Witch Tribe, Spirit Tribe, Tribe of Love and Light

I am still very much a child on this journey of self-love, presence, and clarity....

and yet I feel already that so much growth has happened through these lessons,

so much that the feeling of novelty and revelation that comes with breaking down blockages (opening! lightening!) disappears.... and I find myself re-learning the same lessons without that mystifying emotional release, re-learning the teachings of the father-master, to follow the way the only way the tao.... the surrender to total presence and serenity.

Learning to love the discipline as much as the revelation.

The discipline of purity.

I am growing into my goddess self. Blessed to sink my hands into pachamama soil and sort out roots, soak up her fertility and energy of the terrestrial core. To let spirit shine through me.

And I am growing into my witch self! I perceive the world through a web of symbols (astrology, Mayan calendar, tarot deck, etc.), a subtle veil of magic that reveals (and conceals?) reality. I bless my crystals, roots, and water with the full moon and solstice sun... and then welcome that aligned energy into my being.

***shwhooooooahhhh haha hey-ah hey***

Lelz once commented to me that he's glad I haven't joined a cult (yet). And yet I most certainly have. Reading Ram Dass today, he talks about his time at Harvard when he, Timothy Leary, and a few other adventurers started experimenting with psychedelics and through these experiences grew estranged from the rest of the faculty, grew into a mini-cult that supported its members in heightened awareness. He embraces this word, cult, as simply a group of people with a set of shared beliefs.

The word on our tongues these days is "tribe." I remember I first encountered the word in this context when Eliot was working on his psytrance thesis last year, and both of us felt its use was like cultural appropriation, westerners taking what does not belong to them and claiming it as their own. Because traditionally, what is a tribe? A contained group of people with an ancient lineage that live and work together, who share the same culture and beliefs. And what does it mean to take this word and apply it to our contemporary experience of a post (post) modern globalized world?
I believe it is to breathe new spirit into this word, into our lives and communities. To believe that I am surrounded by family every where I wander. I have so many mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers. To surrender my individuality to a set of shared beliefs and vocabulary.
So I embrace this word and yet am still learning its meaning. Because a tribe finds their unity in their separateness from the rest of humanity who do not share the same beliefs. So what are the limits of my tribe? Of course I recognize those who share beliefs of living close to the earth, of healing, flow, of living guided by the heart rather than by fear. Yet I look at my own birth family, at dear friends from my past phases of life, at Guatemalan natives, and millions of others who do not share many of my beliefs. And it confuses me to say: they are not my tribe. Because I love them and they are sharing in this magical human experience. They are also evolving towards light, in a different way. But the tribe must have limits in order to retain its unity. To remain a tribe.
What are these boundaries? Is it my role to initiate and spread the gospel? How do I live in this world observing the pain of those who are not aligned with the earth and the cosmos? In my observation of this pain am I forgetting respect and lapsing into judgment?
Peaceful ruminations on a summer evening.... questions that remain questions, embracing the space of uncertainty which vitalizes our existence.
Yes.

In the geographic and event-based world, I left No-Yo Gardens yesterday to leap and fall into summertime flow. I am grateful to spend a few days in Cobb Mountain surrounded by tribe, brother healers and musicians in a safe and comfortable sanctuary in the woods. Appreciating the stillness before the rainbow dancing whirlwind of festival-land ahead! 

Om Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu. May all beings everywhere be happy.

Embarking upon the white dog wavespell: loyalty, trust, and purity

Yes!
The sun is back- we are entering a powerful portal between yesterday's full moon lunar eclipse and Tuesday's solstice.

Purity. I feel I am no longer working from a sense of responsibility but from love.

"You work that you may keep peace with the earth and the soul of the earth. For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life's procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite." -kahlil gibran

I am a child of the sunlight, and under its spell I appreciate life. I wander around barefoot from goat teat to pitchfork, making the obligatory stop at the raspberry bushes, smelling the lavender, pulling roots and tucking the cucumbers into their beds of straw. How amazing, to sing songs and feel the energy of pachamama seeping into my being every day!
Yes.
Of course, as present and sweet-smelling life on the farm is right now, I feel that it has become this way because I know I am about to leave. I am full of fire right now, unable to stay in one place for too long, and I light up the most when I can sense the road approaching.
But otherwise....
I have been cooking every morning for the no-yo gardens community, and feel myself recently very drawn towards soup. Mildred, Adam, and I harvested two chickens the other day: cut off their heads with a machete, held them while the last life force left inside them danced around, let the blood drip out of their necks, scalded them in hot then cold water to pluck off all the feathers, then sliced them open and took out their organs. There were eggs all lined up inside the hen--- yolks the consistency of eyeballs with veiny red exteriors. After two years of being vegetarian, I harvested, made, cooked up, and ate fresh chicken soup!

I've also been getting into the wild medicines growing on the land: burdock root, dandelion and yellowdock are all great blood cleansers... and since many of us on the farm are healing (from staph, candida, and other bacteria), I've been harvesting up these wild plants for soups and decoctions. I feel that the reason I got staph was to inspire me to delve deeper into healing... learning what foods and plants are good for me, and sharing that knowledge with those around me. I am still working with the infection, and I thank it for being my teacher along my path as a healer.

Also, I've incorporated massage of hands and feet into my daily yoga/meditation/toning practice. Yay for pressure points and releasing blockages!

May all beings be in tune with their bliss and have the freedom to follow it.

Misty June Awakenings

Jose Arguelles (of Dreamspell) believes that history, the 5 thousand something year span which we are ending in the next year, is the galactic portal between two radiant realms of cyclical (non-linear) time, where all sensual delusions will disappear and we will interact on an energetic level as beings of radiant light.

During the 260 day Mayan calendar, there are certain periods of such galactic portals. We just exited a 10-day portal a few days ago. These times are super activated but also potentially delusional, periods of intense excitement which shield our highest selves but eventually allow us to get to the core of things.

For me personally, it's been a challenging period. I'm smearing manuka honey and garlic on my body to rid myself of a staph infection, and am looking outside the library window at a rainy day in the beginning of June. Fernando, my domestic sponsor and guru in Guatemala, used to tell me that soon all of coastal California will be underwater because of the shifting weather patterns, the rising tides. I feel that as I keep looking forward to sunlight and am greeted with more and more rain. What are we shifting into? What is next for this planet and this species' evolution? Transformation is necessary to move on from this realm of deceit and artifice, but how will this transformation come? What role does the rain play?

The rain does make it easier to tear fava beans out of beds and dig up the soil for our summer gardens: broccoli, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, cabbages. I wake up every morning and squeeze goat teats. What a wonder! Fresh frothing milk pouring out of these sweet animals' udders! I am so close to production. I create my own food, my medicine. And my body feels the pain of work. My body is so thankful for the leafy greens and fresh eggs, but it also craves rest and affection. Periods of work and periods of bliss. Witnessing it all. I feel like I'm working through some karma right now--- addressing the hurt that I have brought upon myself and my body by living most of my life in metropolises without consciousness. I address this karma through mud, sore hands, and karma yoga. Selfless service to a homestead and my body's nutrition.

Feeling myself as an animal. A hunter, a lover, a runner, a dancer. And feeling myself as human-- my patience, my uncertainties, my pride, my consciousness. Riding the waves every day.