Illusion

Trickery – Day 1074

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An 8-point buck; I swear! – Photo: L. Weikel

Trickery

I don’t know what it was about today, but things did not seem to be what they appeared. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say they didn’t appear to be what they were. Either way, the trickery with which I felt my eyes and brain were being teased was unexpected.

I think I was expecting the light of this powerful full moon to illuminate everything that needs to be seen, both easily and obviously. If we have been deceiving ourselves, then certainly it stands to reason that when the big reveal arrives, we should be able to recognize it. Right?

Well, maybe that’s not the way things really work. I don’t know.

Or maybe some things were being revealed while others were just messing with me. Or – a third option: maybe the ephemeral is the reality. Maybe what I take to be something certain and obvious actually isn’t.

A Better Look – Photo: L. Weikel

 

Chupacabra?

My first example of what I mean is the creature I encountered early this evening as I was driving home from the grocery store. The moon was just coming above the horizon and was filling the backdrop of blue-black sky with an eerie orange glow. I rounded a 90 degree turn and this was standing in the middle of the road. It took me by such surprise that I had to fumble for my iPhone – and even when I found it, I only managed to take this single photo.

I think it’s a chupacabra. And I think it usually disguises itself as an 8-point buck.

Sea Lion Amused at the Illusion – Photo: L. Weikel

Number Two

My second surreal moment today came while permitting myself a couple moments at the creek. The weather was flawless. Ha ha –  I take that back. In all the vastness of this perfect autumn day, one single cloud appeared in the middle of that cerulean sea. Even that moment felt like it was hinting that there’s more to what things than what meets the eye.

But the photo below took what felt like an inordinate amount of time to come into focus. It literally felt like my brain was doing that in-and-out with a telescopic lens that cameras do now. No matter how I looked at this photo, I couldn’t make heads nor tails out of it.

The wavy attempts to focus and make sense of what I was seeing did settle. And when they did, I very clearly saw the smiling Sea Lion sitting at the base of the portal –  err, I mean, the shimmering entrance to another world.

So, you tell me. What was revealed?  The truth of the way things really ‘are?’ A glimpse into another realm?

Which makes me also wonder what ‘the truth’ is about the things and circumstances I’m seeing now in other areas of my life. Am I engaging in trickery over myself?

Puppy Pic

Brutus Beefcake – Photo: L.Weikel

(T-37)

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)

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)

Back on Track – Day 518

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Bursting Daffodil – Photo: L. Weikel

Back On Track

I have a confession: I’ve been absolutely indulgent lately. I know it’s been a stress response, but I also know that succumbing to the temptation to “eat for today since tomorrow may not come” is a tad short-sighted. I’m ready to get back on track.

It’s weird how we can blame our behavior on almost anything. Yes, we’re in the midst of a pandemic the likes of which hasn’t been experienced in a century. And yes, our country seems to be falling apart at the seams.

I’ve typed and deleted a number of sentences and paragraphs. And the truth is, I don’t want to rail against anybody or anything this evening. I want to stop going for the sugar high.

To be fair in my depiction of myself, I’ve only fallen asleep on my determination to eat as healthily as possible throughout this pandemic experience over the past week or so. Of course, the two birthdays within a few weeks were probably the catalysts.

Once I start eating cake, my inner Indulgent One starts to regain her voice. And wow, can she be mouthy. And persistent. And oh-so-persuasive. So I’m finding myself facing the consequences of a good three weeks of rampant indulgence.

Harder to Look On the Bright Side of Life

One of the most striking results of my consumption of a lot of baked goods is feeling down. Especially when I eat a lot of stuff with icing. My usual perspective is gone. Out the door.

And quite honestly, I find it pretty hard to talk myself out of my miserable perspective when I’m wallowing in it.

All of which brings me here: to this page, at this moment. I am tired. I know that my crappy perspective is tied 100% to what I’ve been eating. And what I’m feeling right now is trickling into everything. I don’t want that to happen.

But Not Impossible

So I’m going to cut this short. I’ll include a few photos that will hopefully call in the perspective I seek, and then I’m going to say goodnight. If all goes well, my optimism will return – if not tomorrow, certainly by Tuesday. It never ceases to amaze me how profound an influence my nutrition has on my entire experience of life.

The most important lesson here is remembering and reclaiming what I can control. No, I can’t control a whole heck of a lot that’s going on in the world right now. But I can control what I put into my mouth. And the sooner I see (actually remember, as this is nothing new) that I actually feel better when I’m eating clean and going really easy on the desserts, the better I’ll be able to enjoy creating a new way of life for myself and my family.

And right on cue, the winds are whipping up outside. Facilitating the shift. Getting me back on track.

Change is coming.

Easter Dandelion – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-593)

The Bear I Didn’t See – Day 236

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The Bear I Didn’t See – Photo: M. N.

The Bear I Didn’t See                    

Is this not an impressive specimen of ursine magnificence?

Yeah, it is. And I am SO jealous. (Perhaps envious is the more accurate adjective?) Either way, I covet an encounter with a bear. To be clear, though, I would like to encounter a bear in a setting where she is happy and good natured, perhaps out for a stroll with her frolicking cubs, and not feeling threatened in any way.

This bear – this actual bear – was seen by my nephew on his way to work this morning. He saw it begin to cross the road as he made his way up the mountain outside of Hartford, and then saw it change its mind and turn back. So he pulled off to the side of the road and waited – his patience rewarded with the opportunity to snap this great photo.

Meager Manifester

Frankly, I’m disappointed in my manifesting abilities. It’s been years that I’ve been hearing about all the meandering bears up here, and I’ve seen so many amazing pieces of photographic evidence of their visitations, only to come up empty-sighted again and again.

The most amazing sighting I managed today was this dragonfly. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not knocking this lovely creature, and I’m truly grateful that it chose to hang out on this day lily right beside my chair. But a bear it is not.

Dragonfly on Day Lily – Photo: L. Weikel

Then again, Dragonfly is all about ‘Illusion.’ So maybe I was being encouraged by the dragonfly to realize that the magnitude of magnificence I’m bestowing upon the prospect of seeing a bear is misplaced. Perhaps experiencing Dragonfly energy is every bit as precious and significant as experiencing Bear energy.

Yeah, sure. I’ll tell myself that. There is no magnitude of amazingness to Mother Earth’s creatures. And I did appreciate the dragonfly pictured here, as well as the neon green one that flitted past us, the brown and tan one that landed on a Jart and blended into the background so perfectly that we couldn’t even see it when I took its photo, and the hawk, blue jays, squirrels, and woodpeckers that also shared the loveliness of this exquisite summer day with us.

I still want to see a bear.

(T-875)