Let us imagine care of the soul, then, as an application of poetics to everyday life.---Thomas Moore

Post Samhain Musings and Magic

So, I've "larn'd' a whole lot in the past 24 hours...not certain what will stick and what will fly by like the storm clouds heading east when we get those windladen bruisers off the ocean. I found this under a heading called "Embracing the Ebb" in the Simple Abundance book. It is worth sharing again with myself and anyone who wants to hear it. This is also something Neil taught me in our marriage. (I am making a point of acknowledging-and with gratitude and relish-those gifts that are still mine from our relationship and path together. This, for me, is part of the healing and the truth...and most importantly, the forgiveness.)Here is what I found:
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.."Earthly souls ebb and flow in sorrow and joy according to the seasons of emotion, just as the seasons of the natural world flow in sorrow and joy according to the seasons of life, death, and rebirth. These are the days to be grateful for the harvest of the heart, however humble it might be, and to prepare for the coming of the year's closure. Even now, the season of daylight diminishes and the time of darkness increases. But the true Light is never extinguished in the natural world. It is the same in your soul. Embrace the ebb, my beloved queen, and do not fear the darkness. For as night follows day, the Light will return and you will know contented hours once again." ---Sarah Ban Breathnach, storyteller

That is balm for my Heart in 4 Land. Now if I can just remember it! Yesterday's celebrations and rituals were some of the most fun and Life-giving that I've had in years! Things were fairly low-key in homeroom land because of the afternoon's antics. We enjoyed an entire afternoon of dancing, boogy-ing, grooving, and moving with the Ballard Beavers Marching Band! I had a BLAST! My legs still hurt. This great group marched up and down the long hall at school and then we had a spirit assembly. It was part of a day of fun planned by the folks who bought "principal for a day" at the auction last year. The other fun thing was every class signed a soccer ball which we will then send to Africa from us to kids there. I dressed up as one of the four seasons with the three other teachers in my level. I was "Winter". Can't say I was too into it before school, but finding the battery Christmas lights to add to my get-up made it more fun. The students had fun trying to figure us out.
One of my students showed up with a very special photograph. The heading was "WHAT WERE YOU IN 1977, MS. R.?" And there I was in my favorite Obi-Wan Kenobi costume with four of my best friends from HNA during the height of my Star Wars obsession!...l(et's just say every Friday, at 4:15 pm, I was off the bus and into my seat at the matinee at that theater downtown. And this little alternative reality thing went on for another two years until I had to get a real job at Kentucky Fried Chicken...the best part of this was the kids going up to the photo, staring at it quizzically, shrugging their shoulders, looking at me and saying"Well, you don't look any different." (YES! with strong arm movement with fist from perpendicular position in downward pumping motion at one's side) Well, one (who is taller than me) did look at it longer and turned and said, "So, you were telling the truth. You did stop growing in the 4th grade.)...hee.
Going over to the parental Homestead was amazing. Everything was the goldilocks moment-"just right". it was full of brothers, sisters, cousins, kids, grandma and grandpa...right down to the tablecloth and the spaghetti (vegan and otherwise) on the stove. I haven't felt that resonance since before Grandpa and Grandma Surridge passed on. The same resonance was Christmas morning as we were coming into the big living room at 405, with the tree, the toys, the tea, and the dear-to-me folks. This, yestereve did a number on that Heart Hole. For, it was one of those moments of magic...complete with pumpkin bars, sparkling apple cider, my father in his recliner, Julie on the couch, Aidan in a monkey suit, all the BELOVEDS that could make it, those that couldn't in physical form drawn close and remembered ...or called on the cell phone, those that were celebrating in heaven also held close, remembered, and included, Mom coordinating in the kitchen and answering the door, and finishing the baking, and handing out plates and working with the other moms, aunties, sons, and sons-in-law...it was a perfect scrum.
(Maybe that will be the next book after the Fairy-godmother one..."The Perfect Scrum:"....hmmmm-has potential) Oh, and did I mention the gloves? It is tradition and it continues. Some things are just right with the world...
The trick-or-treating was fun out under the stars in the crisp air. The comments down memory lane from the boys were eye-openers. Illustrates the differences between the "first "family and the "next" family. It also illustrates a 4 who was almost completely oblivious growing up anyway and who was more interested in a sequel to Bambi, the Count of Monte Cristo, and Black Beauty as well as somebody cooing 'there, there" when she was screaming that her shoes were too loosey. It never occurred to her to shut up, bend down, and tighten the straps on her maryjanes herself. Now, you oughta see how she can cinch those oxfords up if she has a mind to. I hadn't remembered that Mrs. Moeller was 'Bubbles" or that my 'innocent', 6 gallons a day milk-drinking brothers were also the ones who lit bags of dog shit on fire and put them on people's porches. I'm sure we could have come up with better use of your energy, you dorks!
I had fun showing my nephews and nieces how we trick or treat here in Ballard. The trick or treaters actually wait on the INSIDe of the house while the person with the goods bangs on the door and then the kids yell "Trick or Treat" or "Cough it up or get lutefisk in your recycle bin!"
Then it was home to Fair Isle for the Samhain fire and ritual. I won't go into too much detail..only that is is special, and the Ancestors and Beloveds and Spirit Ones and Life are honored. The prayers are special. The fire is special. The warding is special. I was joined this year by the little black cat that has taken over the backyard. It was closest she has gotten to me.

A couple of other things-
I got a call yesterday from the breeder that I had researched as the best, with literally, the puppy of my dreams-an 8 and 1/2 week old male sable from the best parents. I thought about it all night long and then listened to what was right for me and this family that is taking shape. I called her and told her no and that I would be in touch in 5-7 years or so. She understood. I did, too. And I know this was the right decision for me, for my little burgeoning family, and for the child/ren coming. An example of "be careful what you ask for from your Heart during these times of power and life and Thin Veils". I also know that this aspect of the dream could change and I will be ready to listen and make the right decision for myself and my Ones when the time comes. I don't have any doubt of that. I also know how to find and bring "DOG" into my sphere of being, tough as it is not having my own here. A part of me is guilty for having no compelling reasons to come home at regular times. I am enjoying being able to explore more, connect more, read more in coffee shops, work more...

I also heard from my social worker this evening. China has opened up the process to single parents again...the wait for a healthy girl is interminable. The wait for Waiting Children (chldren with special needs) is not so long. Did I want to be notified of Waiting Children? Did I want to be placed back on the waiting list? What did I want to do? I said yes to the Waiting Child list and also, let's keep things on track for Vietnam at the turn of the year...more later...time to bring the rocking chair home from school, put it in the corner with a baby blanket so I can sit and watch the cedar dance and the flickers whick-whicka on by...I've held her in my arms in Dreamtime. Time to hold her in my Ordinary reality arms now...and if it's Patrick of the Black Hair, then I have some brothers who can ensure that there will be no wimpage factor...
I wore the owl pin all day. Thanks, Mom. That means alot. I love that pin........
Welcome to the New Year....