present to herself, yet removed from that which was ‘out there.’ It was a chance to just be – to be in that stillness. She didn’t feel the desire to venture forth without direction. She was happy to have this time to be by herself, hidden from view. She felt this fog was the earth’s way of surrounding her by the nurturing embrace of water, without drowning her. She knew she was strong enough to rely on herself and her intuition, away from the watchful gaze of others. She had faith that when the fog lifted, she would be in the perfect place – in the place she was meant to be.

The Messages

What are you hiding from? What is hidden from view? What is visible? What is invisible? Trust that what you need to see is either right in front of you, or will soon present itself. Focus fully on your self. In the busy-ness of the world, take time to be still, to recharge yourself and recalibrate your bearings. Allow stillness to envelop you and be present to the gifts it offers. Use the cloak of protection stillness provides, to stretch into who you are. Walk the path of your instinct – it will lead you in the right direction. Even when feeling alone or isolated, know that you are completely supported by the universe. She is keeping you safe in your sacred place.”

My Take

The bottom line of guidance I receive from this new Point of Focus is that it is ok for us to step out of the flow and take cover. Wrap ourselves in the cloak of invisibility that Fog provides us and rest in the Stillness.

Before we take a stand or make any decisions about how to react to anything that may be happening in the outside world, the perfect response in this moment is to step back. Recharge. Recalibrate.

Indeed, when we remember that, in addition to witnessing armed troops being deployed by a fanatic to manhandle and essentially kidnap fellow citizens in specifically targeted Democratic cities (nakedly politically motivated by our own president) we are in the midst of a pandemic that is exploding in our country – seems to me the most comforting thing we can do in this moment is cloak ourselves and rest up.

Definitely another ‘Perfect Pick.’

We need to gather our strength for the coming storm. But for now: We must practice Stillness, my friends. Wrap ourselves in a Fog that holds and hides us and permitting us to safely gather our strength and wits for what’s to come.

We need to hide in the mists – Photo: L. Weikel

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(T-492)

Tonight is Silent – Day 576

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Magical Twilight – Photo: L. Weikel

Tonight is Silent

Perhaps it’s because it’s a Tuesday evening and everyone who isn’t working a night shift somewhere is probably at home in bed. The night tonight is silent.

I imagine those who are just getting back to work this week, their job resurrected by their state or county ‘moving to yellow’ – or perhaps even ‘green’ (albeit not around here) – are reeling a bit from the unfamiliar chafe of resuming their old routines.

The past 11 weeks or so have proven uncomfortable for many of us. Initial binges on bread, Netflix, and puzzles actually, maybe, gave way to a gradual unraveling of the knot that’s resided in our gut for longer than we can remember. Perhaps we actually were getting the chance, for once, to sit with that knot for a bit and start picking at it. Loosening the restrictions. We began untying it ourselves.

Oh Those Retrogrades

There’s definitely a comfort to resuming old habits. The rhythm. The routine. The sense, real or imagined, that we have control over our lives. Or at least some dominion over our unique piece of real estate in what we collectively experience as our reality.

But now that we’re back to work, how does it feel? Has the extended time spent away from the mundane made the mundane feel any more or less compelling? I’m asking completely without judgment, just wondering if your job feels like a welcome relief or a much bigger oppression than it did 11 weeks ago.

With four major planets retrograde right now, our arms are being twisted to review, reassess, and remember. We’re being asked to look at what we’re doing and how we feel about doing it.

How did we feel when we thought, however fleetingly, that we might never return to our job? Does it feel as though we’re putting on an old, comfortable slipper when we return to work? Or have our feet spread out a bit, connected barefoot with the Earth while we were off, and now refuse to fit comfortably in those work shoes?

Grackle Persists

What jumped out at you in Grackle’s message last night? Are your emotions congested? Is there a situation in your life that you realize right now is keeping you stuck, trapped, or disempowered? Perhaps it isn’t your work that’s hindering your breath but another aspect of your life.

Perhaps you’re just supposed to stop talking (to yourself or everyone else) and act.

To be honest with you, I’m still reflecting on the myriad ways in which Grackle’s message dips in, pulls out, circles around, and braids an amazing tapestry of interconnection between my mundane life and the stuff the rest of the world is confronting.

The night tonight is silent. No crickets, no peepers, no bullfrogs nor owls. No foxes screaming or raindrops splattering. No wind whooshing through freshly unfurled leaves.

Just silence. My thoughts. And a willingness to dream a new reality into being.

Grackle Pair – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-535)

Grackle Medicine – Part 2 – Day 575

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Incoming! Share! – Photo: L. Weikel

Grackle Medicine – Part 2

Knowing a good thing when they’ve found it, several grackles continued to frequent our feeders today. While they did become a bit petulant and mouthy as the afternoon grew long and the peanut coil emptied, this only reinforced my commitment to sharing with you the message of Grackle Medicine – Part 2!

And so it was that, when I checked my trusted and dog-eared copy of Ted Andrews’s Animal Speak*, the entry for Grackle made my jaw drop. I will synopsize here:

Grackle –

Keynote: Overcoming Excess and Emotional Life Congestion – Cycle of Power: Early Spring

Although the grackle is often considered part of the blackbird family, along with crows and starlings, it actually is not. It is part of the meadowlark and oriole family of birds. It is a large black bird with an extra-long tail. About its head and shoulders are iridescent feathers that change from blue to green to purple or bronze, depending on the light.

This coloring often reflects a need for those to whom the grackle comes to look at what is going on in their life differently. It says that situations are not what they appear to be and you may not be looking at them correctly – particularly anything dealing with the emotions.

Keep in mind that black is the color of the inner and the feminine. The purple and bronze coloring about the head especially usually indicates that emotions are coloring our thinking process. The grackle can help us to correct this.

During courting season, the male grackle will fold its tail, creating a diamond-like trough. This diamond shape is often reflective of activation. It hints at a need to become active in regards to emotional situations. Have we been too passive in our emotions? Are we simply rehashing and talking about them without doing anything to correct the emotional situations of our life? The grackle is a noisy, chattering bird and may be a reminder to quit talking and do something.

(…)

Grackles have inside their mouths on the hard palate a keel which helps them cut open acorns and eat them. We have often heard the expression, “It’s a tough nut to crack.” Well, this reflects the role a grackle can serve as a totem. Dealing constructively with our emotions and those people and things in our life which aggravate them can be a tough nut to crack. The grackle can show us how to do this.

Grackles love to live in pine trees. Pine trees are very therapeutic to emotional states. In a form of homeopathic medicine known as flower essences, the essence of pine can be used to help alleviate strong emotional states, particularly feelings of guilt. Again this reflects the grackle showing up as a sign to help you clear the emotions.

Emotions that are not dealt with can congest our life, aggravating or even creating congestion in the body at some level. The grackle can serve as a warning to be careful of this possibility, but it can also help show us how to prevent it from occurring. The droppings of grackles can serve to culture fungi which, if the wind blows, can cause a pneumonia-like infection.**

Most illness is symbolic. Congestion, especially pneumonia-like in appearance, can tell us that we are holding in our emotions. It can reflect a suppressed crying or a refusal to deal with certain long-standing problems and issues. (Have we neglected situations, giving them time to be cultured?) It can reflect a refusal to take in new life and new approaches to life, and so we become congested with old emotions.

The grackle shows us how to handle this. It can teach the proper expression of emotions. They can show us where excesses are dissipating our life force and facilitating a congestion of growth and movement. They can teach how to get back to creative and beneficial experiences and expressions of emotion.”

Grackle sampling – Photo: L. Weikel

So Many Take-Aways

Hmm. Wow. A lot of the information contained in this entry set bells a-ringing and whistles a-blowing for me.

First of all, who can deny that emotional overload hasn’t been an increasingly powerful factor in our lives as Covid-19 took root in our country? Since none of us have faced anything like this pandemic in our lifetime, we don’t have a first-hand frame of reference with which to deal with it. So our emotions are all over the place. And when we don’t know what to do with them, they clog up our systems; we become congested with emotion.

Secondly, I had to laugh at the admonition: “The grackle is a noisy, chattering bird and may be a reminder to quit talking and do something.” Umm, yeah. Point taken. Indeed, I think we’re all realizing the importance of action over words. Social distancing. Wearing face masks. We either do it or we don’t.

Biggest Confluence of Meaning

But almost immediately, I see how much more Grackle’s message applies in a cultural sense, in light of the George Floyd/Black Lives Matter eruption over the past two weeks. Indeed, it was easy to draw parallels between our current social experience vis-à-vis guilt and facing hard emotional lessons (tough nuts to crack) in the first several paragraphs.

But I nearly fell over when both the trauma of the pandemic and the trauma of systemic racism in our nation dovetailed in the paragraphs on illness. It is as if Grackle was signaling me with flares and sirens that our current experiences are a perfect storm for transformation. We must process our emotions instead of deflecting and burying and denying them as we have, as a culture, for 400 years.

The pandemic is a symptom of the guilt and shame we carry, collectively, over the shameful act of exploiting others based on the color of their skin. And this infection is, in a sense, carried on the wind (which is why face masks protect us all), yet the brutality and inhumanity we are confronting now has been carried on the winds of time.

A Lot to Contemplate

I’ve read this information by Ted Andrews over and over since I finally succumbed to Grackle’s insistence that I pay attention. And I keep gleaning additional perspectives and tidbits of information that can help us all navigate this cultural storm.

Probably one of the most important concepts we can all apply to our experiences at this point is something one of my most beloved teachers, Puma Fredy Quispe Singona, suggested in a FB broadcast today: We must take care of ourselves as we deal with these great changes. And beyond that, we must remember that Mother Earth is here for us. She wants to support us; she loves us; she stands with us; and she is always there to ‘back us up.’

Grackle – Yum – Photo: L. Weikel

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**Clement, Roland C. The Living World of Audubon (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, 1974) p. 254.

(T-536)

Full Moon – Day 572

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment

Approaching Storm – Photo: L. Weikel

Full Moon

Today at 3:12 p.m. EDT, the moon was full. The Old Farmer’s Almanac refers to a full moon in June as the Full Strawberry Moon. With strawberries ripening and becoming abundantly available at farm stands and grocery stores, we can safely guess where this moon got its name.

Today also marked a partial lunar eclipse. The significance of this eclipse will remain to be revealed. (Ha ha – that’s sort of a play on the fact that eclipses tend to be revelatory in the sense that things that have been hidden for a long time, often even from ourselves, tend to be revealed by an eclipse.) But seriously, we can certainly see this playing out on a macro level – throughout our country – and on a micro level, if we’re honest with ourselves and really look at the state of our marriages, lives, other relationships, and careers.

What is being revealed to us now?

Last Eclipse

The last such lunar eclipse this year occurred at the beginning of January. It also occurred on a Friday – January 10th, 2020, to be exact.

You might want to go back to your journals and check out what was going on for you back then. Was anything hidden, unexpected, or of import revealed to you on or around that date? I have to say, that eclipse was one of the most stunning ones I’ve experienced, when it came to revelations about people’s natures that totally blindsided me. Profound trust was startlingly dashed.

And on a global level, here’s an article that can, in hindsight, give us all pause.

Entering Eclipse ‘Season’

As significant as the revelations were that came on and around the lunar eclipse in January of this year, I have to uneasily wonder what’s in store for all of us over the next month. That’s because, not only did we experience another lunar eclipse today (if partial – and not visible in North America), we have a solar eclipse to look forward to that will occur on the same day as the summer solstice (June 21st), promising an even greater impact, and then yet another lunar eclipse on July 5th.

Bing, bang, boom.

I’m not suggesting that we pay attention to eclipse season – and in particular this eclipse season – in order to generate fear. Rather, my intention is the opposite. I’m simply offering some information that, if we pay attention to it, will perhaps in some small way, prepare us for the unexpected.

Let’s face it, world wide, we’ve been getting curve balls hurled at us. But here in the United States, in particular, we’re dodging a virtual onslaught of major life, values, and reality upheavals.

Expect the Unexpected

It’s really tough to expect the unexpected. But there is good reason for all of us not to assume that ‘the worst is over,’ or ‘things are getting back to normal.’ Actually, there are many good reasons not to make such assumptions, beyond the adage pertaining to assumptions in general.

If there was ever a time in our lives to keep a journal, I’d say this is it.

I’m encouraging you, then, to beef up your discipline and dedication to writing about what’s going on in your life at this time. Be as specific and thorough as possible. If nothing else, it could end up being a fascinating reflection on how – or even if – you can see a correlation between events in your personal life, events on a local or national or global scale, and our experience of the three eclipses of June/July 2020.

(T-539)