In my previous house I had a “moon garden”, It was filled with all white flowers. At night when the moon was out, I sat on my patio and watched the flowers reflect the moon. I always felt so composed and relaxed.

The human body is made of mostly water and so when the moon is out it effects everyone. It brings in the tides, it increases the number of births, and trust me you don’t want to work in an ER, unless you like that chaos. I myself these days love to sit at the beach and watch the moon reflect upon the lake. The sheer beauty of it blows me away. I often wonder if the moon doesn’t possibly have a stronger influence upon us than the sun does. We,human beings often stand or sit gazing up at the moon and it warms our souls. The sun, on the other hand can really injure your eyes if you look too long.

This super moon came much closer to our tiny planet in its orbit than it usually does. I, for one, am glad of her visit and how she interjected herself into our dialog and for a few hours we took our eyes off of the news and politics and lifted our heads to the sky and remembered that we are filled with the same molecules as the moon and stars. We are star dust. I am grateful for the opportunity to be reminded.

The Moon in Your Hands

—-Hilda Doolittle

If you take the moon in your hands

and turn it around

(heave, slightly tarnished platter)

you’re there;

if you pull dry sea-weed from the sand

and turn it round

and wonder at the underside’s bright amber,

your eyes

look out as they did here,

(you don’t remember)

when my soul turned round,

perceiving the other-side of everything,

mullein-lief, dogwood-leaf, moth-wing

and dandelion-seed under the ground.

Many of us think we have no real talents. We don’t compose music like Mozart, or paint like Picasso.  We can’t sing like Caruso or climb mountains or win an Olympic gold medal. Talent can be innate or learned.

But each of us has talents and they are meant to be shared and used to experience our own presence of Divinity. Creativity is the outer expression of our soul. All talents are given by God. So what could our talents possibly be? Some people have talents for healing , business, compassion, to love unconditionally. Some people can do photography or art and some can listen with their souls. Some can comfort a child, hug a friend, dance and act. Everyone has talent within us.  Every kindness or bit of beauty that you put into the world causes a Ripple Effect that will never cease to grow and touch others’ lives.  God is limitless and she uses whatever we put out in the world. I can say from experience, not judging yourself and what you can accomplish is the hard part. Few of us believe we are “good enough” or can “do enough”.  All talent is recognized and beyond reproach.

So, do what you do best and know in the depths of your soul that your talents help to make this a more beautiful, compassionate, exciting world. Take one small step at a time and they will end up carrying you along on your journey.  .

The Suffrage Movement began in the 1890’s and essentially lasted for seventy-two long hard years. Historically, women have been owned, controlled, restricted, opposed, quieted, and had no rights over their property, money or bodies.

Jewish lend says that in Eden God created a woman, Lilith equally with Adam. She was his equal partner. A man and woman to rule over the Garden. Adam protested to God that he didn’t want an equal partner. He asked for a new one and in response God created Eve from his rib not as his equal but to be subservient. Consistently, through history, women have not been equal. but have been regulated to the home, to have babies, to cook, make food and to be the pretty trophy.

In the 1800’s, the Nineteenth Amendment was proposed to give American women the vote. Tennessee was the state holding passage back from a yes vote. But opposition came also from men, and other women who were afraid of losing the special protection they enjoyed as the “weaker sex”.

Thousands of women marched, picketed and protested to gain the right to vote-the Nineteenth Amendment. A young woman Inez Milholland Boissevian died while campaigning and became a martyr to the movement. Her death triggered embarrassing protests for President Wilson and mass arrests ensued. The Media took up the cause of the hundreds of women who had been arrested and were suffering in very horrible prison conditions. They refused to eat and again the media brought it to the public’s attention. The result was the signing of the Nineteenth Amendment.
Their suffering, work, sacrifice got the American woman the right to vote. Thank you to all of them..

The 1970’s arrived and we women who called ourselves feminists began to once again march and protest for more rights. The right to stay home and raise a child or children, the right to earn equal pay for equal work, the right of child care for our children while we worked, and to be protected from Domestic Violence. We had success and I worked hard with thousand of other women for these improvements to our lives.

It is now 2012, and the political rhetoric has gotten louder and the gap between parties has widened. Political games ensue but what I see is a new war. We are now engaged in a War Against Women. There are many who wish to take away our hard gained rights. Many women and men are taking up the battle of women’s rights and are working to save what we have accomplished.

It is never wise to take our rights for granted. They will take them away. So I encourage people to take, speak up, find out what is really happening and to remember the words of Helen Reddy,   “I am Woman, hear me roar”. !!!href=”https://idealisticrebel.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/fighting-womens-rights1.jpg”>

wild violets make a lawn a spring painting

I received a text from an old friend today that made me do my “happy feet dance”.  We have been friends for 32 years.

Our lives have been closely intertwined over the years and we lived together back in the day. We have laughed, danced, cried, hugged, with abandon. Then my husband died and she was there for me in my grief. She even took me to a Rod Stewart concert for therapeutic reasons.  She helped pull me out of the black hole I landed in and never made me feel weak or lost. Then she divorced and my friend was swallowed by a quagmire that came so close to swallowing her that I was terrified. What followed were many 2-hour trips to see her and be there for her. Her journey has taken some really severe twists and turns. We meditated together and talked and cooked and then she followed her heart to Florida. It wasn’t good. We kept in contact. We talked about the perfect order of the Universe; trusting that no matter how badly things are going and look, there is an order if you trust.  Trusting is hard for those of us who have struggled and we were no different. But step after step, slowly you walk along, living on the trust and doing it better some days than others. The important thing is the intention not the struggle. Her journey has branched off again and now she is walking in sunshine and happiness. I am so thrilled to see that the dark forest she passed through is behind her and right now she sees sand and surf. Hanging in there, believing in what you hope for has brought us both to a new and unshadowed place in the road. It isn’t over, this journey, but I think it might be easier for us both the next time we have to walk in twilight and shadows. Here is to the future. 🙂