Blog Archives

Aphrodite + Day of The Dead + Octopus = What's not to love!

7/26/2011

Let me type that again, "Aphrodite + Day of The Dead + Octopus = What's not to love!"
I know, right?

Thanks to Cherie Pie for this fabulous little gift brought back from her summer trip to Cape Cod!

This was the perfect gift for me in so many ways. She's sort of, "Hello Octo!" She's pink and oceany so she can bring some fun to my Aphrodite Altar. She's an Octopus so she brings my obsession with 8 into play. And she's got the Day of the Dead thing rocking!

Lalita! Lalita! Oh DO be a LALITA!

7/26/2011

I haven’t been posting these as regularly as I’d intended so I guess I’m due!

Today’s Goddess, Lalita.

Lalita is one form of a triple Hindu Goddess, “Tripura Sundari,“ translated to “Beautiful Goddess of the three cities” Lalita is referred to as “she who plays.” Lalita is also a form of Parvati. She is also called, The Red Goddess. Yeah the Hindu pantheon structure can be mighty confusing! There is actually a hymm, “The Thousand Names of Lalita!” It goes on for about an hour!

Lalita is always pictured as a 16 year old girl. Eternally youthful, she creates and destroys through play. She is said to have “The determination of Kali and the charm of Durga.” Lalita is pictured holding a sugar cane bow (the intellect) and 5 arrows (the five senses), a noose (binding attachments) and a goad (cattle prod, representing anger or repulsion). “If we forget her, she binds us and pierces us; if we take refuge in her she frees us from their torment by bringing transcendental awareness and liberating the mind from its attachment to desire.”

“Contemplation: My joy can be seen as a celebration of the goddess and feminine power, and my laughter a sacred song of praise.”

She goes well with the concept of mindfulness. When we don’t pay attention we fall out of balance.

The yantra of Lalita is the Shri Yantra, the physical manifestation of , “Om.”

If you have time you can listen to the thousand names of Lalita here below:

The Shri Yantra

We is creative AND smart!

7/22/2011

When I first posted this on G+ & FB, no one got it and no one really took the initiative to come up with their own ideas so this time here's a little background. This is a test to see how many creative solutions you can come up with for a problem!

My housemate, "Lamp, " was reading the latest book from Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers. One of the "tests" in it was to brainstorm as many uses for a brick and a blanket as possible.

This is what we came up with over coffee at Mama Buzz! Turns out we're sharper than some of the other tools in the drawer!

Think outside the brick, evidently!

(and look for the links)

Brick: Ready made, blanket party (see number 3.), hold a house together, paperweight, shim, weapon, break a window, stepping stone, step, weight for a tarp, bookshelf component, pestle, bookend, vehicle block, back scratcher, pumice stone, press, college hazing party, workout weight, delivery system, prop, base for planter, planter, percussion instrument,criticism tool, message, splint, to block a mouse hole, to build an oven, sander, heat up a bath, stamp, pet ("ch ch ch chia"), sculpture, doorstop, restraint, body disposal (sending to Davy Jones Locker), tool to smash open a coconut, piano modification, counter balance, grappling hook, skate board or roller skate (add wheels),stilt, yoga block, anchor, target, use to open a secret passageway, "you put your weed in there."

Blanket: ready made, bed cover, throw rug, camping mat, tent, to sleep in, toilet paper, sail, blanket party, restraint, parachute, warm toga, cape, ghost costume, burka, dust cover, towel, bindle, fishing net, sunshade, strainer/filter, mop, curtain, room partition, door flap, projector screen, clothing, table cloth, Petri dish, travois, trampoline, to break a fall, a fan, wet, body bag, weapon, sling, palanquin, insulation, to keep warm, kindling, canvas, paintbrush/applicator, rope, noose ,trap, really big kerchief, tourniquet, compress, drum head, really really dangerous lampshade, canopy, target, table cloth, tree skirt, name for your child, basket for pulley, missile cover, signal, in lieu of velvet wallpaper, scroll, yoga mat, cushion, oven mitt, camouflage, toothbrush in a pinch, cat toy, pet bedding, muffler, gag, blindfold, "you can put your weed in there."

Sleepless in te deep green sea!

7/21/2011

Although I apply for jobs which have daytime hours but, I really need afternoon or night work!

It's so frustrating to deal with severe insomnia!

Although, when I can't sleep I do often manage to get up and do some productive things, having severe
insomnia most often precludes me from being able to do things during the day like "normal" people.

It's been so bad lately. I can't sleep til between 4-7 am. When I get exhausted enough, after several nights of this, I fall asleep heavily. No alarm can wake me. When I do wake up it's afternoon and the day is lost. I'm disoriented. I've tossed and turned until my hair is worse than Phyllis Diller's.

Let's face it, I am not like the rest of you. I'm a Moon Mermaid.

Torture Yoga!

7/20/2011

My thoughtful friend, Venus Rose, treated me to a yoga class. The irony is that the class I took was supposed to be relaxing, but for someone with neuropathy in her hands the repetition of "downward dog" for the first half of the class was excruciating.

I opted out after a while, but 3 days later my joints are still really painful.

Later, Lamp and I were musing about America's delusion that yoga is relaxing. It's supposed to be grueling and it's a discipline. The purpose is to prepare you for long hours of sitting in one place and meditating.

Of course there are many different types of yoga, but all those different types have branched off of the original discipline.

I'm not ruling out yoga as a whole, I think I need restorative yoga where I can get modifications.
I need the stretch without the pressure on the joints. Something called Niroga was also recommended to me. It looks worthy of a try or two!

Do I have enough for EVERYBODY?

7/19/2011

I am sooooo far behind on all the things I need to do, but at least I got some needed information and a yummy dinner thanks to V.R. And everybody has their own candles! Starting to wonder if the real reason for only believing in one god is to save on candles!

To blaspheme daily is easy!

7/19/2011

Lately, it's the humor that's a little harder to find.There's an art to finding something funny in even the most unbearable situations. A little blasphemy doesn't hurt either.
Noooooooooooooooooooobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

It's not THAT kind of charge!

7/18/2011

I had a ritual at my place the other night and told my housemates they could put something on the altar if they wanted it charged and one of their friends asked if he could charge his cell phone on the altar. Sigh.

Ok.It was a little funny!

Post Title.

7/18/2011

It's an "8" house so really, I should have it. But they had me at, "Gothic Toilet." Sigh.
Albion Castle in San Francisco. The price just keeps sinking!
Price is reduced to just over a million dollars. What a bargain! Why hasn't someone grabbed this. Might be an interesting spot for rituals, retreats and to rent out for events! Plus, you have the space for a brewery right there!

Mother Goose

7/17/2011

Today’s Goddess is “Mother Goose.”

Yes, of nursery rhyme fame! The origins of the Mother Goose Goddess archetype go back to the ancient Egyptians who believed that “The Great Chatterer” aka “The Nile Goose” laid the golden egg from which the sun god Ra emerged. Look through many ancient goddess pictures and you will see the goose as her symbol or companion! The goose is a solar bird. She announces the dawn. “The tradition of the Christmas goose symbolizes the annual death of the sun at winter solstice."

"The powerful creator goddess is a far cry from the diminished,albeit enduring, character with her whimsical rhymes.”

“There was an old woman who lived under a hill; and if she’s not gone, she lives there still.”
While she may be hidden in a simple nursery rhyme, Goddess can't be watered down. She is ancient and contemporary, powerful and alive!