posted April 21, 2005 08:14 AM         

This is so nice and so very true.
Stop have the speakers on and listen and most of all READ.........

Big Mud Puddles and Sunny Yellow Dandelions

When I look at a patch of dandelions, I see a bunch of weeds that are going to take over my yard.
My kids see flowers for Mom and blowing white fluff you can wish on.

When I look at an old drunk and he smiles at me, I see a smelly, dirty person who probably wants money and I look away.
My kids see someone smiling at them and they smile back.

When I hear music I love, I know I can't carry a tune and don't have much rhythm so I sit self-consciously and listen.
My kids feel the beat and move to it. They sing out the words. If they don't know them, they make up their own.

When I feel wind on my face, I brace myself against it. I feel it messing up my hair and pulling me back when I walk.
My kids close their eyes, spread their arms and fly with it, until they fall to the ground laughing.

When I pray, I say thee and thou and grant me this, give me that.
My kids say, "Hi God! Thanks for my toys and my friends. Please keep the bad dreams away tonight. Sorry, I don't want to go to Heaven yet. I would miss my Mommy and Daddy."

When I see a mud puddle I step around it. I see muddy shoes and dirty carpets.

My kids sit in it. They see dams to build, rivers to cross, and worms to play with.

I wonder if we are given kids to teach or to learn from? No wonder God loves the little children!
Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.

I wish you Big Mud Puddles and Sunny Yellow Dandelions!!!

" Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away"

posted April 21, 2005 02:17 PM         

Lots of dandelion healing!!!

Makes me remember my turtles that I had for 14 years, until my X didn't wash the coal for the filter in the tank and my turtles died.

They were the red ear turtles and I have had a fondness for them all my life. Their so cute.

I found turtles all the time on the road, and my husband and I pick them up and place them in a safer place so they won't get killed by on going traffic. This has helped my heart heal through the years by doing this and I collect many different kinds of turtle objects.

posted April 21, 2005 03:01 PM         

I also do this! ********************************************
I found turtles all the time on the road, and my husband and I pick them up and place them in a safer place so they won't get killed by on going traffic. This has helped my heart heal through the years by doing this and I collect many different kinds of turtle objects.
********************************************* I have a lot of turtles, only one is real. I rescued him from a park one day last summer. He was only the size of a quarter and stuck in the ladder of a slide. I brought him home and have taken care of him all year. I will let him go some day soon, but I reall don't want to. *sigh

posted April 21, 2005 06:06 PM         

Fayte - I too used ot have a iguana ... female , she was beautiful, not a imperfection on her. I had rescued her from a friend who couldnt keep her but was also mis-feeeding her. All he fed her was iceburg lettuce and broccli and well you know - those things are rubbish for them. Comparable to McDonalds.
I wanted to say, your iguana changed to those dark colors not form eating the dandelions but from the the sun and them. See i too used to walk mine outside and let her graze in the grass. [Although one time she snuk outside by herself and the neighbor thought for sure someone had put a lude in his beer cause he was seeing dinosaurs,:laughin: Thank god thats as far as she went, all perched in his garden above all the greens!] if you have ever noticed that their light bulbs also cause the skin to change colors and if they run free in your house their hues will be different as well.

The sun plays a good part in it, but they play the bigger part. There are able to make thier skin change colors. They do it to regulate their temperature. The sun cause their colors to darken. If they become to hot, they are able to brighten their skin in a sense to cool off. Black vs. White. Black absorbs white reflects. same concept with thier skin.

posted April 21, 2005 10:26 PM         

fayte.m and Anyone who has knowledge of dandelions,

I wonder if you know of a website that goes into more detail about the benefits of dandelions with respect to the liver and bowels? This past year, I was blessed with newfound frienships and, this has come as extremely, uplifting information, as one of these new friends has recently been made aware of the active ingredient in the perscription meds that her 8 year old has had to ingest, daily, since she was 3. In fact, these revelations came yesterday, following the yearly check that this beautiful little girl endures. Any information, would add to an, already greatful extension of Thanks to Solane Star, for starting such a wonderful thread!

I love dandelions too, never did understand how one could not. They are always a welcome sight in my yard and, I, also, have yet to win any popularity votes...

posted April 22, 2005 01:33 PM         

Illustration from Healing Wise
by Durga Bernhard

In the beginning, according to the Wise Woman tradition, everything began, as everything does, at birth. The Great Mother of All gave birth and the earth appeared out of the void. Then the Great Mother of All gave birth again, and again, and again, and people, and animals, and plants appeared on the earth. They were all very hungry. "What shall we eat?" they asked the Great Mother. "Now you eat me," she said, smiling. Soon there were a very great many lives, but the Great Mother of All was enjoying creating and giving birth so much that she didn't want to stop. "Ah," she said smiling, "now I eat you." And so she still does.

We all come from the same mother. She is the wise woman. We all return to her embrace, her bloody-rich womb place, when we die. Every woman is a whole/holy form of her, able to be whole/holy mother of all life, able to be whole/holy destroyer of life. Her power is her blood that flows and flows, her blood which is life and gives life. Every woman's menstrual blood and birth-time blood is a holy mystery.

What are the blood mysteries? Why are they central to the understanding of the Wise Woman tradition.

Blood mysteries teach that menstrual blood and birthing blood are holy blood, power blood, healing blood. The blood mysteries teach us to remember that life and healing come from and return to woman, to the wise woman, to the woman who bleeds and bleeds. And does not die.

Blood mysteries reveal that menstrual (moontime) blood and birth blood are so holy, so full of potential, so full of the void, that they are to be used only to heal, to heal by nourishing. Holy woman-blood is nourishing blood, blood of love, blood of abundance, blood that heals the earth.

Blood mysteries recall the immense power of the bleeding woman. Power enough to share in great nourishing give-away from mother to matrix, give-away of nourisher to nourisher. When we bleed into the ground (in reality or fantasy) our power regrounds as our blood flows through the personal root chakra and into the earth.

Bleeding into the ground, bleeding freely, we know ourselves as women, as nourishers of life, as givers of nourishment to the plants, givers of holy nourishment: our moontime blood.

I am woman giving away nourishment to ensure this planet's life. With my moontime power, my blood, with my birthing power, my blood, I feed the earth who feeds us all. Every month I remember: I am woman. I am earth. I am life. I am nourishment. I am change.

I am woman, blatantly and repeatedly confronted with my changes: hormonal harmonics stirring moon time visions, ovulatory oracles, pre-menstrual crazies, orgasmic knowings, birth ecstasies, breast-feeding bliss, menopausal moods.

I am wholeness. I am woman. I know life, death, pain, and health in my marrow, in my womb. I know the bloody places: the narrow space between life and death, the bloody place of birth, the bloody mess of nourishing life, the bloody flow of letting life go. I am woman. My blood is power. Peaceful power. Peaceful blood.

My blood is holy nourishment. My blood nourishes the growing fetus. My blood becomes milk to nourish the young child. My blood flows into the ground as holy nourishment for the Great Mother, Gaia, Mother Earth.

Gaia, whose ways are bloody. Woman, whose ways are bloody. Blood of nourishment. But bloody. Bloody menstrual blood, bloody birth blood. Blood of peace, nourishing blood. Blood of health/wholeness/holiness, not of sacrifice. The Wise Woman tradition is a bloody-handed woman, a bloody-thighed woman, a woman who gives birth, a woman who sees to the other side of things.

Health/wholeness/holiness is always changing. Life is mysterious, moving in spirals of change. Spirals moving to, through, from the void. Change making the hole so we can see the holy healthy gift of our wholeness.

"Sit, sister, here on the soft green moss, and give your sacred moon blood to the earth, back again to the spiral of life. Let flow your womb's blood red to the green and brown of earth. Sit here. Relax and close your eyes and let the visions come. Rest now and give your moon blood to nourish the mother who nourishes us. Relax and let the visions come."

The time of menstrual bleeding, according to the Wise Woman tradition, is a time of visions. Any woman who pays attention to these visions will find the power of shamans, witch doctors, medicine wo/men.

"Add a bit of red leaf to your herbal mixtures, any red leaf except poison ivy. That will make the medicine strong," says a friend, apprentice to a Native American shaman. And the wise woman inside me whispers: "They do this to evoke the power of menstrual blood."

These are the natural powers of menstruating, menopausal, and post-menopausal women:

* Oneness with the earth as a responsive nurturing presence
* Communication with plants, animals, rocks
* Weather making
* Shape shifting
* Invisibility
* Communication with fairies, devas, elves, dragons, unicorns
* Foreknowledge
* Acutely sensitive senses of smell, taste, hearing, sight, touch
* Healing

The Wise Woman tradition understands healing/wholing as blood mysteries. The blood of birth and death, and the blood of nourishment, these are the natural knowledge of women, these are the things that make us wise.

posted April 22, 2005 01:43 PM         

Hope those things always keep the child alive in me ... and everyone I know!

posted April 22, 2005 02:29 PM         

A great deal of mythology exists in regard to the turtle. In the Far East, the shell was a symbol of heaven, and the square underside was a symbol of earth. The turtle was an animal whose magic could help you unite heaven and earth within your own life. A symbol of the turtle was an invitation for the blessings of both heaven and earth.

The turtle is a shore creature, using the land and the water. All shore areas are associated with doorways to the Faerie Realm. The turtle is sometimes known as the keeper to the doors. turtles thus were often seen as signs of fairy contact and the promise of fairy rewards.

To the Native Americans, it was associated with the lunar cycle, menstruation, and the power of the female energies. The markings and sections on some turtles total thirteen. In the lunar calendar, there are either thirteen full moons or thirteen new moons alternating each year. Many believe this is where the association with the female energies originated. turtle is the symbol of the primal mother.

It does not move fast. It is as if, on some level, turtle knows it has all the time in the world. turtle medicine can teach new perceptions about time and our relationship with it.

turtle totems hold the mystery of awakening the senses - on both physical and spiritual levels. turtle stimulates hearing and clairaudience. It can help with vision and clairvoyance. It heightens the sense of smell and higher discrimination.

If turtle has shown up, you may need to ask yourself some questions. Are you not seeing what you should? Are you not hearing what you should? Are you or those around you not using discrimination?

turtles carry their home on their back. The shell is actually the backbone and ribs of the turtle. It serves as home and shelter for it. Although some believe it impossible, if a turtle is flipped onto its back it can right itself. It uses its strong neck and head to flip itself over. For those with this totem, it is a reminder to use your own head and knowledge to right yourself when your world gets topsy turvy. Sometimes turtles show up as a totem to help us during such times.

When turtle shows up in your life it is usually a reminder to pay attention or you will miss opportunities. To the Native Americans, the turtle was a symbol of Mother Earth and a reminder that she provides for all of our needs. Sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees, and turtle can slow us down to help us see our opportunities.

If turtle has shown up in your life, it is time to get connected to your most primal essence. Go within your shell and come out when your ideas are ready to be expressed. It is time to recognize that there is an abundance out there for you. It doesn't have to be gotten quickly and immediately. Take your time and let the natural flow work for you. Too much, too soon, can upset the balance. turtle reminds us that all we need for all that we do is available to us, if we approach it in the right manner and time.

turtles remind us that the way to heaven is through the earth. In Mother Earth is all that we need. She will care for us, protect us, and nurture us, as long as we do the same for her. For that to happen, we must slow down and heighten our sensibilities. We must see the connection to all things. Just as the turtle cannot separate itself from its shell, neither can we separate ourselves from what we do to the Earth.

My grateful thanks as well to Cyberwitch, whose excellent website provided me the details you just read.