Wow ... I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it's just as hard in 2012 as it was last year making time to slow down and smell the daffodils, the mongolias. Once again, I'm determined to do so!
However, this is transition time, so down time is rare. Successfully moved out of the beautiful space that housed my production and my office the last year. It took all last week, but it's done. Now there're boxes in my garage instead of my car. I've partially moved into my new Healing space on Church Street in Burlington, Vermont, which is very exciting, and a whole new feel. Wow. It's going to take a few days to rearrange my brain and my energy bodies to accomodate the changes.
In between moving last week, I also created time to prepare for my table at the Earth Spirit Conference, which was this past Saturday (4/14). I wanted to have a flyer for my healing practice, but I didn't have a logo. I thought about perhaps tweaking my Cosma Creations logo, because I like it so much:
But I couldn't figure out how to do that. I didn't have extra time to create something new. After pondering for a few minutes, I got inspired to look in my art journal I've been creating this year. There are some really fun drawings in there and one element of one I did caught my eye.
It really resonated with my intention for this new phase of things. The colors are my favorites: sky blue, darker green and lighter green, and a dash of violet. Awesome. So there it was, and already mine. It also resonated with the name of my practice, which some goddess girlfriends helped me come up with: Marna's Healing Arts~Lifetimes of Wisdom.
So I was able to get a little mini flyer done for the conference. I picked them up at Kinko's Friday night after listening to Matt Townsend and Jeremy Hammond play at Radio Bean in Burlington. An awesome experience that was!
https://www.reverbnation.com/matttownsend The conference was fantastic.
http://www.earthspiritconferences.com/ My friends Cameron and Glenn Broughton have been putting on these conferences for years now, and it's one of my favorite events. We heard from crop circle researcher Karen Alexander via Skype from the UK. My favorite quote: "Just about the only place Science & Religion meet is in their loathing and denial of the paranormal."
Author Michael Glickman also joined us from the UK in the same fashion. "Crop circles are mirrors in which we can polish our souls." Love that! Michael has written extensively on crop formations. Find him online. He took questions from the audience. I got in line with this one: "If we, in our 3-dimensional bodies, cast a 2-D shadow, could the crop formations be 3-D shadows of 5th-dimensional creations?" He assented his agreement that that was indeed possible. What do you think? Go to temporarytemples.co.uk to see Steve & Karen Alexander's images of the 2011 crop formations in England. Fantastic!
http://www.temporarytemples.co.uk/imagelibrary/On Sunday many from the conference gathered at the Burlington Earth Clock.
http://circlesforpeace.org/ I took my 12-year-old son with me. The whole 20 minutes' ride into Burlington he gave me every reason in his head why I shouldn't make him go with me. I tried explaining that it was up to me as his mom, while he's a child and his life foundation is being built, to ensure him a rich variety of experience to broaden his viewpoint and understanding and world view. He didn't buy it. Nor did he stop complaining.
We get to the beautiful spot on the lakeshore just north of Oakledge park in Burlington where the stones of the Earth Clock stand sentinel on Blanchard Beach. What a marvelous space those stones hold. As Glenn Broughton explained in his homily at All Soul's Interfaith Gathering that night, "The stones aren't the most important thing in a stone circle. The space they hold, is."
I proceeded to unpack my crystal singing bowl, walking around the circle playing it (F or the heart chakra). I noticed my son climb up on one of the big stones, sitting there from his perch observing the 50-odd folks mingling, talking, greeting and hugging. He seemed very happy.
Some 20 minutes later he came to me and whispered discreetly, "Mom, I'm going down to the beach." I smiled my assent and off he went.
Our ceremony, lead by David Brizendine and Jeanette Bacevius, was simple, beautiful, and inspiring. The drumming was fantastic, and got everyone moving. David plays a bass drum like ... well, like no one else.
It was an hour and a half before we closed the circle, and I went to look for my son. I had to laugh when I peeked over the sea wall and there he was, lying on the sand. No, in the sand. He'd covered himself up, over his clothes, from his toes to his neck. He looked so comfortable and happy, languidly dribbling sand out of his fingers, soaking up the sun and sand energies and the energy of the water, waves lapping a few feet away.
I made my way down to him, sat beside him, enjoying the space he had created. "What a great idea," I told him. "You look so comfortable." "I am," he said. After a minute or two, he said, "Are we ready to go?" I said, "Sure, anytime."
He lay there another minute or two, then sat up, slowly brushing off the sand. As he stood he gazed at the water and said, "That was fun." The appreciation in his voice was clear, the contentment he exuded radiant. And I felt validated, insisting that he come with me. I reveled in the fact that he'd enjoyed lying on his back in the sand, just being ... alone with his thoughts, and the elements caressing him. Time out, space out--time to just be.
