Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Buddhist Auto Repair

Host unlimited photos at slide.com for FREE!

Is my car ready?
There is no car.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

And so...

Having satisfied my urge to rant, I thought it might be a good idea to have a talk with someone. But who? And then it came to me - a flash of inspiration! My mental attitude is in the toilet, who better to ask than the Plumber Guy? So, I asked what would be the best way to fix my depression. And he said - I kid you not!! - "Maybe you should ask someone who knows." I love the Plumber Guy. So, I took his advice and paid a visit to the I Ching Oracle.


I asked the I Ching Oracle: Why am I depressed, and what can be done about it?


(present) 21. Shih Ho - Biting Through
Confront the problem head on to find resolution to conflicts. After some initial tough times comes a breakthrough, and then there is good fortune.

(future) 27. I - Corners of the Mouth
The mouth not only eats and drinks, but also speaks. Seek moderation, avoiding excess or carelessness with your mouth.

What does the Oracle hold for you?
http://luckyhonu.com/iching/oracle


Did he just tell me to shut up?
I think he did!
So I will!

Random Curse Generator

I was so bummed, I went looking for a random curse generator, and as you can see, I found one but it doesn't work in a blog post. Nor does it work as a blog widget. So, a pox on them!

Or, better yet, this cool randomly generated curse: May your doctor prescribe the sacharine slime swilling from the unmentionable orifices of a Babbletogian Windpasser.











Want to get one of your own? Try making this widget work and you'll come up with something original, I'm sure. Or, if you're lazy and want someone to do it for you, here's a direct link to the page at Yaldex.com: Random Curse Generator

This iz

This iz mah happi face!

LOL!

"and in his eyes, i saw death"


"and in his eyes, i saw death"
Originally uploaded by svanes
I was looking for an illustration of my current frame of mind and found this (if you click on the image you can see if full size). This is the information that came with it:

painting by ejnar nielsen. now, this is more of what one would come to expect from a scandinavian artist: depression, despair, gloom, angst, fatigue, suppressed anger... clearly, i am in my comfort zone : )....

... so sorry, but this post has been moved to my new website, Hey It's Me, hosted at shirleytwofeathers.com, and can be found in its entirety here: ...and in his eyes, I saw death

June 24, 2004

I found this... floating around in my inbox. It's an email I wrote almost 4 years ago. So much hasn't changed since then!

Hi.
Well, I'm so discouraged.
One step forward and then three steps back.
Work is slow this week at Heavenly Pets.
I'm wondering how I will ever get my debts paid.
I can't make myself get my income taxes filed,
or the grass mowed,
I hope I can make myself apply for some jobs tomorrow.
So far, all the jobs that I really want are taken before I even get an application filled out.
Jobs I think I could get pretty easy go to other people
Younger people no doubt.
James gets jobs all the time.
He applies
And he gets hired.
He has a job right now.
So what's up with that?
Do I have to be mentally disabled and a man in order to get a job?
I have a job.
And I like my job.
Somebody told me once
"Do what you love and the money will follow."
So I'm doing what I love
And the money is following who?
And why am I complaining?
I will probably have just enough to pay my house, car, utilities, and bank of america
Just enough to pay them all one month late
At least I'm consistant.
I pay them
And I'm always late.
And it's not just paying the bills that I 'm late with either.
I'm late sending out birthday cards
And presents
Mothers day cards
and presents
Fathers day cards
and presents
Speaking of cards, I have 2 people that want to pay me for Gospel Missionary Cards
And I can't seem to get that taken care of either.
So what's up with that?
Money.
The root of all evil.
Did they really teach us that in church?
I did some research.
And it looks like I'll lose my land and mobile home if I do a bankruptcy.
A lawyer would be a very good idea.
And the thought of contacting one makes me too tired to even breathe.
I have some boarding going on.
But it isn't legal.
I still need to paint and mow and clean the place up
and then call the state of missouri
and pay this years fee
and last years fees
and deal with a kennel inspection
and it is never as bad as I think it will be
And just thinking about it makes me too tired to evn breathe.
My dad asks about it every time we talk.
He sent me $300 to get it legal.
I bought a lawn mower with some of the money
The rest of it is in a cookie jar
on top of my refrigerator
Someone has bought the property next to mine
they are building a house
it's making me crazy
I just want to scream and cry and rage and go on a shooting spree
but I'm too tired to do anything that vigorous
If I lose my privacy
And my peace and quiet
I'll be even more crazy than I already am
I used to have friends that I talked to regularly
but I don't call them
And most of the time I have my phone turned off
So even if they did call me
It wouldn't be very interesting for them
Since I haven't changed my phone message for weeks
At least it seems like weeks
I think I'm depressed
There was this thought that I should go out and get some professional help
Hypnosis
Or something
And then I started to feel pretty good
And I started painting
And I realized that I don't really need anyone to help me be OK
And then I got tired
And stopped feeling pretty good
And stopped painting
And started feeling pretty freaked out about money
And now I'm too tired to even breathe
The resistance in me is so big
I think it might swallow me up
Resistance to what?
I don't know.
Change.
Pain.
Discomfort (which is often worse than pain)
Activity
Life itself
The inevitability of "stuff"
and having to let go of it.
I was going to go to a sweat on Sunday
Thinking it might pull me out of this swamp of paralysis
But it's Layla's birthday party day
And I can't miss that.
Sky would kill me!
I'd be "Bad Grandmother of the Year"
And then I keep having these recurring thoughts --
painful things will happen in my life
I will get old
I will get frail
People I love will die
My dogs will die
Carpenter ants will eat my house
I'll never amount to anything
my whole life is mostly composed of big ideas that never amounted to anything
I probably won't go to heaven
I'll probably have to come back and do life on earth all over again
because I screwed this up so bad
So.
I'd call
but it's too late now.
I went to bed once
And I couldn't sleep.
They had bull dozers going in the field next to mine.
And I was thinking about the foxes
and the coyotes
and the owls
and all the living things that are being displaced
to go where?
and then my recurring thoughts
about change, and loss, and death came creeping into bed with me
So I turned on some music
but my ears betrayed me
and strained to see if they could hear the heavy equipment tearing up the soil
So I got up
and went looking for a job online
Found a few things
that I hope I call about tomorrow.
I love you both.
Love
Shirley


Depressing isn't it?
And here's the worst part: I'm having exactly that same kind of day today! Bleah! It makes me want to chop off my head!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Something Disturbing!

Ok, so I was finding my Irish name, and stumbled onto this very extremely disturbing bit of information!




You Are Barney



You could have been an intellectual leader...
Instead, your whole life is an homage to beer.

You will be remembered for: your beautiful singing voice and your burps.

Your life philosophy: "There's nothing like beer to give you that inflated sense of self-esteem."

Monday, March 17, 2008

Top 'o the mornin' to ya!

Ok, so I went out and found my Irish Name!
Cool, huh?



Your Irish Name Is...



Aoife O'Byrne




Saturday, March 15, 2008

So, I went to a sweat and this is how it was:


OK, so it wasn't exactly like the picture... but I did go to a sweat at the Potawatomi Reservation over in Kansas. I have been to a number of sweats in the past, so it wasn't something I've never done before. However, the last sweat I went to was 3 years ago, and was pretty hot, and I hadn't been to one since. So, when I got the invitation for this one, I was just a little bit nervous about it.


OK so... this post and other cool stuff can be found at my new website, Hey It's Me, which is hosted at shirleytwofeathers.com

All of the other sweats I've been at were either do-it-yourself-out-of-a-book run by me, or led by a visiting medicine man, teacher, shaman, etc... and largely attended by New Agers, pagans, and Native American spiritual wanna-be's. In other words, mostly "white" people. This one was way different, most of the people there were Native Americans and sweat lodge veterans... we had a fair amount of young warrior types. Plenty of good male energy, that's for sure. And I started feeling a little bit worried about how vastly different their idea of a nice sweat would be from my idea of a nice sweat. Would it be something like this?

hot versus HOT

It was a little bit worrisome. So when we got there, the fire is all blazing hot, nice big fire... you can't stand within 4 feet of it without getting blasted, and I'm thinking... hey... I need to make friends with the heat. So I spent some time, standing as close to the fire as I could manage it, saying to the cells in my body "heat is good", talking to the rocks ... saying stuff like "hi, I'm Shirley, I'm your friend" ... and at the same time sending all kinds of good vibes to the little Native American guy (Edmore Green) who was running the sweat... Sending him silent mental messages that said stuff like "please don't kill the white lady" and "I'm not all that white you know, I've got Comanche and Chickasaw ancestors" and "please be kind" etc. etc.

But everybody was really friendly and sweet, so I started to relax a little bit, and decided that maybe I was worrying over nothing. As people showed up, they went around and introduced themselves and shook hands, which really really nice. The lodge itself was like the Taj Mahal of lodges. Nice and big, not real low to the ground, and I took that to be a good sign. The higher the interior of the lodge, the cooler it tends to be, and it looked to me like it was almost shoulder high. The floor of it was covered with carpet, so we wouldn't be sitting on the bare ground which was also nice. And it didn't look like there would be a problem with crickets, grasshoppers, or spiders... another bonus!

So, I was feeling really good about the whole thing when we all piled in. There were so many people we had to sit in a double row, and I ended up in the very back (one of the hottest parts of a lodge), but thankfully I was in the back row, not right up next to where the rocks would be, and there was room to stretch my feet out. The two guys sitting next to me counted the people (27) and then they counted the rocks as they were brought in (28). It didn't occur to me until later what that actually meant... 28 rocks. Big ones too. That last sweat I was at, the one that was so freaking hot I thought I might die was a 24 rock sweat...

OK.. so there I am feeling all confident and comfortable, the rocks are all in, and they drop the door down and it's like pitch dark. That lodge was one well insulated little space! Right away it got hot. Really hot. Then he poured some water on the rocks and said some prayers and started singing poured some more water... within 3 minutes I was about to die. I noticed a little bit of sniffling and coughing... and then one guy started really coughing! He was coughing and gagging and puking. At least that's how it sounded to me.

I was thinking, "Wow!" That guy is really feeling it too. Maybe Edmore will be kind and tone it down a little bit. But no, more water, more steam... It's fricking hot. And the guy that's gagging, and coughing and choking and puking doesn't quit. So, I'm thinking... OK... if he can do it, I can do it. So, I'm sitting there, rocking back and forth talking to myself... it went something like this:

"OMG I can't stand it!"
"Yes, you can. If he can do it you can do it."
"No, I can't."
"Yes, you can. You'll get used to it."
"That guy is going to pass out."
"Well good... then they'll open the door and let some of the heat out."
"I can't stand it! I really can't."
"You have to stand it... you are not leaving until it's over."

Finally, the door is opened, and the first "endurance" is over. I was thinking to myself... OK... there's a reason why they call them endurance's. He did leave the door open for a really long time, long enough for me to get completely cooled off. And I'm thinking, that now it's all going to be alright because now I'm used to it, and obviously Edmore is making sure that whoever it is that's been about to die doesn't actually die... and if this sweat doesn't kill that guy, it's sure as hell not going to kill me.

The second endurance wasn't so bad. It was hot, but not as hot as the first one. I was like patting myself on the back. Feeling pretty good about it. Like I was somehow "tougher" than the Native American dude on the far side of the lodge. I never did figure out who it was that was doing so much coughing. But he did continue to cough through the second round. And at this point, I decided that it had to just be that terrible kind of cough that makes you gag and choke because I never once smelled vomit, and I think it would have been smelling pretty bad in there if he had actually been puking.

When the door opened after the second endurance, Edmore went and got some medicine and passed it around for anyone who was coughing. A really nice way to offer help to the guy having so much trouble while still allowing him to preserve his pride. I don't know what the medicine was... I couldn't see it since it was dark in the lodge... too dark to see anything even with the door open, I think it must have been some sort of herbal chew or something... we passed it around. He also talked about how there was this bad cold stuff going around, and that he had planned for a really hot sweat to break up the congestion and stuff since so many people there had gotten the flu....

Right after that, he passed around a cow horn full of water for us to drink... each person taking a few swallows ... and passing it on... It's a good thing I don't believe in germs. Because I was drinking that water! Every time he passed it around, I had some. That horn went around 2 or 3 times each time the door opened. I kept telling myself... "Shirley, you don't believe in germs." and "That water was blessed." and "Water! Thank you God! I love water!"

So, come the third round and I'm pretty sure I'm going to live through it just fine. Having had my confidence boosted by that milder second round, and by the fact that I had lived through the first one. Then they shut the door... And people are praying, and Edmore is singing, and it's really cool, and sacred, and communal, and hot... really really hot. The prayers go on and on and on and on. The guy with the coughing problem keeps on coughing, he sounds just terrible. And I'm saying to myself. "If he can do it you can do it." Every now and then I start having anxiety, but I just go with it, doing all this self talk, and the whole time I am really deeply appreciating that guy who is having so much trouble. I'm like blessing him and thanking him. If it wasn't for him, it might be way hotter, I might be the one puking and dying... so I'm like LOVING this guy! I feel like he's saving my life in some obscure way.

After what seems like hours ... we finally come to the end of the third round. Just one more round to go. OK... so far so good. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. And even though I know that the last round is usually the hardest one, I'm feeling like the worst has got to be over. He's going easy on us because he doesn't actually want to kill anyone, and I've made it this far... and I'm saying to myself "How bad can it get?"

Ha ha.
Don't ever ask yourself that when you are in a sweat lodge filled with Native American men who like a nice hot sweat. Trust me. Just don't.

The first thing I noticed is that the dude that was coughing ... has stopped coughing. Totally stopped. And the lodge gets hotter and hotter and hotter and hotter. I start to feel really anxious, like what if I can't breathe or something. So I open my mouth to take in a nice deep breath... and the air is burning hot. I started to image blisters popping up all over my lungs. So I said "Shut up with that shit." And turned off my mind. And then I tried putting my towel up to cover my head but that only made it worse. Like it stirred up some dormant corner of hell and sent it swirling around me. Ever heard the expression, "fanning the fire?" Well, that's what if felt like if I moved. So I stopped moving, except for my compulsive rocking back and forth, which is keeping me calm and stopping me from clawing my way out through the wall.

Finally, the prayers are completed and Edmore starts singing his shaman songs. And all the while, it's getting hotter and hotter and hotter. And Edmore is singing this song and that song, and dumping more and more water on the rocks, and my head is starting to hurt, and my eyes are burning, and I'm just rocking back and forth doing my silent mantra. Around and around in my head, I was singing my own shaman song. It went something like this:

"Shut the fuck up and open the door!" "You're OK, Shirley. No resistance. The heat is your friend." "I'm dying back here - open the frickin door!" "It's OK... everything is OK... you are OK... no resistance... just relax." "Enough already with the singing! Shut up! Open the fucking door!" "Every thing's going to be OK. Just relax now. Keep breathing." "Who's going to take care of my dog if I'm dead? Huh? Huh? Huh?" "We're almost done. You're not going to die." "Hey, coughing dude... start coughing again... please!" "Be calm. It can't last forever." (Red = hysterical silent screaming) and (Green = tone of voice useful in dealing with lunatics and hysterical children)

Finally, he stops singing, and throws the door open. The heat and the steam goes billowing out the door. I'm toasted. But I made it... then everybody gets out their pipes, and pipes get passed, pipe songs get sung, and I'm just happy to be alive.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

The Story of False Face

The story of False Face
as told by Mad Bear Anderson.

false face maskI will tell you his story - who he is and how he came to look like that. But he is gone on now, evolved beyond this. These Beings have graduated and gone to a higher world - and they are high, high, high, beyond us. Yet we keep the False Face in this form and we pay honor and respect to it. It reminds us of a lesson far ahead of us - a hard lesson that we have yet to learn.

I call him False face even though that wasn't his name at his time. That was never the name of him or his people but that is how we refer to it. False Face had studied and learned all the basic things in the universe. Then he had prepared and developed himself in all the medicine ways. It took centuries of hard work, but eventually he developed all the spiritual powers known on this Earth. He knew all the ways of the Creator.

One day False Face stood out in a large field looking at the skies and at the mountains in the distance. And he thought to himself: Knowing as I do all the ways of the Creator, all things in this world are possible for me. I now understand how all things are done. Why, if it should be my will, those mountains should have to move.

And then he heard the voice of the Creator whom he knew as the Great Lord of the Universe. The voice said, "Yes, I am the Lord and the mountains are there by my will."

False face paused for a moment. Many times he had heard the voice of the Creator; but now he was thinking only of himself. Speaking aloud, he announced in a powerful voice, "I have come to know the ways of the Lord and I can duplicate them all! I can move these mountains if I wish!"

And the Creator repeated, "Yes, I am the Lord and I can move mountains."

"Not you!" shouted False Face. "I am referring to myself, I am talking about me. Have I developed all this for nothing? Can I do nothing myself? I have learned all the rules of power and creation! Do you still think I am useless without you?"

"You are never without me," the Great Spirit answered in a gentle voice, "for I am always with you."

"But I know all your secrets now," False Face protested. "I know how you do all these things."

"It is because you have come to me," said the Great Spirit.

In spite of all that he had learned, in spite of all his training and wisdom, False Face experienced a rush of great pride and anger, and he shouted at the Creator. "Go away. Leave me alone. I don't need you anymore. I am now powerful and you want to think of me as your little child. I am not your little child anymore. I can do anything that you can do. So just leave me alone."

"Alone?" said the Great Spirit. "There is no alone. How can I leave you? We are one and cannot be apart."

These gentle, loving words only made False Face more angry. It seemed to him, in his anger, that the Lord was discrediting him in spite of all his long efforts and the remarkable knowledge and power that he had attained. It seemed to him that the Great Spirit was still claiming all power for himself.

In his angry state, False Face determined to have a contest with the Lord of the Universe and he challenged Him. "I know you don't want these mountains moved, Lord. But I am going to move them against your will. Then you will see that I am something in my own right. You can pit your power against me if you wish, Lord!"

"I do not pit anything against anything," answered the Lord. "This idea of a contest is a temporary dream. Wake up and come to me now and you will see that nothing is anything in its own right apart from all that is."

But False Face repeated his challenge, "You are trying to take everything away from me, Lord. You cannot take this chance away. Do what you like. Oppose me if you like, but I am going to move these mountains anyway, knowing that you want them where they are, so that it will be clear that it is done by my will alone."

False face waited there in the field, grim and determined, and there was nothing but silence. So he went about the contest. Though he strained with all his might, trying everything that he had learned and developed over the centuries, nothing happened. Nothing at all. There was only a soft breeze, and the mountains stood in the distance as always. he flew into a rage, cursing in a way that cannot be repeated and, when there was only silence, daring the Lord to respond. He called the Great Spirit a fake and a liar, claiming the Creator had pitted his Great Will against him in spite of promising he would not.

Then an idea occurred to him. He would have his contest yet. He shouted at the Lord, daring the Lord to move the mountain while he tried to block Him with his own will as the Lord had done to him. He believed that if the Lord had neutralized his power then he could do the same to Him. But he also believed that the Lord might well want the mountains where they were and would be unwilling to move them. In either case, nothing would happen. He craved to claim victory over the Lord and he felt sure he would win his dare.

He shouted his challenge again. He clenched his fists and squinted his eyes and screamed into the sky; and before he could finish his sentence, he heard a trembling and a rumbling. He spun around to look just as the mountain was coming to his side. That was a mistake, for that caused the mountain to strike his face and break his nose.

And at that the gentle voice of the Great Spirit was heard again. "Now look what we have done to our beloved self. No matter. It is very temporary. We shall now set it right with our collective will, shall we?"

False Face felt a moment of great pain, and then he had a sudden awareness. There was no contest. There had never been any contest. This was another of his countless lessons. But this was the ultimate lesson and he had arranged it - he and His Own Self - so that he could be free from the desire to be a separate, independent something in its own right. So that he could be free from being apart and alone.

-oOo-

Mad Bear went on to say: "Just think what we have to look forward to. After all our learning and development, we are still going to come to that last great contest - that last big hurdle for the powerful ego. Isn't that something? But once you have made that last hurdle, that's it. Then you graduate and go on to a higher level. "

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

The False Face Society

false face maskThe False Face Society is the best known of many medicinal societies among the Iroquois. The society is best known for its dramatic wooden masks, the "false faces." The masks are used in healing rituals which invoke spirits and a dream world. Those cured by the society become members. Also, echoing the significance of dreams to the Iroquois, anyone who dreams that they should be a member of the society may join.

The masks are considered to be living and breathing. They are fed with cornmeal 'Mush' and they accept gifts of tobacco as payment for rituals. The design of the masks is somewhat variable, but most share certain features. The masks have long, black, reddish brown, brown, grey or white horse hair. Before the introduction of horses by the Europeans, corn husks and buffalo hair were used. The eyes are deep-set and accented by metal. The noses are bent and crooked. The other facial features are variable. The masks are painted red and black. Most often carry pouches of tobacco on their foreheads and/or nostrils. Basswood is usually used for the masks although other types of wood are sometimes used.

When making a mask, an Iroquois man walks through the woods until he is moved by a spirit to carve a mask from the tree. The spirit inspires the unique elements of the mask's design and the resulting product represents the spirit itself. The masks are carved directly on the tree and only removed when completed. Masks are painted red if they were begun in the morning or black if they were begun in the afternoon. Red masks are thought to be more powerful. Masks with both colors represent spirits with "divided bodies.

The story behind the rituals and the artifacts can be found here: The Story of False Face as told by Mad Bear Anderson.

Mad Bear

I just finished reading a book called "Mad Bear - Spirit, Heailng, and the Sacred in the Life of a Native American Medicine Man" by Doug Boyd. This book has really resonated with me, I'm not entirely sure why, but for some reason reading it has given me a number of significant "aha!" moments. Just last week I was asking the "Master of the Universe" to send me a teacher... I had no idea it would be in the form of this old book, and yet that's exactly what has happened.

Mad Bear was a member of the Bear Clan of the Tuscarora Nation of the Six-Nation Iroquois Confederacy of the United States and Canada. A Native American rights-activist, he was also a medicine man and a leader with great power and influence both among his own people and cross culturally.

This is how Doug Boyd describes him: "Mad Bear did not at all match my image of him. I had never seen anyone quite like him before, yet it seemed very reasonable to me that there should be such a person. His name suited him, or perhaps it was the other way around. Big and round, with short black hair, he was wearing a Hawaiian-print shirt and a wide grin which clamped a tipped cigar between big teeth." Mad Bear is a highly sophisticated, articulate, and skilled Medicine Man who has traveled widely and lived and studied with Druids, Vikings, Tibetans, Hindu yogis, and various aboriginal peoples in Asia and Africa. He has been the catalyst for many healings."

The first story in the book is the legend of "False Face." That story made a huge impact on me, so I thought I'd share it here at shirleytwofeathers. The internet version of the story is a little different than the one posted here, and I think this one is better. I didn't want to muck it up with all this preliminary stuff, so I'm posting it separately. Interested in reading it? Here's a direct link to The Story of False Face as told by Mad Bear

Monday, March 10, 2008

Too too funny!


Avoid this link - like it's got the plague!

I'm serious!
Don't even hover your mouse over it!

LOL
Told ya so!

Got plumbing issues?


Never fear! The Plumber Guy is here! Yes. You can now ask any "how to" plumbing question, right here, on this very site... and the Plumber Guy will give you an immediate answer! Not only that, this amazing service is absolutely free of charge and open 24 hours a day! You can find him in his office at the bottom of the page.

I'm in the money!

Here's something cool! My very first check from Google is winging its way to me. It took me 1 year and 4 months to make $103.00 with Google Adsense. But get this !! Already, just in the months of February and March - that's only a month and a half - I have accumulated $42.00. WOW! Is that cool or what? I am so excited! All my hard work is finally beginning to pay off. Soon, I'll be IN the money.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Serpent Dream



Mike Oldfield - Serpent dream (1998, Jools Holland)
A rare television performance

-oOo-
There, I think I have explored all the ramifications of Snake Dreaming. We have a YouTube video, aboriginal art, dream intrepetation, a bad omen buster, and a hopefully not too horribly boring account of the dream experience that started it all.

Rainbow Serpent Dreaming

Host unlimited photos at slide.com for FREE!

Cool aboriginal art - Rainbow Serpent Dreaming.

Dreaming Snakes - What does it mean?

In my ongoing research on being bitten by snakes in dreams, I found the following:

Gillian Holloway, Ph.D. identifies being bitten by a snake as meaning different things. She says, "In many dreams a single snake will come to bite you, and you may in fact be bitten after a brief struggle. To your amazement though, you will not die, and may find that the situation is not as bad as you thought." According to Holloway you have this kind of dream if you are struggling with some problem, relationship or challenge. "Such a snake-ordeal is an important signal that you are going through a kind of initiation; a psychological and spiritual trial that has the potential to change your life for the better if you deal with it bravely and with a clear heart. You may have to give up something you thought you couldn't, or take a stand for your principles or faith."

Other interpretations:
When one is bitten by a snake in a dream, this often actually points to overcoming a situation that appeared dire. The a snake bit dream may point to learning to overcome a situation and regain your power in life. Snake bites can be viewed as in injection of wisdom, rather than life threatening venom.

An historical perspective:
In some cultures snakes are highly regarded and symbolize the ability to transcend into higher levels of consciousness or into areas of knowledge that exist outside perceived time and space. In the pre-Christian days, snakes were considered symbols of fertility, healing, and nurturing (the healing serpent representing a god). Post Adam and Eve, snakes are often considered symbols of temptation and evil, anger, and envy. Snakes emerging out of the ground may represent your unconscious or repressed materials coming to your conscious mind. Freud thought that the snake was a phallic symbol.

But wait, there's more!
It is amazing how many people have snake dreams! Most snake dreams seem to be disturbing and they leave the dreamer feeling anxious and afraid. There are no simple interpretations to the snake dreams. Each dreamer must consider their own situation and all of the details of the dream. Sometimes snakes may be phallic symbols and other times they represent negativity in our lives that hampers our progress and constantly threatens us. In the long run the snake may be a positive symbol; it may represent difficulties that lead us to the center of personality and result in feelings of completeness.

Omens and Dreams

For those of you who read yesterday's account of my strange dream experience, here's something I came across when researching what it might possibly mean.

The Lotuko-speaking Lango of Africa believe that "to dream that a snake bites one is a very bad omen. Immedi­ately on waking one bites a piece of charcoal and spits it out and pricks oneself with a thorn. This will avert the omen and even if one meets a snake, as one surely will, it will not bite one."

If only I had known ... I could have taken immediate action... now, it appears I will have to wait and see what happens.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Snakes and Stones

Ok, so yesterday I went on a shopping spree and bought some really cool rocks. One of which was an awesome chunk of Celestite.

celestite


So, here's the scoop on Celestite:

Celestite, a beautiful translucent royal blue crystal, is highly prized by energy workers, crystal healers and meditators. Metaphysical rockhounds say that celestite helps synchronize the egoistic mind with higher aspects of your Divine Nature. Celestite is said to promote mental balance -- a peaceful, tranquil mental state. Celestite is said to facilitate clairaudient communication with the angelic realms and with your Spiritual Guides and Teachers.

Celestite can elevate the energy within its environment. According to: "Love is in the Earth: A Kaleidoscope of Crystals", "blue celestite seems to cleanse the area of affectation, transmuting pain and chaos into light and love."

Celestite is good for mental activities. Celestite can synchronize the egoistic mind with higher aspects of your Divine Nature, promoting mental balance and helping you to achieve a peaceful, tranquil mental state. This blue crystal always imparts a feeling of well being. It can help in cultivating a more intense spiritual practice, and can be a powerful tool supporting the diligent work involved in attaining the highest spiritual goals.

Celestite has "stories to tell". It can provide for access to, and transfer of, information from the purity of the angelic realms. It assists in clairaudient endeavors, affording lucid, distinct, and articulate verbalization of the messages received. It also contains an innate wisdom which is accessible to the user... It is a stone for astral travel... it is a bright hope in days of despair...inhabited by the fairy of good fortune..


I thought all that sounded really good, especially since the stone I picked up was feeling so good in my hand that it was not possible for me to put it back on the shelf! So, last night I decided that I would sleep with the celestite in my hand and have cool dreams, maybe even attain some high spiritual goals, do some astral travel, visit with the fairy of good fortune, etc... etc...

And I did sleep deeply and well, and I did have dreams... but not the sort of dreams I expected. I dreamed about SNAKES! And these were not very nice ones either. I woke up this morning on the heels of a vivid nightmare about being attacked by snakes, small venemous pit vipers, larger poisonous morphing snakes, and a wide assortment of really big boa constrictors and pythons... Ok, so the boa constrictors and pythons weren't actually attacking me... but they were waiting to... so I wonder what's up with that?

The only happy part of the dream was that they hadn't killed me yet, I wasn't feeling the effects of the poison... even though I had bites all over my arms and feet... I kept wondering why I hadn't died yet, and it occured to me that there must be some anti-venom close by and that maybe it would soon to be made available to me...


So that's life in shirleyland today...
How about you?
What's life in your land like today?

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Awww.... This is really sweet!

This is a video of a homeless man in Santa Barbara and his pets. They work State Street every week for donations. The animals are pretty well fed and seem to be happy. They are a family. The man who owns them rigged a harness up for his cat so she wouldn't have to walk so much (like the dog and himself). At some juncture the mouse came along, and since no one wanted to eat anyone else, the mouse started riding with the cat and often, on the cat. The dog will stand all day and let you talk to him and admire him for a few chin scratches.

Thank God For This!

After that last post, I was starting to worry, I was even thinking of getting out the aluminum foil. Thankfully, I now realize there is no need to panic!

There's a 16% Chance You've Been Abducted By Aliens

There's virtually no chance you've been abducted by aliens.
But there's always hope for the future!

I'm with stupid!


People... you gotta love them.
Especially when they make you feel smart and sane in comparison!

Looking for cheap rent?

Thinking about running away from home? Planning to do something totally different with your life? Contemplating the Big Apple? New York City? Not sure how you would be able to afford it?
Here ya go! This was found on Craig's list:

$1 Room for ONE DOLLAR in bright, clean apartment (West Village NY)

I am looking for someone to rent a spare bedroom in my spacious 2 br apartment. The rent is only $1 per month. While this may seem a glorious opportunity to live in the desirable West Village and still have enough money to pay off your gambling debts, you must read carefully, as this situation is not suitable for all.

First, you must call me Pierre on Tuesdays, unless that Tuesday falls on an even-numbered date, in which case you must call me Pip. If the Tuesday is both even-numbered and a holiday, you must also paint me a watercolor of a woodland scene, replete with songbirds and a cute deer peeking out from the dense brush.

Second, you must join me for nightly sing-alongs during which you will accompany on acoustic guitar while wearing a macrame vest and a Guatemalan hat, both of which you must supply yourself. Currently on the playlist: Angie by the Rolling Stones in the key of F-sharp. After six months, we may add a second song to the list. You may not riff, yodel, or otherwise embellish the vocal line in any way. You may NOT simultaneously play the harmonica or knock on the guitar for percussive effect. Light refreshments will be served, at your expense.

You must feed my parakeets daily. Since I do not own any parakeets, you must obtain several in order that you may feed them. They enjoy sunflower seeds and pine nuts in the exact ratio of 2 to 1 (by nut count, not weight). One parakeet must be named Yellowy and have yellow or yellow-tinged plumage. Hi, Yellowy! Yellowy must already be named Yellowy; you may NOT simply purchase a parakeet and start calling it by that name. And don't think I won't know the difference.

Moreover, you must read all the ingredients in my foodstuffs to me daily, for all victuals in my kitchen, even for foods I do not plan to eat that day. If you have amusing anectodes about any particular ingredient, you may share them, as long as they do not exceed 500 words.

Every night, if there are at least three (3) stars visible in the sky (NOT counting any visible planets), you must prepare a mustard plaster and a camphor poultice, which you will then place outside my bedroom door. You will scratch gently at the door to alert me to their presence and then retreat to your chambers. If I open the door and catch sight of you, I will cast you out into the streets and alleys to meet your fate among the wretched of the city.

If you bring guests home, they must provide photo I.D., samples of their blood, urine, and saliva, and a small, green salad. They must eat the salad while I run the analyses on their fluids. The following diseases are permissible: cholera, typhus, and rabies. The following ailments are NOT: plague, rickets, and scurvy. If your guest is found to have scurvy, they may remain in the apartment as long as they have also brought a small piece of silver for me.

You must attend my morning lecture at 7:00 a.m. sharp. This morning's lecture, for example, explored the connection between the parliamentary system of government prevalent in European societies and my cataracts. Sometimes I will have a guest speaker. Last month, Henry Kissinger posited the existence of elves who come out at night and smoke the rest of your pot so when you wake up in the morning you can't believe you don't have any pot left 'cause you coulda sworn you had at least one more joint when you went to bed. He received a standing ovation for his presentation as well as the National Award for Excellence in Lectures.

If you are interested in this living situation, please write an essay detailing your contributions to society. I will be grading you on content as well as style. Spelling counts!

Thank you.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Strange Inner Power!

I found this in the May 1934 issue of Modern Mechanix! Sounds like this guy knows "the secret," don't you think? I think it's worth sending off for. This Yogi Alpha dude certainly looks like he knows what's up!


Here's what the article says:

MAN CAN NOW USE STRANGE INNER POWER

As Revealed by New World Teacher Yogi Alpha, internationally known Psychologist and Philosopher and acclaimed New World Teacher, is bringing Health, Happiness and Financial Success to Thousands by his Startling Revelations that:
it is easier to succeed than it is to fail.

  • hard work will never bring you success. It is far easier to progress and realize your wishes when you don’t use a great deal of conscious effort. —there is an Inner Power within everyone so dynamic and forceful that it can carry you on to complete happiness, health and financial success almost over night.

  • a correct understanding of this Inner Power can bring you a more perfect and beautiful body, and give you an attractive and magnetic personality.

  • all of the great teachers and prophets of the past have consciously or unconsciously used a strange power within themselves to aid them in their wonderful works and so-called miracles.

  • a correct understanding of this mighty power can enable you to duplicate the feats of any great teacher that has ever lived.

  • the world itself, and all of the laws of the universe, depend upon Mind for their existence, and a proper understanding of the laws of Mind will enable any individual to create the things he needs or wishes.

Write for Amazing Free Lecture, “Key to Your Inner Power”

The story of a new and revolutionary teaching which reveals a strange inner power so dynamic and forceful that it can carry man to complete happiness, health and financial success almost overnight is told in a remarkable 5000-word Lecture “Key to Your Inner Power —the Seven Steps to Success”—recently compiled by Yogi Alpha, Internationally known psychologist and philosopher.

He tells of his discovery that all the laws of the universe can be controlled because the laws themselves depend upon the great universal mind for their existence; that every mind is part of this universal mind, and if you learn to use this dynamic energy it can bring complete fulfillment of your most cherished ambitions, WITHOUT PHYSICAL EFFORT.

Yogi Alpha further believes that this power is not limited to a fortunate few, but is latent in every human being, regardless of training, education or environment. This secret Key is so simple to understand and apply that it is amazing no one has found it before.

If you have wondered why many dream of success and happiness, without fulfillment, why they struggle and toil through the deadly monotony of daily grind for the few who seem to get ALL the good things of life, you will receive the answer in “Key to Your Inner Power.” And, if YOU have had visions of wonderful achievement, glimpses of riches you could almost reach, he will show you that these visions are PROOF that they are possible for you to attain; that they are part of your INNER POWER that can be quickly tapped if you are given the KEY.

The author offers for a limited time to send this amazing Lecture FREE of cost or obligation to all sincere readers of Modern Mechanix and Inventions magazine who wish to begin life ANEW. It explains how you may receive this new and revolutionary teaching in the privacy of your own home, and reveals the astounding secret, which mastered, may enable you within the next few months to increase your earning power, attract new friends and make your visions of achievement, health and happiness come true.

Mail the coupon TODAY for your free copy of this unusual Lecture which may unlock the reservoir of vast riches within YOU.

Read What Others Say of New Found Health, Happiness and Success “I now know greater peace of mind, more assurance, greater faith in myself. Through the wisdom and enlightenment of the Lessons, I am envisioning a vista, never before experienced, of security and a sense of power.” F. A. C, Los Angeles.

Am in much better health and mind and throwing off the burden I have been carrying.” Maj. M. B., Los Angeles.

I saw a marvelous change in the fourth day, and I received a job that morning.” C.
B., San Francisco.

More Numbers!

I'm not sure where this came from, but it was sitting in my "drafts" folder, and since I had posted about numerology yesterday, or was it the day before? it seemed appropriate to add this to that mix. Interesting how the interpretation is different, and yet it could be said to "fit" me rather well.

You Are 6: The Loyalist

You have strong relationships and are intensely loyal.
People find you easy to love and care for....  


I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website, Hey It's Me, hosted at shirleytwofeathers.com, and can be found in its entirety here: More Numerology Stuff

Saturday, March 1, 2008

What is freedom?



What is freedom? And is it truly possible?

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