walk on the wild side

New York City is a major hub of the world and a choice destination for locals and global travelers.

Rockefeller Center

This 2015 year end festivities at The Big Apple show us how to celebrate with a spectacular and memorable bang.

being & belonging

As 2015 draws to a close it is a light hearted time to relax and enjoy myself with friends and loved 
ones in appreciative gratitude. 

I find myself enjoying gatherings where we are able to express our feelings affectionately and authentically. Celebrating life. Eulogizing our beloveds passing. 

It's such a fulfilling and expansive feeling that makes me want to share it with everyone as often as I can.

celebrate!

Regardless of belief, faith, or tradition, Hanukkah is a fascinating heritage that can enrich us all. 

Jesus Christ observed Hanukkah. 

Christians today study a Hebrew book, written by Hebrews, serving a Hebrew Lord who had 

Hebrew disciples. 

all I want for Christmas

A study by James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego, and Nicholas Christakis 

of Harvard, showed that when one person behaves generously, it inspires observers to 

behave generously later, toward different people. 

At wonder | wander | world we encourage an appreciation for the true power of capacity 

building gift giving. 

Share your joy and spread cheer this season! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to us 

all!

know thy Self

"Knowledge does not enrich us; it removes us more and more from the mythic world in which we were once at home by right of birth." ~ C.G. Jung: Memories,Dreams, Reflections, Chapter 9

0560395  - ALCHEMY - MICROCOSM AND MACROCOSM 
This plate, engraved by Merian for Johann-Daniel Mylius,
Opus Medico-chymicum, 1618, is one of the most complex
and symbolically satisfying from the heyday of learned alchemy.
In essence it is designed to portray the relationships
that subtend between the Higher and Lower worlds,
between the Macrocosm and the Microcosm. 

As we move away from Nature and what is natural - fueled by an insistent drive for "better" and "more" - can we remain in touch with our original being, with who it is we are truly meant to be? 

wonder! wonder?

Last week I was looking forward to the 24 Hours of Reality and Live Earth: The World Is Watching live broadcast on November 13 and 14.

I was to happily join this group in bringing the planet together to call on world leaders to create a global climate agreement at the upcoming UN talks in Paris.

poet shamans

I am a longtime advocate and ardent fan of the female authors and poets the Brontë Sisters, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Emily Dickinson. I truly believe they were women of substance, feminists, and shamans.

Tuvan Shamaness

Jung has written that "the psychological inference that may be drawn from shamanistic symbolism [is] that it is a projection of the individuation process" (Alchemical Studies  341).

The shaman-poet who lives in both the natural world and the supernatural world and experiences both genders is thus able to know each of these pairs of opposites intimately. (Clifton Snider, "A Druidic Difference": Emily Dickinson and Shamanism)

ghosts & past lives

November 2 is All Souls Day or Day of the Dead - a feast to honor, celebrate and remember our ancestors. 

One of countless colorful ways to celebrate.

It is a commemoration to recall and honor all who have come before us and contribute to who we are now. Ghosts and past lives forming the foundation for a better and brighter future for us all. 

For the relocated and nomadic, we carry our ancestral altars with us. 

lives we are a-changing

October had friends from far and wide descending on New York City in unprecedented numbers and overlapping dates.

I found myself juggling times and commitments in a quickly overflowing calendar. Conflicting priorities and agendas only added to the turmoil and fuss.

Mad Hatter Day

Whether or not you are aware of such an occasion - yes we do live in a world crazy enough to celebrate such a day.

Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Tarrant Hightopp

In parts of the world it is celebrated on October 6 and in Britain they celebrate it on June 10. Both dates were chosen from the illustrations by John Tenniel in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, depicting the Mad Hatter wearing a hat bearing a slip of paper with the notation "In this style 10/6."

Equinox & Eclipses | blood moons & bloody times

September marks several dates of import that impact us on a variety of levels - cosmic, global, national, local and personal - stirring us to the core.

Moon’s progress dead center through the Earth’s shadow in July 2000

tempered tempers

Asked to describe my temperament in a word I would say fierce.

More intense and passionate in intent and motivation rather than vicious or violent though I do not always succeed.

I have always had a healthy respect for the value of things - real and symbolic - yours, mine and ours.

Mahala

Happy day - Mahala's birthday and my labor day! Here’s to you beloved child of mine. 

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,

may the clarity of light be yours,

may the fluency of the ocean be yours,

may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow

wind work these words

of love around you,

an invisible cloak

to mind your life.

~ John O'Donohue ~ (Echoes of Memory)

outrageous times

Life has really become surreal - Pinoys worldwide protest customs inspections of our over taxed overseas workers infamous Balikbayan boxes. . . .

Out of touch and clueless

. . . .while here in our UnUnited States national news stays mum as the rest of the world praises its brave and courageous armed force personnel for selflessly protecting a train load of strangers in Thalys, France.

Forensics team inspect the crime scene - Thalys, France

make your vote count

Election year is coming up in both the US [my current home] and the Philippines [my homeland]. It is striking how Donald Trump reminds me of the Marcoses.

Big egos. Bad hair. Expensive lifestyles. Dying to be young and beautiful. Lots of blowhard pontificating.

It horrifies me that they can attempt to run for the highest elected office in the country. It scares me that they are being considered by the electorate.

summer breeze

Summer breeze makes me feel fine
Blowing through the jasmine in my mind

Sweet days of summer, the jasmine's in bloom
July is dressed up and playing her tune

birthday's are the best

I just celebrated my birthday. This year was different. I did not unplug as usual to go on retreat. 

Because my sister thought I was turning 60 we ended up booked for my birthday dinner at Asiate - Mandarin Hotel's fine dining aerie restaurant in New York City - overlooking Central Park and Columbus Circle. 

Birthdays are the best! A new beginning, the cycle of life completing its circuit of 365 days. The unique and special life stream of an individual and the world of experiences created, circling close at each year's end.

independence, freedom & its blessings

day by day

phase by phase

as seasons come and go

where does each year take me

new logo debut

Fourteen years later I decided to opt for a new logo. It took wonder | wander | women two years to get it done. Not because we were taking our time but because it was important to us. 

The change from the former logo to this one was a journey from a former life into this current one. I was in need of a logo that captured this as well as the potential yet to unfold. 

double entendre

when is a double entendre intended and what is its intention?

which dualities are revealed and relived in duplicate meaning?

what meanings are evaluated in multiple evolution?

who are implicated in implied interpretation?

why replicate reviled revulsion in riotous repetition? 

CHINA fantasies & cliches

On exhibit now through to August 16 is China: Through the Looking Glass, a collaboration between the Costume Institute and the Asian Art Department - a centennial celebration currently on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

This is the third time I am writing on the topic and countless times it has already been covered by the press. It is an event that captures all our imaginations on many levels - conscious and subliminal, literal and allegorical. 

As with every fine story it has many facets to it with all its attendant Rashomon effect - hence I impose yet another retelling of mine from yet another perspective. 

a child of G0D

Risking redundancy, I am following up on last week's post with yet another song I can't get out of my head. 

I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road
And I asked him where are you going
And this he told me
~ Joni Mitchell, Woodstock (1969) 

something old, something new

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,

may the clarity of light be yours,

may the fluency of the ocean be yours,

may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

~ John O'Donohue, Echoes of Memory

Sweet dreams are made of this

To be nurtured and nourished

To be given support and sustenance
Who am I to disagree?

Cinco de Mayo

Celebrated all over, nowhere else is this celebration a bigger deal than in the United States of America.

The date is observed to commemorate the Mexican army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín. 

In the United States, Cinco de Mayo is sometimes mistaken to be Mexico's Independence Day - the most important national holiday in Mexico - which is celebrated on September 16.

birthdays & milestones

in our family our women out number our men

back home men often out rank women

not so in our made up haven  

Goddess of the Earth

Happy Earth Day 2015

Earth Day is more than a one-day event or annual environmental wake-up call. It is a catalyst for ongoing education, action, and change. It simultaneously broadens the base of support and rekindles old commitments through highly participatory strategies. ~  Earth Day Initiative NYC  

circuitous rhythms

Are we ‘going around in circles’ or in the flow of our natural rhythm?  Like a labyrinth or the winding spiral, circular paths lead in and out - not just around.  Like the Wheel of Life, once we understand the underlying power and purpose of our cosmic cycles, we can align with the power of creation.

Robe of Glory

unholy holy week

consecrated and sacrosanct

Christ is nailed on the cross

in ritualistic re-enactment

of the final moments in Calvary

tiempo muerto, dead season, idle time

parallel universe

beneath the sheltering sky

its vastness mocks and deludes us

into believing life is an inexhaustible well

NASA Image: Stellar Quake

SHE rah!

Today is International Women's Day!

Being female and half of #wanderwonderwomen - this is definitely cause to celebrate!

I don't believe it's a coincidence either that this occurs at a crucially cosmic time.

HERitage & HIStory

The blistering cold of western winters are keeping #wonderwanderwomen indoors. Safe and snug inside, our thoughts are drawn within and back home. 

A recent return to our hometown where we were born and raised was a trip down memory lane and added opportunity to dig into our roots. 

when worlds collide

This February holds the distinct experience of celebrating several crucial occasions at the same time.

Starting with Valentine's Day on Feb 14, followed by the Aquarius New Moon of Feb 18, then Chinese New Year of the Wood Sheep on Feb 19 and finally the Hieros Gamos (sacred marriage of Venus/love and Mars/desire) in the heavens on Feb 20.

Thus it truly claims to be a time when worlds collide - the dawning of a new age.

sitting in community

This Valentine's Day I contemplate the day's significance and the personal stories I have attached to it through the years.

St Valentine baptizing St Lucilla - Jacopo Bassano

I did not always have such lofty aspirations regarding this special occasion. Where I was born and raised we grew up with too much baggage attached to Saint Valentine and February 14.

bamboo dreams

We grew up where giant bamboo groves lined lazy meandering rivers. We listened to the gentle swishing and creaking in the breeze as we picnicked and snoozed in their shade. 

In much dwindled numbers, our country still uses bamboo for indigenous houses in many of our provinces. The bahay kubo is still a much loved symbol of bucolic bliss.

Read the full article at http://wonderwanderwomen.blogspot.com/2015/02/bamboo-dreams.html.  

Bali Ha'i dreaming

Bali calls #wonderwanderwomen - South Pacific, the popular musical based on James Michener’s Pulitzer Prize winning drama, Tales of the South Pacific, extols Bali Ha’i as an exotic paradise. 

Bali Ha'i may call you,
Any night, any day,
In your heart, you'll hear it call you:
"Come away... Come away."

mesmerizing

captivating

sublime

http://wonderwanderwomen.blogspot.com/2015/01/bali-calls.html

East meets West and vice versa

For the holidays I decided to spend two months back in my homeland of origin - Bacolod City in the Philippines.

I told all my friends if they wanted to see me that's where they'd have to come as I was bypassing Metro Manila. Even so, transiting from international to domestic airports was a congested torturous nightmare.

In the two years I had not been back, I had relocated to my new home in the old neighborhood of West Hoboken by the Union City reservoir in New Jersey.

It was exhilarating to leave the biting wet chill of an early East Coast winter for the cool equatorial breezes in my coastal town this time of the year.