denial

State of Denial – Day 1072

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment
What will the light reveal? – Photo: L. Weikel

State of Denial

The atmosphere of the world is feeling really dicey to me lately. Precarious. In a lot of ways, it feels like most of our country, at least, is in a deep state of denial. “Let’s pretend everything is the way it’s always been.” “Ignore the insurrectionists behind the curtain!” “It’s all an illusion. A scam. A hoax.” “We’re number one!”

For the past nine months or so, one planet after another has ‘gone retrograde,’ up to the point where Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury were all seemingly going backwards in the sky at once. It doesn’t take an astrologer to intuit that this occurrence could indicate a time during which our forward momentum might get disrupted (to put it mildly).

For me personally, it’s felt like I’ve had some exciting insights and hatched some great ideas, but then found my attention being called elsewhere. I can see the need for radical transformation, not only in our country but in the world as well. Climate change is accelerating exponentially – just to name one crisis we share world-wide.

The foundations being shaken, the status quos being challenged, are not just ‘out there.’ They’re personal, too.

Change – Photo: L. Weikel

Things Are Shifting

Over the past couple of weeks, everything has started to shift again. One after another, the planets are screeching to a halt in their (illusory) backwards trek and grinding their gears to start moving forward again. It’s not pretty. And deep down, deep within our very own selves, we’re feeling the grind.

This all started just about nine months ago. Hmm. Just think. I wonder what we’ve been gestating. Looking around, it appears as though grievance-stoking has been a hot pastime. Elites operating with blatant impunity and not a single shred of accountability being levied upon anyone in power is gutting our system. Everywhere we look, division, hatred, and fear have replaced the concept of ‘e pluribus unum’ and the concomitant belief in us being stronger together.

So as these outer planets start ‘turning around,’ I wonder. What exactly will ‘moving forward’ bring to us? And this full moon arriving on Wednesday (the 20th) – just what will all that light reveal?

There’s been a concerted effort to not only keep a lid on progress in this country but also (I think we can all agree has become painfully obvious) drag us back to a halcyon past that never was.

Moving Forward

I have a feeling the last nine months or so were a chance for us to look at and really see (and hear) what’s going on all around us. It was a chance to start cleaning up our act and holding people, corporations, and other entities accountable for the decimation of practically everything we hold dear.

And since we’ve managed to essentially dither that time away? Well…I’m guessing we’re going to start reaping soon.

I don’t think there are enough puppy pictures in the world to make things ok. But I’m trying to hold up my end. So here: let’s take a lesson from Pacha and Brutus and hold onto each other as we enter this next phase of our evolution.

We need to hold onto each other – Photo: L.Weikel

(T-39)

Sunflowers – Day 990

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Look away?!  – Photo: L. Weikel

Sunflowers

I did a double take when I drove past a nearby field earlier today and saw row after row of towering sunflowers. Usually when I see fields of sunflowers I slow down so I can admire their bright and sunny faces. This time, though, it took me a moment to even realize the extraordinary sight I was seeing.

I drove past the field and found myself feeling like something wasn’t right. It was almost as if I’d witnessed something that simply didn’t compute in my brain. It was a mild form of that notion that when we perceive something either visually or aurally, but have no prior context or experience with this occurrence, our brains scurry to try to find something within our internal ‘data banks’ that make sense to us. Or else we ignore it altogether.

Most of us have experienced this at one time or another – and have heard our brains whirring within, trying to find a ‘match’ to help us identify the subject of our experience. I know there have also been research studies that have tracked how our ability to ‘see’ something is impacted by our expectations.

I actually think that’s why it took me a bit of a drive beyond the field to realize what I’d just seen.

Shunning

I did a U-turn to return to the field as soon as my comprehension clicked. Yup. It was a field full of sunflowers with their backs turned. I thought the entire scenario was especially odd since the sun was a good 90 degrees in another direction. What in the world were these sunflowers so fascinated by as to eschew their beloved sun?

It truly did feel as though they had turned their collective backs on the traffic driving by their field. They were shunning the traffic, perhaps?

I supposed that’s a possibility. But I likened their behavior more to the utterly appalling admission by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy that they hadn’t even watched the testimony of the four officers before the House Select Committee yesterday.

Honestly, I find that level of disrespect for (a) the officers who showed up for work on January 6th, 2021 and actually worked to save these lawmakers’ lives; and (b) the process undertaken by our government to conduct legitimate oversight of and investigation into exactly what unfolded on that date, why it happened, and who was behind it, utterly inexcusable.

Disrespect

I do not understand how elected representatives can so profoundly disrespect the foundations of our government and the Constitution upon which our country was founded (and which they specifically took an oath to uphold and defend). Disrespect is being shown at every level and, quite frankly, I believe our hearts are wounded every day as we observe this taking place before our very eyes.

It is excruciating to stand by and watch those with the greatest power appear to remain unscathed by their betrayals of our country, our laws, and our norms. I shudder to think what conclusions our youth are drawing when they see adults – and some with very high status within our country (military, elected, and appointed individuals) – acting like petulant bullies and disgusting, uncouth vandals.

Sunlight

I wish we could be like the sunflowers I saw today and simply, collectively, turn our backs on these people. I’m afraid the only way for us to do that is in the voting booth.

What’s scary is that these bullies are doing their level best to undermine our belief in the sun of democracy: the voting systems in our country. They’re trying to fool us all by saying the sun no longer shines and fooling us into installing spotlights instead. Then, all at once, they plan to turn out the lights and allow chaos to ensue.

We’re at a huge moment in our country’s evolution. And we all need to be paying attention. Much as we wish we could turn our backs on the insanity and disrespect, we mustn’t. It hurts to watch it unfold, but we must not stand in denial of what’s unfolding before our eyes. We need to see it; we need to call it out; and we must do everything we can to reclaim the truth of the sun.

(T-121)

Cooked – Day 976

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On Fire – Photo: L. Weikel

Cooked

In contrast to the emerald wonderland and water, water everywhere that we’re (for the most part) lucky to have here on the East Coast, conditions couldn’t be more dire elsewhere. Indeed, the real truth is that right here in our own country, we’re cooked.

It’s hard to miss the wildfires that are raging out of control in the west. Right now, in addition to the extraordinary heat domes that are trapping our brothers and sisters under oppressive, day-after-day temperatures of over 100 degrees, there are over 700 more wildfires already being fought this year than there were at this time last year.

By Far the Worst

But by far the worst (well, I guess that’s debatable – especially if its your home that’s been razed by an inferno), is the fact that millions of sea creatures off the Pacific Northwest coast were literally turned into a global-sized clambake. It’s disgusting and tragic, but the effect of the heat dome that killed so many people in Oregon about ten days ago also killed millions – perhaps up to a billion – sea creatures as well.

And just today, I read an article that warns that Chinook salmon are literally in danger of extinction as a result of the heat waves occurring out west right now. The temperature of the Sacramento River has become so warm that the salmon are dying before they can get back to their spawning grounds.

Think about this: they’re all dying before they can reproduce. This isn’t some gradual die-off as these creatures ingest pesticides or battle other human-produced challenges to their lives. This is a drastic, all-at-once event. Not only will it radically impact indigenous people who rely on these salmon for much of their economy (and food) but also our nation and beyond, both for their food source and their part in the overall ecosystem.

And that doesn’t even include the simple grievous horror of losing these fish forever.

Our House Is On Fire

Our planet is out of balance. What is it going to take before our representatives, who have the power to enact sweeping and essential changes to the way our country deals with these existential threats, stop dithering and start facing climate change head-on? What’s it going to take before we the people open our eyes and wake the hell up?

We are facing some truly enormous threats as a country and as a planet. The time for denial and lies must end immediately. Perhaps a few very rich, very powerful people will be able to launch themselves into space when the Earth becomes uninhabitable. Yippee for them.

But the rest of us? If we don’t seize control over where we’re headed and demand meaningful and dramatic change now? We’re cooked.

Eye of the Fire – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-135)

Poison Ivy, Already?!?!- Day 155

Posted on by Lisa Weikel 4 Comments
Poison Ivy – Photo: ydr.com

Poison Ivy – Already?!?!

Ugh.

When I complained to Karl the other morning that I must’ve been bitten by something in bed (which, living in a roughly 175 year old house, does not take a stretch of the imagination to believe), he groaned sympathetically and asked to see the point of attack.

I pushed up the sleeve of my fluorescent orange fleece and showed him the pale inside of my left wrist. Two patches of red skin glared angrily up at me, for I’d been rubbing and half-scratching them for at least half an hour – probably longer if you count the time when I was half asleep and only gradually regaining consciousness, not even realizing I’d been futzing with the itchiness underneath my two bracelets. In fact, at first I’d thought I’d just slept wrong on the bracelets and the itching was just the flowing of blood back into what I assumed were dents in my skin from the bracelets being tight.

“You sure you think that’s a bite?” Karl asked, sounding completely skeptical of my assessment.

“Yeah. Why?” I asked defensively. “Look!” I said, thrusting my wrist in his direction again. “There’s one big raised bump there,” I pointed, “which definitely looks like a bite of some sort. And the other…well, the other little patch just looks, I don’t know…irritated.”

“Your sure it’s not poison?”

Willful Denial

A chill went through my veins. “It’s not poison,” I stated unequivocally. “I’d recognize the little bumps,” I added. Indeed, I’m so susceptible to poison ivy that I barely need to get near it to contract its near insanity-producing itching. And about three years ago, I’d contracted such a profound case of it that the poison ‘went systemic.’

I’d been miserable.

“Ok,” shrugged Karl. “It sort of looks like poison to me, though.”

I persisted in my denials for another day before finally succumbing to the truth that I am obviously sporting my first case of poison of the season – and it’s only April 15th.

I don’t think I’ve ever gotten it before without having at least pulled a few good weeds. But no. Somehow I managed to get it in the middle of the night the other night. Without doing gardening. Without pulling weeds. Without even being outside at the time. I’d just slept a good night’s sleep – and awakened with poison on the inside of my wrist.

Early Ticks, Early Poison – Just Lovely

Sure hope this isn’t a harbinger of things to come: early ticks and early poison. Perhaps Mother Nature is just initiating me early this year.

All I know is, I’ve applied some goop to the inflammations and covered it all up with two bandaids for now because if there is one form of torture that makes me want to climb walls, it’s insistent, deep-seated, itching. And any of you out there who are also sensitive to poison (be it of the ivy, oak, or sumac variety) can relate to how that blistering of your skin type of itching can be maddening. As bad as mosquito bites are, poison takes it to the stratosphere.

In My Face – On My Wrist

Sorry to bitch, but there it is. I write what’s on my mind or, sometimes, in my face. Or in this case (luckily, I guess), on my wrist.

The only source I can imagine might be that I picked up some random piece of garbage in my trekking travels that had been sitting in or on, or brushed up against, some poison. (The oil of poison ivy is nasty stuff. Nuclear. Will live for practically forever.) And that errant piece of paper or strip of plastic or what-have-you probably merely flirted with touching my tender skin and >> BAM << I got poison.

Going to do my best tonight not to scratch it. The better I am at that, the quicker it’ll disappear.

I can do this.

(T-956)