Eyed Hawk Moth caterpillar crossed my path

"This is a spectacular hawk-moth, with curving wing margins and large blue and black eye patches on the rear wings, which have pink bases. These eye spots can only be seen when the moth is disturbed, when it flashes them.

The moths are usually flying between May and July.
The caterpillars feeds on willow, aspen, apple and rarely poplar and are found from about late June to September, feeding mainly at night.

They grow up to 7. 5cm long, are bluish-green with whitish oblique stripes on the side, each of these stripes often having a red dot on a spiracle near the base.

The caterpillars have a blue 'horn' at one end which distinguishes them from the otherwise similar larva of the poplar hawk-moth.

This moth is found throughout England, but it is rare in the northernmost counties." http://www.plantpress.com/

Ashes and Snow

http://www.createnow.org/programs/takeheART/AshSnow.html

www.ashesandsnow.org/

YouTube - Ashes and Snow- Feather to Fire
Gregory Colbert has used both still and movie cameras to ...6 min -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSX444hQ5Vo

Narcissism

Lasch argues that every age has its own forms of mental illness which simply mirror, in exaggerated form, the basic characteristics of that age. In Freud’s time the dominant mental illness was hysteria and obsession neurosis. These writes Lasch, ‘carried to extremes the personality traits associated with the capitalist order at an earlier stage in its development – acquisitiveness, fanatical devotion to work and a fierce repression of sexuality’. In our age, by contrast, the dominant illnesses have been schizophrenia and ‘borderline’ personality disorders. These, he writes, seem to signify a societal change from inner-direction to narcissism. According to Lasch, narcissism and its traits – pansexuality, hypochondria, corruptibility, shallowness, the inability to mourn – are simply the best way of coping with warlike social environment where friendships and family life are hard to sustain, where relationships are shallow, where there is no sense of historical continuity, and where consumption and glamour are emphasised.

Extract from Drawing Down the Moon - by Margot Adler

Courageous Dreaming ~ Alberto Villoldo

"Whether we realize it or not, we are all dreaming the world into being. What we're engaging in is not the sleeping act we're so familiar with, but rather a type of dreaming we do with our eyes open. When we're unaware that we share the power to co-create reality with the universe itself, that power slips away from us, causing our dream to become a nightmare. We begin to feel we're the victims of an unknown and frightening creation that we're unable to influence, and events seem to control and trap us. That only way to end this dreadful reality is to awaken to the fact that it too is a dream - and then recognize our ability to write a better story, one that the universe will work with us to manifest"
"The Earthkeepers I have studied with in the Andes and the Amazon believe that we can only access the power of this force by raising our level of consciousness. When we do, we become aware that we're like a drop of water in a vast, divine ocean, distinct yet immersed in something much larger than ourselves. It's only when we experience our connection to infinity that we're able to dream powerfully"
"It takes courage to taste infinity. According to Greek mythology, the gods swiftly punished any mortal who dared to ascend Mount Olympus and taste divine power. Yet they ultimately rewarded those who had the courage to step into the realm, such as Hercules and Psyche. Similarily, in Judeo-Christian lore, as soon as Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, making human beings more like God, He threw them out of the Garden of Eden, 'lest {humankind} put forth {their} hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever' {Gen, 3:22}. But despite this original sin of humanity, all men and women are promised a chance to dwell in heaven at the end of time."

Peace Mala

On my break to visit my friend in Wales I met a delightful young man who was selling Peace Mala's - since buying one I have been wearing it at work. So it has been wonderful to have received comments and enquiries from work collegues asking what it is adding that they have got the feeling/experience from the Mala of their spirits being lifted and feeling happy. Which is extraordinary given that they haven't known whether it was just a 'fashion' bracelet and didn't know the intention of the bracelet.
Magic!
So I am hoping that through my connections with schools I can promote the Peace Mala.
This is the web site for the Peace Mala :o)

http://www.peacemala.org.uk/links/links.html

"The Peace Mala cuts through all forms of prejudice and celebrates what makes us different from each other. It is a vision for the future. Wearing the mala is a promise to help create a better world"

Long Journey Home

Crazy dancing in my heart
Stone shoes beat

Hill sipping Sun
Golden light transluscent on pricked up ears
I catch a hare on the run

Clouds hang in the sky
As memory holds
Cold eye of fish caught on the plate

silver fox