Where Did You Get That Pimple? From your Grandmother?

25 Oct 2011 2 Comments

by Eva the Dragon in Healing - Self and the Earth Tags: , , , , ,

Happy Birthday!

My birthday was celebrated in great style.  Greetings from my family and friends, a massage, facial, presents, cake, flower bouquets and Dom Perignon.  But to ensure that it was not 100% perfect, a tremendous pimple popped up in the middle of my cheek.

At dinner last night when we were discussing the twin’s birthday, Mark my son, turned to me and asked “What are you getting me, a facial and a pimple?”

I was happy to see him in a good mood.  Since the twins birth, Mark is easily upset compared to Ace who is like Teflon.  Mark’s general grumpiness made me tell Mojo when he was two years old, “There is something wrong with him.  I don’t know why he is so upset.   Perhaps he needs to see a psychiatrist.”

I thought the twins would be great birthday presents.   But they missed sharing my birthday by 2 hours and 20 minutes.

The last month of my pregnancy, I was on labor prevention drugs so I had some control when I went into labor. On October 24th I was at 37 and a half weeks and I decided to stop taking the medication in the morning.  By 7pm the contractions were strong enough to send me to the hospital.  And there I waited and waited.  I was disappointed when the clock hit midnight.  Obviously my sons were not meant to be born October 24th.

Instead they shared their October 25 birthday with my grandmother Naomi.  Naomi died relatively young of a brain tumor which I believed stemmed from a deep hurt.  I loved Naomi but I would not want my sons to harbor her deep resentment.

Years later while reading through the family genealogy chart, I realized the boys also shared their birthday with my great grandfather Oscar.  I found it to be an unusual coincidence.  Oscar died before I was born but he suffered from mental illness, again something I hoped the boys would not share.

Oscar’s wife, my great grandmother, was the daughter of twin sisters.  These twin sisters lived to be in their 90s and remained close all their lives.  Hmmm, a set of twins in the family, another small link to the past.

The twin sisters were fifteen years old when they, their aged mother and 4 brothers migrated from Sweden in 1871.  Two of the brothers, Andrew and John, changed their last name from Samuelson to Lindquist.  Why didn’t they want to be known as Samuel’s son?  No one had an answer.

But I found another coincidence –  Andrew Lindquist made it three ancestors who shared the October 25thbirthday.

The Japanese believe if a soul suffered a trauma it develops a pimple.  If a child is unhappy, then the Japanese say he has a pimple on his soul.

Was the October 25th birthday the sign of a pimple?  Was Mark’s unhappiness a trauma or a negative energy passed down through the family?

Over the past two years I sought help from energy healers and I learned Reiki.  Using Reiki, a Japanese healing system, the easiest way to deal with soul pimples is to find where the pain is because that is where the pimple is.  I treated the entire family and kept asking Mark where is your pain?

Of all three children Mark asked for Reiki the most.  And I think today he is a happier child.

He is lighter, less prone to anger.  He has gained confidence and has taken initiative in several areas of his life.  He demonstrates a lot of kindness towards his sister.  I see a change in him.  Is it just maturity?  I can’t say.  But I have learned healing takes time and whether another person is healed has nothing to do with me.  I can only heal myself.

So on my perfect birthday, to get a blemish and then have Mark comment on it seems to me to be a sign.  There must be a pimple on my soul that needs healing.

My birthday present to myself is the gift of knowing the years are passing and deciding it is time to re-energize myself and live more joyfully.  I need to let go of any hidden past within me.  I am a bit unsure what exactly needs healing but if I keep asking myself where is the pain? I am certain I will find out.

Queen Victoria sends Birthday Greetings

24 Oct 2011 4 Comments

by Eva the Dragon in Healing - Self and the Earth, The Most Interesting Roosters - People Tags: , , , ,

My Birthday Card from Queen Victoria

Next to my coffee cup this morning was a card from Queen Victoria wishing me a very happy birthday.

Queen Victoria runs the castle for me and makes sure the food is on the table.  I have never been very domestic and if it wasn’t for her, we would live on peanut butter sandwiches.

She wasn’t always known as Queen Victoria.  When she came to work for us I told Susan her name was Maria Victoria and since my kids go to a British school I added, “You know – like Queen Victoria.”

“Hello Queen Victoria.  I’m Susan,” said Susan.  And from that moment the tone was set.

Queen Victoria calls Susan “Princess” and Susan secretly tells me “I’d rather be called rock star.”

Queen Victoria is one of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of mothers who leave their children to find paid work overseas.  Like her namesake, she is a widow.  She supports her four children who are making their way through school.

On the one hand I think she’s lucky to be a widow because when she sends money home it is going towards her children.  All the other women who have worked for me have sent their hard earned money back to their country.  When they returned home, the house was empty, the money was completely spent on drink and other woman and their mothers were taking care of the children.  Penniless, again they leave to work far away from their families in a country where they don’t speak the language and have few, if any, rights.

Queen Victoria, the Empress of India, also felt “sick at heart” to see her 17 year old daughter leave England for Germany to marry Prince Friedrich Wilhelm.  “It really makes me shudder”, she wrote to Princess Victoria “when I look round to all your sweet, happy, unconscious sisters, and think I must give them up too – one by one.”

The word Courage conjures up images of soldiers fighting in battle.  But whether villagers or royalty, throughout history women have had the Courage to leave everything they know to go live under the roof of a man whose control over their lives is extensive.  And every day, even today, women around the world do this.   Yet their courage is hardly written about.

So receiving these birthday blessings from my Queen Victoria makes me pause.

I wrote about the Graeaes for the first time in Preparing Ourselves for Perseus’ Visit.  And two days later I am given this card.  The picture alludes to the original description of the Graeae.  As members of the Phorcys family they were marine divinities, emerging as the white foam seen on the waves of the sea.

Perhaps Queen Victoria is a messenger for the Graeae who are telling me women don’t need to wait until God or someone else gives us wings to fly.  All the courage we need is already within us.

And if I am ever afraid to follow my dreams all I have to do is glance across the kitchen at Queen Victoria who sings as she cuts vegetables.

Sedusa At Sheik Mohammed’s Camel Farm

23 Oct 2011 Leave a comment

by Eva the Dragon in Island Tales - Expatriate Living, When Dragons and Rabbits Make Me Laugh - Humor Tags: , , , ,

Sheik Mohammed's Camel Farm In Janaibiyah

It’s nice when visitors come to town because we take in the local sites.  Inevitably it means more pictures of camels.

Sheik Mohammed was the King’s late Uncle.  Sheik Mohammed maintained the only herd of camels left on the island.  Construction continues as the camels are multiplying.

Famous Medusa Camel

The famous Medusa camel is known to turn adolescent boys into stone.  We did not have a boy with us so did not know whether this was true.

When I visited the farm a few months ago, this guy was one of the camel keepers.

His shirt says "I am still a virgin. Please give me a chance."

My friend and I wondered whether his advertising brought him any success.

A couple weeks later we read a story in our local paper about a man working at the camel farm being arrested for having sex with a pregnant camel and causing her to abort.  The eyewitness claimed it was true and the man was thrown in jail.

When I visited last week I didn’t see the man in the pink shirt.  We think the camels must have been turning him to stone.  Per the manager, there is a camel who is now known as Sedusa.

Only the French have Dolls Like These

22 Oct 2011 3 Comments

by Eva the Dragon in Island Tales - Expatriate Living, The Most Interesting Roosters - People Tags: , , , , , ,

Arabian Princess from Tiny Us

How do I manage to find myself in a yoga class with a whole team of lithe French women?  And to top it off they are all interesting.

One of the most darling is Virginie Dreyer – equestrian, business owner, artist and yoga enthusiast – who has come up with a business model for the 21st century.

Virginie

Virginie is the mind behind Tiny-Us, a paper doll company.

Paper Dolls? that is so 18th century.   Not the way Virginie is doing it.

First her Arabian and Japanese princesses, Cowboys and adorable animals are special.  They can be ordered as cards, invitations or prints.  And she will personalize them for you no matter where you are in the world.

It is so easy because you order, pay and download everything online.

How is this a new business model?  You pay however much you want.  All the proceeds go to her favorite charity – a school for young handicapped people in France.

Presence in La Seyne sur Mer

Virginie is a social entrepreneur; someone who makes money so they can put it towards a social or environmental good.  She uses the internet to make connections, builds a following with her blog, provides quality products then puts the profits towards the school.  The school not only gains funds but their profile is raised as people read about Virginie.

I wanted to write about her before October passed.  She has a series of very cute Halloween cards.

And she has a fabulous blog with lots of modern photography.  Enjoy!

Preparing Ourselves for Perseus’ Visit

21 Oct 2011 Leave a comment

by Eva the Dragon in Healing - Self and the Earth Tags: , , , , , , ,

Reimagined Graeae 1995 Unknown Artist

There once were three old women, who were blind to the gray world about them, save that they shared a single eye between them through which to see the world.

In order to see, each blind crone would take turns looking through the shared eye.  They spent their days passing the eye from woman to woman. As each took her turn she would describe the world she saw in living color to the other two.  It was as if each could see clearly through the seer’s eye. 

It never occurred to any one of the three to keep the eye for herself.  The world was full of possibilities for each of the women because of the collective vision and perspectives they shared.  

Poem from Images of Liberating Action: Opening a Collective Eye, Susan M. Maloney, 1995

Reviewing my IHCC days for the Anita Caspary piece I came across this drawing and poem in my files.

Part of the point in studying feminist spirituality is for women to learn to take God back in their hearts not as the authoritative father or his benevolent son but as the Mother/ Goddess/ Creator.  This means reexamining all the stories, rituals, symbols and prayers we used and asking ourselves does this include me and my experience as a woman.

Take for instance the story of Perseus who killed Medusa.  My sons, Ace and Mark, LOVE LOVE LOVE Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series.  I am very pleased because reading his books they have learned all about the Greek Gods and can tell their teachers who each one was and what they did.  Of course we recently watched the “Clash of the Titans” with Sam Worthington.  I enjoyed the movie as much as they did.

In this 2010 remake, Perseus has to find the Stygian Witches to ask them how to kill the Kraken coming to annihilate humanity.  The Stygian Witches were grey, frightening old crones who shared one eye between them.  After learning he needed to kill Medusa (the witches’ sister by the way) Perseus harassed the old women by tossing their eye out of their reach and making them scramble on hands and knees to find it.

In Greek and Roman mythology, the Stygian Witches were also called the Graeae who shared a single eye and a single tooth.  The Graeae were a primitive concept of the Triple Goddess “who was three in one and one in three”.  Throughout the pre-Christian world, you find Triple Goddess in her hundreds of forms as Creator/Preserver/Destroyer, Virgin/Mother/Crone, Past/Present/Future or Sun/Moon/Star.   The Graeae manifestation of the Triple Goddess was passed down through the play Phorcydes by Aeschylus, part of the dramatist’s trilogy on the life of Perseus.   In the early 7BC versions, the Graeae were young, beautiful and shaped like swans.  By 2010 they have become groveling sorceresses.

This poem is asking us, women, to re-imagine the Graeae, the Triple Goddess within us.  As we are now wiser, older, our hair has become grey but so has Greece and Rome.  And from where I stand the sky has also turned grey, filled with the pollution of man, the Kraken of our time.

Just like Rick Riordan who took an ancient play and 8 millennium later got it placed back on the bestsellers list, we can reframe the old stories.  The poem is asking us to work together, to share the seer’s eye that sees the possibilities, the future, and by describing our vision in living color, bring it to life.  Not for us but for our children, the next generation of Perseuses  who will eventually come to us and ask us how to annihilate the remade Kraken.

Visionaries Anita Caspary and Steve Jobs’ deaths on Oct 5, 2011

20 Oct 2011 4 Comments

by Eva the Dragon in Food for the Mind - Books, The Most Interesting Roosters - People Tags: , , , , , ,

Technology Visionary Apple CEO Steve Jobs died Oct. 5th if you didn’t happen to catch the news.   On the same day Spiritual Visionary Anita M. Caspary passed away.  Forty years ago she was called Mother Humiliata by 400 nuns.

Anita M Caspary AKA Mother Humiliata. “I found peace and happiness in the convent.”

In 1995 I took a graduate class called an “Introduction to Feminist Spirituality”.  By far, I was the youngest student around that square table.  I listened as six grey haired women explained to me how spirituality meant more than participating in a religion, being religious or praying.  They described how Spirituality included a person’s whole experience including the body and the emotions which traditional theology tended to denigrate.  These women were versed in the “feminist praxis (putting a theory into practice) cycle of experience, analysis and reflection.”

I was amazed at how educated, articulate and passionate they were.  They did not shout at one another and everyone had a quiet, calm strength.   I kept asking myself,  who are these women?  I had never met anyone like them.  After numerous references to Jesus, I suddenly had to ask,

“Are you all nuns?”

“Yes,” said five of them, including our instructor, Dr. Susan Maloney.

“I’m sorry but why aren’t you wearing habits?” I asked coming from Protestant side of the divide. They all laughed at me.  “How was I supposed to know you were nuns?”  And they laughed harder.

“You need to get updated,” one former Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) told me.

Sister Susan SNJM (Sister of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary) told me the story of how 315 rebellious brides of Jesus broke centuries of tradition, docility and obedience in the hills of Hollywood.  Unlike the 1968 bra-burning myth, in 1970 when these nuns threw off their habits, it was real news.

Time Feb 23 1970 featuring Anita Caspary IHM and James Shannon

The IHMs were a teaching order who worked in the well established Los Angeles archdiocese schools.  Educated woman they believed Pope Paul VI’s Second Vatican Council’s Perfectae Caritatis (1965) empowered and authorized them to take the necessary steps to adapt, renew and change the character of the Church in the modern world.  While the Vatican recognized the church needed to change from being an Institution to a community of believers and to move from a tradition of power over others to service in order to stay relevant, the Los Angeles cardinal archbishop did not.  His Eminence James Francis McIntyre wanted to retain his title over passive, obedient women and could not tolerate the idea of leading a community of mature adult Christians.

After five years of visioning a future, archdiocese visitations, Vatican inquiries, international meetings, a Carl Roger’s encounter group and of course prayer, 400 sisters had to make a choice between living under Sister Eileen MacDonald’s pre-renewal rule or in a new community led by Mother General Anita M. Caspary and live under the 1967 decrees.   The result cannot be counted as hundreds of millions of IPODs sold, but on October 1, 1970, 315 women signed a contract surrendering her vows and status within the Catholic Church and demonstrated her commitment to the newly visioned Immaculate Heart Community.

The table where I sat at the Immaculate Heart College Center, was their legacy, a graduate program unique in all the world, called Feminist Spirituality.

Today I regret not spending more time when I was at IHCC with Anita Caspary, whose soft tissue paper skin and fluffy grey hair reminded me of my grandmother.  She could have been my grandmother born in an age where women were not expected to be fighters.  Like other unexpected revolutionaries, they courageously changed with the times.    If Steve Jobs was a child of the 60s, then Anita Caspary was a Mother of the 60s.

“In a way that re-imagined business itself,” Jobs was described as merging his “innate understanding of technology with an almost supernatural sense of what customers would respond to. “

In a way that re-imagined religious life itself, Caspary merged her innate understanding of the worth of religious women with an enlightened view of the principle of aggiornamento, or updating, that gave millions of women and men the courage to become mature, spiritual beings.

The waves continue to ripple after both these single pebbles were dropped into the river of life.  May they both Rest in Peace.

Anita Caspary wrote a first hand account of her experience.  You can read about the IHCs in Witness to Ingrity.

Transforming 1 Ton of Plastic into a Wheelchair

18 Oct 2011 4 Comments

by Eva the Dragon in Healing - Self and the Earth, Island Tales - Expatriate Living Tags: , , , , , ,

Alaia's collected 2,444 plastic bottles in one week.

Yeah to Alaia and her schoolmates for attempting to collect 10 tonnes of plastic bottles to buy ten wheelchairs.  The 120 students turned in over 20,196 plastic bottles to the recycler.

But – my heart was broken by the piles of plastic bottles around her.

Alaia alone collected 2,444 water bottles in one week.  If this is a fraction of the bottles generated weekly in this country of 1.2 million, then how many water bottles are opened and tossed out daily worldwide?

As a comparison, once I supplied bottles of water for the 20 students in our Reiki class.  At the end of the day, 16 bottles from the case of 24 were opened, sipped from and left nearly full as trash under the chairs.  This was a group of adult healers working to raise their consciousness.

I remember listening to a NPR interview with Dr. Jeffrey Meikle.  He had written a book celebrating plastics on its 100th anniversary.  Dr. Meikle rhapsodized over the thousands of plastic innovations.  When Norris, the interviewer, pressed him about the environmental concerns, Dr. Meikle pulled out the patriot card saying plastics were democratic because it allowed millions of people to buy cheap things they could not normally afford.   Norris pressed him again.

NORRIS:  But Professor Meikle, there’s no denying that tons and tons of these products remain in landfills all over the world.

Dr. MEIKLE:  That’s right. And they will remain there, basically, forever. I suppose that it’s very similar to what you do with nuclear waste. What do you do with plastics? We are creating things that we will never be able to get rid of. And I suspect that that is the major problem with plastics.

The flaw in his comparing nuclear waste and plastic is that millions of people don’t have access to cheap nuclear energy like they do to cheap plastic consumer products.  Secondly because plastics are so cheap, we simply discard them when we are done and buy another.

Every year it takes a day to repack all of my Christmas ornaments.  My Filipino helper asked me, “Why don’t you just buy new decorations?  In my country, we throw out our tree and decorations and buy new ones the next year.”  I was shocked because this was coming from someone who, relative to us, made very little money.  Her point was these things are so cheap why save them?

Each of us must take responsibility for our plastic bottle usage.

1)      Bring your own re-useable bottles.

2)      Return to the old practice of filling IGLOOs with ice and water and supplying paper cups at parties, meetings and sporting events.

3)      When you buy think QUALITY, not quantity.

My mother used to tell me it was better to save your money to buy something of quality.  You might have fewer things, but the things you have will last longer and you will appreciate them more because you had to wait for them.

Each of us needs to reduce our plastic usage so Alaia has to figure out a different way to buy a wheelchair.

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