Full Moon High Tide

5 of these birds showed up at a friend's daughter's birthday party today. It was truly awesome!!



One of them let the 7 year old birthday girl walk right up to him!

So, now there is quite a bit of discussion as to exactly what kind of birds they were. I was thinking peregrine falcon at first, but now I'm leaning more toward juvenile red tail hawks in the dark morph.

There were only a few people interacting with the birds:
The birthday girl (walked up to one)
My daughter, Santana (saw 1 of the birds, but didn't interact with it)
My friend (took pictures of them, but the pics didn't turn out)
My friend's husband (tried to feed them, but they didn't want any of the hot dog he left for them)
Me (I took several pictures. They let me get kind of close, but not nearly as close as the little girl)

Oh! There were also 2 hummingbirds flying near the bigger birds.

So...
The birthday girl's mother says her daughter's totem is the woodpecker.
My daughter says her totem is the hawk, in all it's forms.
My friend and her husband don't feel any special affinity to either the falcon or the red tail hawk.
The red tail hawk has been my totem for years now.

The number 5 has always been a number of discord for me.
My friend says 5 is a lucky number for her because of the 5 points of the pentagram.

So, any ideas???

There is another meme going around about posting pictures of your hometown, etc. I'm going to put a pagan twist on it:

Here are the rules:
Go to Google Images, type in each category, then choose one picture from the images shown on the first page. Ready? Here we go:

1) Your totem animal

2) Your present path

3) The faith you were raised in

4) Your favorite element

5) Your astrological sign

6) Your (public) magickal name

7) Your favorite Tarot card

Because I'm sure there are others like me who have limited space left on Flickr.. and a free account here... Just post the URL to the picture.

( Here are mine:Collapse )

I love it when some skeptical scientist takes it upon himself (with a grant from our tax dollars, more than likely) to discover if the old folk remedies are right... and finds out Grandma was right all along! Of course Grandma was right. She probably learned it from her grandma, who learned it from her grandma, on back to the first witch who crushed the first herb in a desperate attempt to heal herself.

So, the scienists have decided, after years of debunking the claim, that chicken soup really will help cure the common cold.

Yay for science. :-)

South Dakota lawmakers mull outlawing abortion

PIERRE, S.D. - Lawmakers here are preparing to vote on a bill that would outlaw nearly all abortions in South Dakota, a measure that could become the most sweeping ban approved by any state in more than a decade, those on both sides of the abortion debate say. ( The full articleCollapse )

Please see the comments section and feel free to add your own comments...

http://www.metagifted.org/topics/m…

Indigo Adult Characteristics

* Are intelligent, though may not have had top grades.

* Are very creative and enjoy making things.

* Always need to know WHY, especially why they are being asked to do something.

* Had disgust and perhaps loathing for much of the required and repetitious work in school.

* Were rebellious in school in that they refused to do homework and rejected authority of teachers, OR seriously wanted to rebel, but didn't DARE, usually due to parental pressure.

* May have experienced early existential depression and feelings of helplessness. These may have ranged from sadness to utter despair. Suicidal feelings while still in high school or younger are not uncommon in the Indigo Adult.

* Have difficulty in service-oriented jobs. Indigos resist authority and caste system of employment.

* Prefer leadership positions or working alone to team positions.

* Have deep empathy for others, yet an intolerance of stupidity.

* May be extremely emotionally sensitive including crying at the drop of a hat (no shielding) Or may be the opposite and show no expression of emotion (full shielding).

* May have trouble with RAGE.

* Have trouble with systems they consider broken or ineffective, ie. political, educational, medical, and legal.

* Alienation from or anger with politics - feeling your voice won't count and/or that the outcome really doesn't mattter.

* Frustration with or rejection of the traditional American dream - 9-5 career, marriage, 2.5 children, house with white picket fence, etc.

* Anger at rights being taken away, fear and/or fury at "Big Brother watching you."

* Have a burning desire to do something to change and improve the world. May be stymied what to do. May have trouble identifying their path.

* Have psychic or spiritual interest appear fairly young - in or before teen years.

* Had few if any Indigo role models. Having had some doesn't mean you're not an indigo, though.

* Have strong intuition.

* Random behavior pattern or mind style - (symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder). May have trouble focusing on assigned tasks, may jump around in conversations.

* Have had psychic experiences, such as premonitions, seeing angels or ghosts, out of body experiences, hearing voices.

* May be electrically sensitive such as watches not working and street lights going out as you move under them, electrical equipment malfunctioning and lights blowing out.

* May have awareness of other dimensions and parallel realities.

* Sexually are very expressive and inventive OR may reject sexuality in boredom or with intention of achieving higher spiritual connection. May explore alternative types of sexuality.

* Seek meaning to their life and understanding about the world May seek this through religion or spirituality, spiritual groups and books, self-help groups and books.

* When they find balance they may become very strong, healthy, happy individuals.


Please note, anyone could have a few of these traits, but Indigo Adults have most or all of these 25 characteristics.

The reality of an adult indigo is not the same reality of the average person walking down the street or shopping in the mall. The indigo sees the thread that binds this world together. Indigos feel the energy fields that surround us all.

Because we are different from the norm, and people are afraid of that which they do not understand, we are treated differently. We were the ones with the cooties in school. We were the ones that were not chosen to play ball on the playground.

Our parents did not understand us and may have treated us differently than our siblings. They understood, on some subconscious level, that we did not really belong to them. We were different than their other children, so we were treated like strangers in our own homes. A lot of us retreated into the world of books. We all learned to read at a very early age, usually before the age of 4.

When we were children, we were awake more, alert more, we understood from birth our place in this time and space. We were intelligent. We were rebellious. We understand that which others can only dimly perceive and we knew this right from the start.

We are the ones that have learned to do extraordinary things like bend time and sweep the clouds. We are the ones that make things happen simply by willing it so. Other people do not, cannot, understand this power of ours, so they treat us with fear and disdain.

As we grew, we understood that we had no roots. We travel, we roam, we grow to love this Earth without being partial to any one place on it, for in reality, the entire earth is our home. Our home is not any one place on this planet, it is the entire planet, and yet at the same time, most of us know where our true home lies.

I am one of the forerunner indigos. I didn't understand until recently that there are others like me. I believe when science is able to catch up to what we knew all along, they will discover that we really are different in the most basic sense of the word. Check the DNA. It is my bet that some of us will have a different, possibly more evolved, DNA than the rest of humanity at large.

Swords represent air, the east, spring. They have to do with action, change, force, movement, trouble, & strife. They deal with the mental level of consciousness. Swords mirror the quality of mind present in your thinking.

CORRESPONDENCES

Ace: Air signs: Libra, Aquarius, Gemini
2: Moon in Libra
3: Saturn in Libra
4: Jupiter in Libra
5: Venus in Aquarius
6: Mercury in Aquarius
7: Sun & Moon in Aquarius
8: Jupiter in Gemini
9: Mars in Gemini
10: Sun in Gemini

Pentacles represent earth, the north, winter. They have to do with material possessions, industry, business, commerce, trade, finances & security. They deal with the external level of consciousness. Pentacles mirror the outer situations of your health, finances, work, & creativity.

CORRESPONDENCES

Ace: Earth signs: Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo
2: Jupiter in Capricorn
3: Mars in Capricorn
4: Sun in Capricorn
5: Mercury in Taurus
6: Moon in Taurus
7: Saturn in Taurus
8: Sun in Virgo
9: Venus in Virgo
10: Mercury in Virgo

Wands represent fire, the south, summer. They have to do with primal energy, growth, the will, inspiration, determination, strength & intelligence. They deal with the spiritual level of consciousness. Wands mirror what is important to you at the core of your being.

CORRESPONDENCES:

ACE: Fire signs of Leo, Aries & Sagittarius
2: Mars in Aries
3: Sun in Aries
4: Venus in Aries
5: Saturn in Leo
6: Jupiter in Leo
7: Mars in Leo
8: Mercury in Sagittarius
9: Sun & Moon in Sagittarius
10: Saturn in Sagittarius

Cups represent water, the west, autumn. They have to do with love, the emotions, feelings, your sensitivity & your family life. They deal wih the emotonal level of consciousness. Cups mirror your spontaneous responses & your habitual reactions to situations.

CORRESPONDENCES:
Ace: Water signs: Pisces, Cancer & Scorpio
2: Venus in Cancer
3: Mercury in Cancer
4: Moon in Cancer
5:Mars in Scorpio
6: Sun in Scorpio
7: Venus in Scorpio
8: Saturn in Pisces
9:Jupiter in Pisces
10: Mars in Pisces

How do you tell if the moon is waxing (getting bigger) or waning (getting smaller)? Look at the moon itself. Cup you hand around it. If it fits in your left palm, it's getting smaller. If it fits in your right palm, it's getting bigger. For most of us, our right hand is stronger, so remember when the moon fits in your right hand, it's getting stronger, or waxing.

Another way to tell is, the waxing moon looks like a "D", while the waning moon looks like a "C".

Because the moon's orbit is oval-shaped, there's a point where the moon comes closest to earth. This is called perigee. When this happens on the Full Moon, then magick is much more powerful!
The point where the moon is farthest from the earth is called apogee. When the apogee occurs on the new moon, the most powerful banishing rituals can happen.

I was at a secret museum a while back. The exhibits were exquisite, but the one exhibit that stuck in my mind was the clothespin. Something as simple and utilitarian as a clothespin was made beautiful and exceptional by the material of it's making. No fancy carving, no special effects, just a simple clothespin made of jade.

It made me think. We are all made of jade. What appears to be a mundane, ordinary life can be something exquisite if we let it. Our lives can be made of jade if we only let the precious material show through. We can transform our daily lives into a beautiful work of art simply by allowing our inner jadeness to show through.

What is it about you that is special? What about you is different? This uniqueness is what makes you jade. Take your inner jade and let it shine forth in a life made magickal by it's very essence.

Just for today, I am Jade. I am beautiful. Just for today, I will allow myself to be the unique and special person that I am. Just for today, I will be magickal and I will be Jade.

Ah, Arianrhod, Goddess of the Silver Wheel, why do we not hear your name anymore? Have you withdrawn to your Caer, forgotten and alone, while women turn to more celebrated Goddesses? To whom do women cry when the birth pains are upon them? Who do lovers see when they gaze upwards to the great northern stars? Children laugh and ride your ferris wheel, but where are the mothers to teach them the true significance of the Fairy Wheel? And, when the Wheel turns and it’s time to set our feet upon the spiral path that leads home to you, where are your priestesses to guide us?


My Lady, I have not forgotten. Since birth, your mark has been upon me in your medieval name of Katherine. I see your golden-haired beauty in the mirror of my life. I, also, have pretended to be a chaste child in the light of day, while pursuing other , darker pleasures in the blackness of night. I, too, have felt your pain when my brother raped me and the fetus was torn from my body by the cruel and uncaring hands of a male medical magician. I felt your fury when I was tricked into signing away the rights to my own son of the waves, and he crawled away and disappeared.


But, I have also felt your joy when a young lover pointed out a star in your Corona Borealis and whispered, “That star is yours!” I have experienced the pride of your maidens in the birth of my daughters. And, I too have turned the ferris wheel with my own hands.


Arianrhod, daughter of Beli and Don, I have succumbed to the deadly lure of my own belladonna. You, the Goddess of birth, initiation and reincarnation, were there to rebirth me in that Intensive Care room of so long ago. It was you who initiated me into your priestess-hood with your own hands.


Mother of Dylan and mother-in-law to the Lady of the Lake, you were there at the birth of your granddaughter, Nimue. And, as I gaze into the eyes of my own granddaughter, I bless her with the wish that she will find her own Merlin to love, just as Nimue did.


No, Arianrhod, my Lady, never believe you are forgotten. I re-member you with every breath of my life, and as long as I have a voice to cry with, your name will be upon my lips. I serve you and worship you on my own island high above the cares of civilization. I know the joys of solitude and pleasures of your rites. I see your face in the Full Moon and I feel your presence in the stars. I have lived your life and I will continue to live my life for you. And when I, too, have created more magic than I can contain, it will be your name I call with my last breath.


Copyright 1996 Prairie Stock