Archive for June 2011
who am i ?
where to start ?!
my name is sally
i am fifty six
single but not celibate
and very taurean
that is to say :
creative
sensual
obsessed with aesthetics
form
beauty
harmony
and stubborn as you like
or maybe don’t …
i have been living on the side of a small mountain
in the midi of southern france
for over nine years now …
i got captured by this domaine here
which i love more passionately today
than i did the day i bought it
despite the times when i could gladly have walked aWay
empty-handed …
i call it earthsky
which perfectly reflects it’s elemental nature …
the long-time dream has allWays been
to run earthsky as a retreat centre
taoist based
for the sharing of creativity and healing …
it’s taken somewhat longer than forseen
to renovate the property
and myself …
i still don’t feel quite qualified
to realize that dream
but is one ever ?
one is not getting any younger
and one has to start somewhere
sometime
so this blog
represents my first outward step
in the direction of sharing with others
some of the practices and perceptions
which have enabled me to survive and evolve
through the series of challenges
that i have encountered along the Way …
meanwhile
earthsky has become :
my own personal retreat centre
healing space
building site
home
studio
gallery
project
raison d’etre
and challenge …
i share it with jacques
a boistrous and very charming black and white dog
he is infamously volatile
as am i
but that’s all changing now …
i’ve dragged us both through the bush backwards in recent years
since he was a pup actually
but we’ve survived all that quite graciously
and things have eased up nicely now …
neither of us have ever drawn the blood of another
really!
we’re both very friendly
most of the time …
i don’t want to scare you
you see
because i still hold a vision
of sharing this space with others
from time to time
others who come here
as i have done
(and do)
for support with their healing
their creativity
their wholing …
one of these decades …
in the meantime
here i go
ATLAST
with my blog
this is the biggest
blankest
canvas
i’ve encountered yet
it’s a little scary
and quite exciting
so much space to share so much …
my plan :
to share the story of my healing journey
my journey towards wholeness
my wish :
to hear your story
sharing a creative healing journey
as we ramble together along the Way ………
what am i here for ?
who do i love ?
what do i love ?
what inspires me
barefootdoctor ………
my teacher, mentor, healer, muse
virtual Taoist wizard
and first class ally on the Way …
his site barefootdoctorglobal.com/ is still ridiculously good value
and he’s recently launched a blog superchargedtaoist.com/
where he’s giving away loads of his very best stuff
both are really MOST highly recommended ………
and wherethehellismatt.com/ is allWays guarunteed to raise a smile …
Matt gave up designing violent video games
wrote his own job description
and is now said to be doing rather well …
one of my lovely sisters supplied me with this translation
of the Bengali backing track to Matt’s sweet dance :
The Song Of Life.
The same stream of life that runs through my life night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
It’s the same life that shoots in joy
through the dust of the earth innumerable blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.
It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean cradle
of life and death
of ebb and flow.
I feel my limbs made glorious by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life throb of all ages
dancing in my blood this moment ………
i am learning this by heart
and repeating it to myself
and to creation
as a mantra
it inspires me deeply
and i suspect it may do the same for you …
try reading it out loud a few times over
whilst addressing yourself to the infinite
then observe your change of mood !
run for your life intro ………
i am enjoying
a very tangible quickening of the life force
which is passing through me
much more abundantly than ever before
longsaught TANTRA has expressed herself through me
on a few occasions now !
my hormonal balance is much healthier
the virulence of my embarrassing facial hair much reduced
sleeplessness and hot flushes a thing of the past
i feel softer, more feminine
and much more open to pleasure …
i am living very comfortably in my new running shoes
i am better looking
and experiencing a sense of living in grace
and harmony
more surrendered on many levels
more trusting of myself, other and the Tao
so deeply centred and content
HUMDOOLILAH !
i had long-since come to believe
that awakening and transformation were for other
not for the likes of me
now this renaissance
so long invoked
has snucken up on me unawares
at the moment when i least expected it
how has such a radical quantum shift occured?
at this most opportune time?
‘running’ on the Taoist Way has been the key for me
there is hope
PEACE
full-fill-ment
i am much more comfortable in my body
from the soles of my feet
to the top of my bump
THANK YOU GREAT SPIRIT
FOR ALL THAT IS…
FOR ALL THAT IS
THANK YOU
and thanks also to family, friends and mentors
YOU who have enabled me to survive
and grow to feel this Way …
my over-all-relation-ship
with myself, other and the Tao
has undergone a long-awaited-quantum-shift
i have become more methodical
more measured and deliberate in action
my cupboards have all been rationalised now
and i’m intending to have the windows clean by the end of the week
chopping wood and carrying water
are becoming ever more delight-full activities ………
many blessings and love as ever
xxxxxxOOOxxxxxx
candid cold turkey ………
@3.30pm13/3/10@earthsky
it’s time for some ‘spring-cleaning’
NOW!
Ganesh has been invoked
space is being prepared
creativity is being indulged
i’m giving myself
nine days
to purify myself
to cleanse the heart of my existence
a dedication
in preparation
for the next level………
as from my next ‘shower’
and i have Shiva’s permission
for another ‘last number’………
(said ritual douche finally occured
around sunrise the next morning…
after saying a long and fond goodbye
to some very dear old monsters)…
@7.35am15/3/10@earthsky
day2
peace blessed peace
i feel more connected to all that is
calmer
more centred
surrendered to the flow
and trusting
more open
more loving
less afraid
cleaner and clearer
bolder and braver
i am settling
more deeply
into my body
than ever before
soft belly shining
from the inside out…
@6am16/3/10@earthsky
…
day3
evidently this old and outworn self
is not one to be lightly left behind
my throat is less sore now
but my nose is still a beacon
i have a really gross cough
and i haven’t touched tobacco
for atleast 48 hours now
HUMDOOLILAH!!!
wishing us all infinite progress
for ever!
xxOxx
@2.30pm17/3/10@earthsky
day 4
and i’m not a bundle of laughs today
or yesterday…
de-tox-re-action + vicious-viral-head-cold
does not = bliss
far from it…
this phase of the process is ‘to be survived’…
it’s a glorious ‘first days of spring’ day here
i’m trying to enjoy raucous noises
made by happy birds
shouting about the return of printemps…
and look forward
to celebrating with them
when this crushingly achy
birth phase of the adventure
has passed…
please gods very soon…
@11am19/3/10@earthsky
day6
and the healing crisis
appears to be
pulling back from it’s crescendo now
i’m showered and freshly dressed
for the first time since the sacrifice
around 125 hours has been given
simply to surviving
this quantum shift in my reality
as graciously as may be
or not
and here i am
now awakening
to a radically transformed life
in a tobacco free zone
liberated
ATLAST!
and practicing open presence
one-ness-with-all-that-is
sobeitsobeitsobeit……….
andsoitwasandsoitwasandsoitwas………
@3.30pm
and i really am well into recovery now
having survived some brutally challenging rites of passage
yours truly has now become a tobacco free zone
did i mention that before?
yes really
since last sunday 7am
please pray for my continued success on this adventure
this is ‘THE BIG ONE’ for me
i’ve been stuck at this portal forever
time to move on through now…
THE QUANTUM LEAP HAS BEEN MADE
i just have to keep on keeping on now…
support me any Way you can
with this
please…
sending
1ove
1ight
and all best wishes
to you and ours
as ever
xxOxx
@5pm
it’s been interesting living
the last few days
with my head in a vice
squashed
suffocating
and conscious through another birth…
and it’s interesting now
awakening on that other level
most grateful to be
openly present
presently open
learning to swim in a new dimension
‘wings spread wide and smiling’…
the birds are shouting all about it
and the sky agrees…
please pass me my sword………
@3.30pm20/3/10@earthsky
day7
and i really am getting better now
humdoolilah
having survived some more challenging straits…
i’ve spent most of this week with my head stuck in the birth canal
getting thoroughly crushed
whilst having great diffficulty breathing
but it was worth it
to get born again
into this new dimension
so clear
and fresh
it’s a tobacco free zone you know!
and i’ve celebrated
by moving forward
atlast
into week2 of Barefoot’s School For Warriors
which is all about learning to breathe!
meanwhile
enjoying very spicy chicken soup
whilst earnestly building up my strength
for the next level….
and wishing You only the best
with 1ove as ever
xxOxx
@7.45pm
this is atleast the zillionth time
that i’ve ‘given up’ tobacco
and the first and last time
that i’ll blog it…
you’ll never believe this ……… !
hi guys
i thought it might interest you to know
that i found the holy grail
on the marchee aux puces this sunday!
it was day5 of school for warriors1
and i was out and about with a new ally
test-driving my newly rewired tummy button
flying high …
it was a Gods-sent day in gabian
and when we turned the corner into the market
there it was …
it was the first thing i saw
a masterpiece of peachy kitscherama
flashing at me in the bright spring sunlight …
i assumed it was plastic
as did my ally
and i commenced negotiations …
charming geezer told me 20 euros
i told him i’d think about it while i had a wander
he charmed ’15 euros then’
and i bit his hand off
15 is one of many numbers that i take to be auspicious …
if he’d said 23euros in the first place
i would have paid up with a smile …
and so we wandered on
leaving geezer happily tucking my treasure into a basket
to be picked up on our way out of the market …
ally was of the opinion that i should have bagged the grail for five euros
but i was happy
most rarely had i bought on sight
without ever touching …
and i had a feeling about this
having sought so long
now to find
i was taking my time …
lifting the basket containing the grail
into the boot of my car some hours later
only a small part of me registered the weightiness of said package
by the time i had carried it up the steep path to monpalais
that small part had grown somewhat larger
but it wasn’t until i had untucked the grail
and it was reassembled on my kitchen work-surface
that i realised what i had bought …
it is truly a masterpiece
about 20 inches high
resembling a funeral urn for a very beloved
or an exotic dessert …
it is not made of plastic
but worked in some type of quartz
i dare to dream that it may be rose quartz…
it’s wired to light up inside
and geezer had assured me it was in working order
but the plug most evidently wasn’t
as it only had one prong …
never having changed a french plug
and being somewhat pressed
i cut the wires
spliced them with the wires on another plug …
and BEHOLD
it does work
and is utterly magnificent
a rosy glowing beacon
presently occupying the niche by the guest bed in monpalais ………
A VOIR !