WINTER SOLSTICE DEC 21ST 2015..Honoring Mother Earth & Father Sky today, on the shortest day of the year

O our Father, the Sky, Hear us
and make us strong.
O our Mother the Earth, hear us
and give us support.

O Spirit of the East, 
send us your Wisdom.
O Spirit of the South,
may we tread your path of life.
O Spirit of the West,
may we always be ready for the long journey.
O Spirit of the North, purify us
with your cleansing winds.

Sioux Prayer



Tonight I began this fire with  Sacred White Mountain sage branches and ended it with fresh rosemary, lemon verbena branches...offering prayer to the 4 directions is a Native American Tradition.
Great Spirit is everywhere, so honor the 4 directions.

The  birch and deer skin drum I use is from Taos Pueblo in New Mexico and rep. the heartbeat of Mother Earth, the Prayers are taken to Great Spirit though the sacred smoke.

Peace & A Good Winter to all the tribes of Mother Earth.

I AM WITHOUT WORDS

My grief for the people of  Paris is too great..I can just send you my love and light

John Nigel

"AUTUMN, BE MY TEACHER..." BY EDWARD HAYS

O sacred season of Autumn, be my teacher,
for I wish to learn the virtue of contentment.
As I gaze upon your full-colored beauty,
I sense all about you
an at-homeness with your amber riches.

You are the season of retirement,
of full barns and harvested fields.
The cycle of growth has ceased,
and the busy work of giving life
is now completed.
I sense in you no regrets;
you've lived a full life.

I live in a society that is ever-restless,
always eager for more mountains to climb,
seeking happiness through more and more possessions.
As a child of my culture,
I am seldom truly at peace with what I have.
Teach me to take stock of what I have given and received,
may I know that it's enough, 
that my striving can cease
in the abundance of God's grace.
May I know the contentment
that allows the totality of my energies
to come to full flower.
May I know like you I am rich beyond measure.


As You , O Autumn, take pleasure in your great bounty,
let me also take delight
in the abundance of the simple things in life
which are the true source of joy.
With the golden glow of peaceful contentment
may I truly appreciate this autumn day.

"GUSTS OF AUTUMN COME".....

The moon is full, the autumn nights grow longer,
In the north forests startled crows cry out.
Still high overhead, the star river stretches,
The Dipper's handle set southwest.
The cold cricket grieves deep in the chambers,
Of the notes of sweet birds, none remain.
Then one evening gusts of autumn come,
One who sleeps alone thinks fondly on thick quilts.
Past loves are a thousand miles farther each day,
Blocked from my drifting and my sinking.
Man's life is not as the grass and tree,
Still the season's changes can stir the heart.

WEI YING WU 

 

WORDS OF WISDOM FROM THE OLD AMERICAN PIONEERS

Here are a selection of wise words-sayings from the old days that seem just as  appropriate now:

On Friendship:
If you want friends, you must be one.

Silence is the fittest reply to folly.

A skilled cheat needs no assistance.

One who thinks he can live without others is mistaken.
But he who thinks others cannot live without him is more mistaken.

Reputation is what you are in the Light
Character is what you are in the Dark.


Search others for their Virtues, thyself for thy vices.



Prosperity and Luck:

He who trusts all to Chance, makes a lottery of his life.

Promises may get friends, but 'tis performance that keeps them.

The Generous man enriches himself by giving; The miser hoards himself poor.

The Wise Man  will desire no more than what he may get Justly; use Soberly; Distribute Cheerfully, and leave Contentedly.



AGELESS IDEAS:

Figures never lie, but liars can figure.

Advice after mischief is like medicine after death.

Man's true wealth is the good he does in the world.

God heals and the doctor takes the fee.

Learn as if you were to live forever, Live as if your were to die tomorrow.

When you speak to a man, look on his eyes; when he speaks to thee, look on his mouth.

Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden; but it is forbidden because it is hurtful.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend America...and planting for Summer ...lots of color photos of flowering plants for Southern California Gardens

A trip to a local garden center is always a great way to lift up one's spirit's and as we head into summer in Southern California there are lost of flowering plants available....Sending Love and Light to all places on the globe devastated by earthquakes, famine and floods..please take time out to smell the flowers in your part of the world and appreciate our Great Mother, Earth.

Spring and Summer flowers in SOCAL due to excessive heat

we are having record breaking heatwaves so  everything is flowering at once....

Petroglyphs, Snow and Great Hikes in the Mojave Desert Dec/Jan 2014-2015 PHOTOS

A RARE SNOWFALL  and Petroglyphs recording shamanistic journeys of Native Americans, thousands of years ago...just some of the Natural wonders I experienced over the past few days, on hikes in the Mojave Desert, 2400ft above sea level.


The human-like figures rep. the Shaman/medicine-man, the rain and sun symbols rep.fertility, the geometric shapes are the light playing tricks that the shaman experienced in trance.

No one knows, for sure, who left these fantastic drawings, thousands of years ago in isolated areas of the Mojave Desert, now part of Joshua Tree National Park.

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