SITE

Throughout the world, the site where people practiced spirituality has been significant. In the deserts of the Middle East, holy people had visions. In the tropics, sorcerers used spirit possession. In the forests of Europe and Asia, alchemists perfected their arts. In the Himalayas, sages hid themselves away for ascetic practices. Of course, these were not the only places for such arts, but it is more than coincidental that certain practices are tied to the place. If you go to any of these lands, you can still feel the essence that inspired generations.

Thus it is that you should be sensitive to where you situate yourself in the world. Selecting a spiritual site requires subtlety. If you do not know the science of geomancy, it is better to go to a place known to be conducive to what you want to achieve. Then narrow your choice by what you see and feel. If you sense that there is great well-being, that the plants and animals of the area are healthy, that the place is not subject to extremes of weather that would adversely affect your health, then that is the place for you. When you move there, you will be sustained.

No site is forever. If you find that the flow of energy has gone elsewhere or that others begin to ruin an area, then search for a new place of vitality. That is why those who follow Tao seldom have fixed homes. They wanter from site to site so as to constantly remain in the stream of Tao. ----365 Tao, Deng Ming-Dao


** Did I mention, this is the first and last book I read everyday? **


I'm not going to say much about this, other than the fact that here's what I now know:

this whole thing about energy and paths and journeys is real. I am here to tell you it is real. This past week I saw so many loose threads become joined in my life it was almost spooky. The mention of things I had been pondering from two different friends in two different states who don't even know each other. A word from Zen Chick that uplifted me about this place I've lamented being in for so very long. Stepping into the shower, which is the holiest place in my house since it's the place I seem to do all my deepest thinking, I realized that being here has really been part of this journey. That by being here, I have met my truest friends, those who have really called forth my very best. Being here has forced me to be at peace with solitary living (I haven't made many connections here, I'm way to bohemian and artsy, I guess) and so in nine years I have had to learn how to find comfort and grace and beauty in being alone. I have read more, I have created more and I have connected to my God Spirit in ways I don't think I would have, had I lived somewhere else. The women I have met have put me onto women I want to meet some day, through literature I would not have been inclined to read. And being alone has pushed me into a new community, out here online, where I have met new people who mirror parts of me when I am at my best (and you know who you are). Being here has elevated my consciousness and after visiting a new church on Sunday, that seems to teach "new thinking," I sat there, having read every "new book" they mentioned about the Power of the Subconscious, using Affirmations, speaking truth, etc. I sat there realizing that though the place was "nice," I'd probably not be back, because in truth, without sounding too big-headed here, I've passed the point at which they've arrived. And I determined in that wondrous moment of pulling out of the parking lot that I really am okay. That being here has been good in many respects; that I am indeed a life student and I have really come a long way without even recognizing it. I realized that yes, the energy has shifted and I am ready for something new but like all babes, I have to grow and elevate in order to really be ready for that next space and place.

I know that where I'm headed is full of warrior women. They are creative, forward-thinking, solutions oriented women. They are women who are living succulently, living juicy. They are artists and writers and painters and teachers and best yet, they are believers beyond the dogmatic restrictions that attempts to keep us all in chains. They are women with photos to show of all the places they have fearlessly travelled. They are warrior women, Women Who Run With The Wolves (and if you don't own that book by sister Clarissa Pinkola Estes, phD, do get it). And I know this: we are all getting ready for each other. We are in our separate spaces, feeling this urge in our bones, trying to find our way back to the pack. But we will get there, this I know.

And I wrote a poem some months ago, honoring the mother poets, called Para Las Madres. There's a line in it that says:

...together we dwell in the belly of Hope
waiting for the Uprising

when the drums sound
we shall gather at the sea
join anointed hands in circles of seven ....

by the light of wild fires
our bodies shall sway to the clap of waters
listening for the call
waiting for the rattling of bones

we shall sway in the yellow of fire's light
by the light of our father's smiles
our hips shall rise to the rolling hum of the ancestors
ancestors
ancestors
we shall rise and answer to the call.


We shall rise and answer to the call.
And when we get there, we shall be ready.

---A.