interior castle

A rich interior life is a deep well to draw on when things get chaotic or challenging. That's why it is of utmost value that we be surrounded by what sustains and nourishes us. Being under constant threat or barraged by externals wears on us and eventually takes a toll. 

Two years without a home to call my own has been uncomfortable for a home body Cancerian crab of my nature. Moving clear across the globe and uprooting over fifteen years of my independent stake as a resident and citizen elsewhere is a total upheaval hard to prepare for - much less contend with. 

Tintagel Castle, Cornwall, England - Peter Unger/Getty Images

As this tsunami of change swirled within - the outer world squeezed and closed in - tighter, smaller, meaner. Spots of sunshine and delight grew farther apart, dimmed significantly, needed more effort to come by or sustain. 

How to feed that inner core, pour back into it some replenishment? Keep the big picture in focus, see it clearly, not let externals rub or rob it of its shine. Manage flow and progress so momentum is not impeded or halted, derailed or depleted. 

So much more is expended under unfavorable conditions than when there is full, fresh, firm love all around. Soft, tender, allowing grace - not noise, obstacles, judgement. That makes all the difference in the world.

Although we clearly want one and not the other its isn't always the case. Going where the river flows has the ease and expansiveness that struggling against the current does not foster. Seeing oneself through the filter of loving kindness is vastly removed from harsh heavy horridness. 

We love the most the one who loves us the most and we shrivel where love is withheld or absent. That's the truth. 

when going home is murder

Words of wisdom and sound advice for all citizens and residents - wherever in the world you find yourselves.

"Everyone in this town—this country—is so afraid of the other, whoever the ‘other’ is today. If there’s one thing fear can do, it’s make a beast out of a shadow. It turns us all into monsters. The enemy of the shadow isn’t light. It’s sight.”

In other words, if someone says, “Don’t look,” don’t listen.

Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award, reviews the debut novel “Jackal” by Erin E. Adams.

The places we know best are the ones that pose the greatest threat. When the main character in this novel returns to her hometown after a long absence, mysteries — past and present — collide.

In her breakthrough novel, Erin E. Adams transcends the typical hometown mystery with an effective blend of social and supernatural terrors that build in intensity and mystique throughout. 

Liz’s first-person narration accentuates the emotional stakes of what’s happening in Johnstown, drawing readers in as they sympathize with her plight.

“Jackal” is a terrifying tale of the fears and hatreds generated by racism and class inequality - and of the monsters these fears and hatreds have created. The novel shares the sensibilities of Jordan Peele’s film “Get Out,” but Adams brings to it a depth possible only in books. 

having our say

Women are taking center stage once again. In politics. At the Olympics. Uppermost in the news of today. It's about time! 

Female Last Supper #1 by Smetek

Long after the death of Leonardo da Vinci his art manages to still attract controversy. He left Italy, died and was buried in France - largely to escape prejudicial Italian politics, rumors of his homosexuality, and restrictions imposed by the Vatican on his art. 

Dav Vinci's The Last Supper

In particular his famous Last Supper has been infamously appropriated by the same Catholic Church that condemned the man, his art, and his life choices. 

July offerings

This July full moon has many different names across the world. It's called the Buck Moon, Thunder Moon, Hay Moon, Mead Moon and Ripe Corn Moon. For 2024 this second Capricorn full moon of July is also an astrological Blue Moon.

July’s full Buck Moon swings back around for a powerful second spin in Capricorn - the same zodiac sign as June’s Full Moon. We currently calculate time with a 12 month solar year, rather than a 13 month lunar year. Every few years, the lunar cycle is disrupted to fit that extra Moon in.

blue moon image by bhaktiCD.org

Instead of a cycle of New Moon then Full Moon on a sign and its complement (Cancer/Capricorn), we get a cycle of Full Moon then New Moon in the next sign. (Capricorn, Leo). That’s where we’ve been these past few years.

tipping points

Despite the fact that population numbers and our behavior are the major factor influencing the rapid environmental degradation and biodiversity loss too few environmentalists dare to address the issue of overpopulation head on. 

Why can’t we co-create a thriving human civilization of almost nine billion people within the limits of planetary boundaries? The answer will shape the future of our species and life on Earth.

Graeme MacKay, editorial cartoonist

How do we enable the abundance of this living planet, share more fairly within the human family, and the Web of Life between those alive today and future generations?

health in a year of drought

Tropical trauma - that's what this year in the Philippines feels like - for me personally. I was here the same time last year yet it feels like I landed in some foreign country I have never been - alien territory. 

I've been harping about the fact that the weather in the Philippines is so extreme we only have El Niño or La Niña conditions and all its dire options. 

high tide - Punta Bulata, Barangay Cauayan, Kabankalan

As an aging child of the seventies and proud boomer, I find myself particularly and personally challenged. Before May 24th's day long hard rain, we had not had anything like it since December. Too long a dry spell for our island home of Negros. 

maturity & mortality

Motherhood has been an elusive enigma all my life. What is motherhood? What does it mean to be a mother? It varies from individual to individual, from personality to personality, from experience to experience. 

Motherhood is all about feelings we hold in our heart of hearts. The love we feel. Towards our child, towards our mothers, towards our ideal of mother. Approached through our own lived experience and the stories we believe we live through. 

Issa & Mahala, New Year's Eve 2010

The joys and difficulties, complex and layered relationships, the sacred bond and dreams. 

I am labeled a single parent but am I really? My child and I grew and developed - surrounded by an ever morphing village of family and friends, strangers and carers - all part of our lives then and now. 

Parenting has been the most challenging experience of my life. The uncertainty, the conditioning, the expectations, the tears - hers and mine.

Every day I think, I can’t do this. Every day I think, there’s nothing I’d rather do. Loving this being who isn’t mine but of me.

It is effortless - it is love made manifest - immediate, indestructible, infinite. It is pure magic.

Yesterday, she hugged me so tightly and I hugged her back, so tightly. In that moment I felt indescribable gratitude for the fate that brought her into my world.

She is my magic too.