Tag: Barack Obama

Daily OM for Sept. 12 – Your Allies on Life’s Journey

Your Allies on Life’s Journey

Finding Your Tribe

by Madisyn Taylor

We all desire to find our tribe, a community of those that feel comfortable to us and nurture our journey.

Part of being human is the search for an individual identity. Bound to this strong need to establish a unique persona, however, is an equally intense desire for acceptance. It is when we find our individual tribes that both are satisfied. Our tribe members are those people who accept us as we are without reservation and gladly accompany us on our journeys of evolution. Among them, we feel free to be our imperfect selves, to engage unabashedly in the activities we enjoy, and to express our vulnerabilities by relying on our tribe for support. We feel comfortable investing our time and energy in the members of our tribe, and are equally comfortable allowing them to invest their resources in our development.

The individuals who eventually become members of your unique tribe are out there in the wide world waiting for you. You are destined to find them, one by one, as you move through life. Sometimes your own efforts will put you in contact with your future tribe members. At other times, circumstances beyond your control will play a role in helping you connect with your tribe. If you look about you and discover that you are already allied with a wonderful and supportive tribe, remember that there are likely many members of your tribe you have not yet met. On the other hand, if you feel you are still living outside of your tribe, broadening your horizons can help you find your tribe members.

However your life develops after you come together with your tribe, you can be assured that its members will stand at your side. On the surface, your tribe may seem to be nothing more than a loose-knit group of friends and acquaintances to whom you ally yourself. Yet when you look deeper, you will discover that your tribe grounds you and provides you with a sense of community that ultimately fulfills many of your most basic human needs.

The Daily Motivator for Sept. 7 – The little problems

The little problems

The big, urgent problems get your attention, as well they should. Because  they are so serious, you’ll naturally take them seriously and quickly do  something about them.

The smaller, nagging, everyday problems don’t have that same sense of  urgency. They don’t usually grab your attention and demand to be solved.

Yet those little problems can wear you down over time. They seem almost too  trivial to do anything about, so you can be tempted to just let them continue  draining your energy and resources, day after day.

For example, a slow drip from the faucet in your bathroom sink doesn’t seem  like much, and yet it can end up wasting hundreds or thousands of gallons of  water. Eventually, even the little problems can have a big impact.

Fortunately, the little problems don’t take much effort to solve. It’s mostly  just a matter of taking them seriously and taking the time to do it.

If there’s some little problem that’s been nagging you and slowly draining  you, now is a great time to do something about it. Free yourself, one by one,  from the little problems, and it can make a big positive difference in your  life.

— Ralph Marston

The Daily Motivator

Today’s I Ching Hexagram for August 20 is 16: Enthusiasm

16: Enthusiasm

Hexagram 16

General Meaning:  Enormous creative energy is unleashed by enthusiasm. This energy is like powerful music that inspires people, loosening old constraints and generating new opportunities. Indeed, the power of enthusiasm is best symbolized by music and dance, for it is guided more by the heart than the head. Thus, great good fortune can follow someone who is able to guide this positive force toward victory and a joyous celebration.

Enthusiasm within a group generates a special kind of electricity. When a crowd is ‘charged’, the singer scales new heights, and life becomes its own reward. For who is not in awe of thunder? And who would fail to fill his or her lungs in the aftermath of a cleansing rain?

Arouse the passionate support of others, while adjusting your ideas and plans to suit their needs. In this way you can fill your sails with the mighty winds of shared enthusiasm.

To arouse others, re-double your own dedication and dare to create an environment that is free of tension. Take joy in your projects. Harness the power of song and dance.

Daily Feng Shui Tip of the Day for August 13

My brother Bob is a lefty. I remember growing up how the nuns and Jesuits priests at St. Benedict’s Prep School used to tell my brother that he was possessed by the devil because he was left-handed. But to this day he still hasn’t shown any signs of horns or a tail! There’s a reason for the old saying that ‘left-handers are the only people in their right minds.’ Einstein was a lefty, as was Da Vinci and Sir Isaac Newton. But left hand or right, you should always begin and end your signature going in the same direction: up! The Feng Shui Prosperity Signature says that when signing your name, always end the first letter of the first name slanted up and to the right, as should the last letter of the last name. Up and to the right, whether you’re a lefty or not!

By Ellen Whitehurst for Astrology.com

Good Morning, Dear Friends! Here is Today’s Affirmation, Thought & Meditation Especially For You!

Today’s Affirmation for Sunday, August 12

 “I resolve to speak and act with a pure mind. When I do, happiness follows as my shadow.”

Today’s Thought for Sunday, August 12

 Do not assume that only those lives marked by grand achievements or spectacular heroics have value. An ordinary life, striving for virtue and wisdom, is an achievement in itself.

Today’s Meditation for Sunday, August 12

Listen for the Bells

According to myth Celtic shamans used sacred branches hung with silver bells to open doors between the material and spirit worlds. Close your eyes and imagine hearing the music of the silver bells. Approaching the sound you see a gateway formed by two blossoming trees. Passing through, you find yourself in another world. Ahead of you the guardian of the gateway is tending a cauldron over a fire. The guardian fills a chalice with liquid from the cauldron and hands it to  you. The spicy drink replenishes your strength. The guardian tells you to return whenever you need to, reminding you to listen for the silver bells. You pass back through the gateway and open your eyes. You feel full of life and energy.

 

More Good Morning Comments

Obama Widens Lead in New Poll

Obama Widens Lead in New Poll

by Jeff Fecke

President Barack Obama leads GOP challenger Mitt Romney by 10 percentage  points, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center.

According to the poll, Obama would win 51 percent of the vote to Romney’s 41  percent. 10 percent were undecided or supported other candidates.

The improvement for Obama was driven by an increasingly unfavorable view of  Romney. According to the poll, only 37 percent of voters view Romney favorably,  while 52 percent have an unfavorable view of him. Those numbers showed  significant weakening from June, when 41 percent of voters viewed Romney  favorably and 47 percent viewed him unfavorably. Obama is viewed favorably by 50  percent of voters, while 45 percent view him unfavorably.

Romney suffered through a series of gaffes in July, including a disastrous foreign trip. Romney has also been stung over  attacks on his unwillingness to release more than a couple of personal tax  returns.

Romney continues to struggle with women, trailing Obama 56-37. Romney and  Obama are essentially tied among male voters, with Romney leading 47-46. Obama  leads among voters under 30 by a 58-34 margin. The only age group Romney leads  is voters over 65, who back Romney 49-45.

Romney is ahead with white voters, 51-42, but trails Obama badly among  African American voters and Hispanic voters. Romney trails 70-26 among Hispanic  voters, and a staggering 92-4 among African American voters.

Romney does lead, 49-43, among voters making more than $100,000 per year, but  he trails significantly among voters making less than that.

The poll was conducted July 16-26, 2012, of 1,956 registered voters and 2,508  adults. The poll has a margin of error of ±2.8 percent.

Elder’s Meditation of the Day August 2

Elder’s Meditation of the Day August 2

“When you get older and you are ready, your ancestors will show up to guide you.”

–Joe Coyhis, STOCKBRIDGE-MUNSEE

Many of us, when we are young, spend a portion of our lives in learning. Unfortunately, some of us spend this time learning the hard way. When we are young we sometimes think we know everything. Sometimes we do foolish things. As we get a little older, we realize we don’t know anything. This is when we become teachable. There is a saying that goes, when the student is ready, the teacher appears. We usually aren’t teachable unless we are ready. The ancestors are waiting and willing to help. When we are ready, many beautiful teachers start to come into our lives. Then we really start to grow and mature. We are ready for the spiritual lesson.

Creator, help me to become ready and teachable.

Romney stays on message in Poland after UK, Israel missteps

Romney stays on message in Poland after UK, Israel missteps

By NBC News staff and wire reports

Updated 7:17 a.m. ET: WARSAW, Poland — Capping a weeklong foreign trip, Mitt Romney on Tuesday praised the people of Poland for marching toward “economic liberty and smaller government” rather than “heeding the false promise of a government-dominated economy.”

In a speech Tuesday in Poland’s capital, Warsaw, the Republican presidential candidate also lauded Poland for its higher living standards and strong military.

The presumptive Republican nominee’s thee-country trip had been intended to project the image of a leader ready to stand on the world’s stage but has been sidelined somewhat over alleged missteps in Britain and Israel.

Romney’s comments in Poland fit into his campaign’s themes of smaller government, reduced federal spending and fewer regulations on business. He says Poland is thriving because it sought to “stimulate innovation, attract investment, expand trade and live within its means.”

Romney said Poland’s success was a reminder that “free enterprise can propel an economy and transform a society.”

Earlier Tuesday, Romney met with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski. The two men discussed the longstanding ties between the two nations as well as the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan.

Poland has also been a significant contributor to military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“On behalf of our countrymen, I express deep appreciation for your willingness to fight with us, to stand with us, and to be our friends in times of crisis and military conflict,” Romney said.

“Poland has excellent ties with the United States, regardless of which American party is in power,” Sikorski said. “We remember Ronald Reagan’s warm feelings for Poland’s Solidarity and also the fact that we joined (NATO) during Bill Clinton’s term.”

The two-day trip to Poland is aimed at Polish-American and Catholic voters in the United States and highlighted Romney’s stance toward Russia. He has labeled Russia as America’s “No. 1 geopolitical foe,” a characterization that’s not unwelcome in a country that still fears Russia. Poles generally have been skeptical of President Barack Obama’s “reset” with Russia, and Romney has cited Polish concerns in his criticism of Obama.

As a former Soviet Bloc nation that has been subjugated by bigger European powers throughout history, Poland remains particularly worried about Russian policy.

Romney received words of encouragement on his visit to Poland on Monday from Lech Walesa, a former union leader and ex-Polish president, who said: “I wish you to be successful because this success is needed for the United States of course, but for Europe and the rest of the world too. Governor Romney, get your success. Be successful.”

But Solidarity, the union led by Walesa in the 1980s that helped topple communism in Poland, distanced itself from Romney, who it said “supported attacks on trade unions and employees’ rights.”

Romney angers Palestinians Earlier, Romney was forced to fight off controversy after he called Jerusalem the Israeli capital and said later that differences in culture powered Israel’s economic success compared with the Palestinians.

Both comments angered Palestinian leaders, just days after Romney annoyed Britons during a stop in London by questioning their readiness to host the Olympic Games.

However, Romney’s comments on Sunday about Jerusalem prompted a strong response.

The Palestinians want to establish a capital in east Jerusalem, captured and annexed by Israel in 1967. Most of the world, including the United States, does not recognize the annexation. Every U.S. administration since Lyndon Johnson has decided to keep the American embassy in Tel Aviv.

But on Sunday, Romney said flat out that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital and strongly suggested he would move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem if he were president, supporting two key Israeli demands.

The fate of Jerusalem is one of the main sticking points in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will not give up any part of the city, taking a harder line than two of his predecessors who were ready to discuss partition.

Previous U.S. presidential candidates, including then-Sen. Obama in June 2008, have referred to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital ahead of elections, only to row back when taking power and suggest the issue should be resolved by negotiations.

Seeking American Jewish and fundamentalist Christian votes, Romney has criticized Obama on Israel, alleging last year that the president had “thrown Israel under a bus” in pushing hard for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

In 2008, Obama won 78 percent of the Jewish vote, a lead into which Romney’s campaign would love to make inroads.

Romney points to ‘culture’ gap Romney pointed to the big difference in wealth between Israel and the Palestinians and suggested Israel’s culture was the reason for the gap.

“If you could learn anything from the economic history of the world, it’s this: culture makes all the difference,” he told a fundraising event in Jerusalem.

The chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat said that Romney’s comments amounted to “a racist statement that shows a lack of knowledge.”

He added, “Everyone knows that the Palestinians cannot reach their full potential given the Israeli restrictions imposed on them.”

A senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rdeineh, said Romney’s statements were unhelpful, stood in the way of a peace settlement and “contradict the previous positions held by the American administration.”

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a chief Romney foreign policy surrogate, appeared to differ with Romney even as he tried to defend him.

“I am sure that Gov. Romney was not talking about difference in cultures, or difference in anybody superior or inferior,” McCain said Monday in Tampa, Fla. “What I’m sure Gov. Romney was talking was that the Israeli economy has grown and prospered in a dramatic fashion. And unfortunately, the Palestinians have not had that same economic development.”

McCain continued: “And that goes to the leadership of the Palestinians. … And we also know that the Palestinian people have not been blessed with the kind of government that has lower regulations, less taxes, entrepreneurship, which have caused the Israeli economy to be one of the world’s most successful. It has nothing to do with cultures. It has nothing to do with superiority or inferiority.”

NBC News staff, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Editorial Opinion – July 30

I believe as you have come to know me. You have never heard me speak of politics until now. I have always tried to stay neutral (which I hope I am still about to do), taking neither side. Matter of fact, you don’t know if I am Republican or Democrat. And I feel it should stay that way, Witchcraft and Politics don’t mix in my opinion.

Here recently I have been seeing images, photos, News reports and everything else about Romney being overseas. I stop to think to myself, “what the heck is he doing over there to start with?” Besides embarrassing us in Great Britain, that is all I see he has accomplished. He isn’t the President. He has no power and he surely can’t make our allies any promises. Because he doesn’t know if he will be able to keep them or not. And I surely hope our allies know not to make any agreements with him because he is not President of the United States.  He is only a candidate for President. And really since the Republican’s haven’t had their convention yet, he is not the Republican candidate. Well at least that is how I thought things worked. You don’t presume anything, you have to be voted on, then it’s official. Hmm, just because the rest dropped out, doesn’t mean there could be a person come out of no where and take the nomination. The way I understand the Republicans really aren’t that happy with Romney to start with. So if another person would come out of the woodwork and challenge him, perhaps things might get interesting. At least Romney would stop acting Presidential and go back to acting more like a candidate for the Republican nomination.

It is in my humble opinion, that Romney should come back to the States AND STAY! He has no business overseas. If he was on vacation, that would be totally different. But he is not, he is over there campaigning the American residents and visiting all the Dignitaries and Heads of State.  Which in my opinion, he has no business doing right now. If he wins the Presidency, then make your plans to go visit abroad. But for now, stay home and please keep your mouth shut for the rest of the trip.

I went back and re-read what I had wrote and it struck me. If Romney has embarrassed just as a candidate, what would he be like as President? Do we really want a man in the White House that has already humiliated the American people? I believe his actions now just give us a preview of what’s to come, if he is elected President.  I hope the American people think long and hard about their decision this year.

Just my humble opinion…..

6-year-old girl, sailor, aspiring broadcaster among Colorado shooting victims

6-year-old girl, sailor, aspiring broadcaster among Colorado shooting victims

By Martin Wolk, NBC News

Updated July 23, 10:45 a.m. EDT: An aspiring sportscaster. A 6-year-old girl. A man celebrating his 27th birthday. College students who moved to Colorado to blaze paths for their futures.

The names and lives of the victims killed in a horrific mass shooting at a Denver-area movie theater emerged Saturday as families and friends learned the fates of their loved ones.

The Arapahoe County coroner released the identities of the dozen victims who were killed in the attack at a midnight premiere of “Batman: The Dark Knight Rises” early Friday in Aurora, Colo.

“The cause of death in all cases is related to gunshot wounds,” said the coroner, Dr. Michael Doberson. The manner of death is homicide.”

Officials said 58 other people were injured in the rampage. On Saturday night, 26 remained hospitalized, nine in critical condition.

James Eagan Holmes, 24, a graduate student at the University of Colorado-Denver, was arrested outside the theater, clad in black body armor and armed with three weapons.

Survivors of the midnight screening shootings were allowed to return to the theater Saturday to retrieve their automobiles, which were left behind during the evacuation and subsequent investigation. Some of them left flowers and flags as tributes to the dead.

The youngest victim to die in the shooting rampage was Veronica Moser-Sullivan, 6, her great-aunt, Annie Dalton, told NBC News.

Veronica’s mother, Ashley Moser, 25, was shot in the throat and the abdomen. She remained paralyzed in critical condition and hadn’t been told of her daughter’s death, Dalton said.

“This is just a nightmare right now,” Dalton said. “It’s a nightmare. “Everything’s surreal. It’s just surreal.”

Residents of Aurora gathered late Sunday and vowed to remember the victims. President Barack Obama visited with survivors and family members of victims.

Here are profiles of others confirmed dead:

Jessica Ghawi, 24 A hockey blogger and aspiring sportscaster, Ghawi had recently moved to Denver from San Antonio to pursue her dream and was working as an intern at a Denver sports radio station.

“One of the things that she had been working on with all the fires in Colorado was she had asked everybody to donate sports equipment for people because she knows how sports brings such joy,” her friend Mike Lavender told MSNBC-TV.

Ghawi had escaped a shooting at a mall in Toronto in June, writing in her blog that an “odd feeling” compelled her to leave the shopping center minutes before a shooting that left two people dead.

Before the movie she had exchanged excited tweets with her friends about the midnight showing from her Twitter handle, @JessicaRedfield.

“Of course we’re seeing Dark Knight. Redheaded Texan spitfire, people should never argue with me. Maybe I should get in on those NHL talks…”

Alex Sullivan, 27 Sullivan had planned to celebrate his 27th birthday Friday, beginning with the midnight showing of the new Batman movie.

 

“Oh man one hour till the movie and its going to be the best BIRTHDAY ever,” he tweeted before heading to the theater where a black-clad gunman wearing body armor opened fire, killing 12 people and injuring 58.

That was the last his friends and family heard from him.

Heartbreaking photos showed his father, Tom Sullivan, in the nearby Gateway High School parking lot, waving a picture of his son and yelling, “Find my son!”

Late Friday, the family got confirmation of his death.

Jonathan Blunk, 26 Blunk always wanted to be a hero, according to his friends and family.

“He always talked about if he were going to die, he wanted to die a hero,” his estranged wife, Chantel Blunk, told NBC News from Reno, Nev.

 

Blunk attended the movie with a friend, Jansen Young, who credited him with saving her life.

When the shooting broke out, Young said Blunk, a military veteran, threw her to the ground and told her to stay down.

“Jon just took a bullet for me,” Young told TODAY.

Chantel Blunk said her husband graduated from Reno’s Procter Hug High School in 2004 and enlisted in the Navy, serving out of San Diego aboard the USS Nimitz. The couple, who met in high school, married in 2007.

He left the service in 2009 and after separating from his wife moved to Colorado, where he worked for a hardware store. After a franctic day of trying to get information about her husband’s fate, Chantel said FBI agents arrived at her home Friday evening and confirmed her worst fears.

In addition to his wife, Blunk leaves behind two young children, a girl, 4, and a boy, 2.

Chantel said she plans to bring the body home to Reno, where he will be buried with military honors. She has set up an account through Wells Fargo to raise money for the funeral and transportation costs.

John Larimer, 27 Petty Officer Third Class John Larimer, of Crystal Lake, Ill., attended the opening with another sailor, who was injured in the attack

“I am incredibly saddened by the loss of Petty Officer John Larimer — he was an outstanding shipmate, “said Cmdr. Jeffrey Jakuboski, Larimer’s commanding officer. “A valued member of our Navy team, he will be missed by all who knew him. My heart goes out to John’s family, friends and loved ones, as well as to all victims of this horrible tragedy.”

Larimer, a cryptologic technician, joined the Navy in June 2011 and had been stationed at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora since October.

His family said they were making arrangments to bring the remains back to Illinois.

“We respectfully ask that the family and friends of John be allowed time and privacy to grieve for John and we send our thoughts and prayers out to the families of the other victims and those still recovering in the hospital,” the family said in a statement. “We love you John and we will miss you always.”

Matt McQuinn, 27 McQuinn, originally from Springfield, Ohio, went to the premiere with his girlfriend, Samantha Yowler, who was injured in the attack, according to family members.

McQuinn was a graduate of Butler-Vandalia High School in Ohio. He and Yowler, from St. Paris, Ohio, moved in November to Colorado, where Yowler’s brother, Nick, lives.

All three were in the theater when the shooting erupted.

McQuinn and Nick Yowler dove on top of Samantha Yowler to shield her from bullets, family attorney Rob Scott told NBC station WLWT of Cincinnati.

Yowler was shot in the knee and is recovering after surgery, Scott said. Nick Yowler was not hurt, he said.

Micayla Medek, 23 Medek was among the dead, her father’s cousin, Anita Busch, told The Associated Press.

Busch said the news, while heartbreaking, was a relief for the family after an agonizing day of waiting for news.

“I hope this evil act … doesn’t shake people’s faith in God,” she said.

Medek worked at Subway and had taken classes at Community College of Aurora, the Denver Post reported. She was a graduate of William C. Hinkley High School in Aurora.

Jesse Childress, 29 Former soldier and Air Force Reservist Jesse Childress was the kind of guy who would do anything for anybody.

 

“My brother’s wheelchair broke,” said one long-time neighbor in Lake Los Angeles, Calif., where Childress grew up. “He (Jesse) fixed it and didn’t charge him a dime.”

Childress, a staff sergeant on active duty at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, where he served as a cyber-system operator, was at the midnight showing with fellow reservist Munirih Gravelly when James Holmes allegedly set off a can of tear gas before opening fire in the jam-packed theater.   “As soon as that little gas can exploded, I said, ‘This is wrong,’” Gravelly told NBC LA. She dove to the floor and was wounded by buckshot but kept her face down.

“I feel really sorry that he’s gone,” she said. “None of us noticed until the lights, until it was over, that he was gone. None of us were there to hold his hand, look him in the eye while he passed. … I lost a friend.”

“He was a fun-loving individual,” his colleague Sgt. Alejandro Sanchez told the Associated Press. “If you needed help, no matter the time of day he would stay late. He would come in early to help out the unit in any way he can, even if it meant long hours.”

Alexander Jonathan Boik, 18 Boik, known as AJ, graduated earlier this year from Gateway High School in Aurora, his family said in a statement. He was accepted to Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design and planned to be an art teacher and open his own studio.

He attended the movie with his girlfriend, who survived the attack, the family said. She was not identified.

A friend, Jordan Crofter, described Boik as someone who “didn’t hold anything back. He was just his own person.”

“He was a ball of joy. He was never sad or depressed. He wanted everybody to be happy,” Crofter told The Associated Press.

Alex Teves, 24 Teves was a 2006 graduate of Desert Vista High School in the Tempe (Ariz.) Unified School District, NBC station KPNX of Phoenix reported.

University of Denver released a statement saying Teves graduated from the Morgridge College of Education recently, and identified his home town as Phoenix.

Rebecca Ann Wingo, 32 An Aurora resident originally from Quinlan, Texas, Wingo was a mother of two daughters, her friends said in social media postings. She was a waitress at Joe’s Crab Shack and was a student at the Community College of Aurora, the Denver Post reported.

“I lost my daughter yesterday to a mad man,” Steve Hernandez wrote on his daughter’s Facebook page, the Post reported. “My grief right now is inconsolable. I hear she died instantly, without pain, however the pain is unbearable.”

Gordon W. Cowden, 51 Cowden was the oldest victim identified by the Arapahoe County coroner’s office.

Cowden grew up in Austin, Texas, and is the father of four children, his friend Jane Gibson told NBC News. “I had texted him yesterday to see how he was (after hearing of the shooting), I never heard back from him.” His parents and siblings live in Texas, she said.

“A quick witted world traveler with a keen sense of humor, he will be remembered for his devotion to his children and for always trying his best to do the right thing, no matter the obstacle,” his family said.

NBC News’ Miranda Leitsinger, Alex Johnson, Jim Gold, Elizabeth Chuck, Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube, MSNBC’s Dax Tejera, Beverly White and John Simerson of NBC Los Angeles and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Quiz of the Day – Are You a Tracker or a Dreamer?

Are You a Tracker or a Dreamer? Quiz

  • Annie B. Bond

Trackers and dreamers experience energy very differently and connect to the  world in very different ways: trackers plan and carry out their plans, where  dreamers jump into reality without regard for plans. See if you are more of a  dreamer or a tracker with this fun quiz:

Examine these pairs of statements and see which of each pair sounds most like  you:

I purposefully consolidate energy. I keep awareness open to radical  transformation.

I develop flexibility and fluency among different worlds. I am often  black-and-white, totally in perspective or totally out of it.

I tend to be lighthearted. I often become morose or obsessed, seemingly  lost within the energies of my world.

I find knowledge through shifting social identities. I find knowledge  through shifting the various dreams of reality.

I find meaning in stability, then hook dreaming into the physical and build  it from there. I take my awareness, fixate on it, then project that onto  others.

I have a difficult time accessing the full robustness of dreaming. I have  a difficult time relating to what I consider the limitations of the physical  world and the requirements of building something over time.

I isolate components of a problem, then apply strategic pressure to open  doors. I sense options, then open doors.

I need training to stretch my energy body. I need training to get down to  earth.

I may get lost in the nuances of my wondrous accomplishments. I may get  lost in the currents of my own dreams.

If you identified more with the first statement of each pair, you are a  Tracker. If you related more to the second, you are a  Dreamer.

2012: End of the world … or a cosmic call to action?

The Astrology of 2012

Rick Levine on the topics of astrology, 2012

The end of the world is near! That’s the word on the street, anyway, and the media frenzy has officially begun, projecting fear that the end of the Mayan calendar on December 21, 2012 really is the end of days.

The good news is that the world will not really end in 2012, although you don’t need to be an astrologer to see how quickly things are changing. Civilization as we know it seems to be in a precarious situation, with growing political unrest and financial stresses warning us that we are repeating epic mistakes from our own cultural history. For example, we have just witnessed the sharpest economic downturn since the Great Depression. Differences in political ideologies and spiritual beliefs continue to fuel increasingly destructive wars. Environmental threats make our water and food supplies more and more scarce; meanwhile, we are powering our world with a diminishing reserve of oil and others resources. So it’s no surprise that so many people — experts and laymen alike — are predicting that the fabric of our entire society is dangerously at risk.

But if you look to the skies, you’ll see there’s nothing to fear on that notorious day in 2012.

Astrologers watch the cycles of the Sun, Moon and planets to understand the changing nature of time and to put these shifts into historical perspective. For example, we had a dose of culture-wide panic at the threshold of this century. The start of the year 2000 — or “Y2K” — was as an apocalyptic date; some predicted that it would be the beginning of the “end times.” But astrologers could see then that there were no planetary alignments significant enough to warrant this kind of fear.

2012 is different — there are significant astrological factors that indicate these are truly significant times. But let’s clear one thing up right away: there won’t be a cataclysmic event on December 21, 2012. It’s been claimed that on this first day of winter, the Sun will line up perfectly with the center of the Milky Way Galaxy and that this will confirm the ancient Mayan prophecies. In other words, many claim that the Sun’s change of position will mark the end of time. But there is a scientific problem with this reasoning: the Sun’s alignment to the galactic center on Winter Solstice moves at the rate of one degree every 72 years! Therefore, this cosmic event is so slow-moving that it lasts more than a decade.

As astrologers track the cycles of planets, they pay special attention to the lunation cycle, which is the monthly flow of New Moons and Full Moons. This is how they are able predict the impact these movements will have on the personal and emotional cycles of our daily lives. Meanwhile, astrologers also track the activities of the slower-moving outer planets (the ones with the longest orbits), which create their own rhythms and are more closely related to large historical cycles.

For example, Uranus symbolizes sudden changes that release explosive energy, which is why astrologers refer to it as “The Great Awakener.” Pluto symbolizes total metamorphosis. The deep transformation that’s associated with mysterious Pluto is dramatic and complete, like a caterpillar evolving into a butterfly, which is why the profound cultural shifts of the 1960s corresponded with a conjunction between surprising Uranus and passionate Pluto in 1965-1966.

In the summer of 2012, these two planetary harbingers of change will come into a hard 90-degree alignment — their first since the mid-1960s. This dynamic angle between lightning-like Uranus and intense Pluto recurs seven times from June 24, 2012 through March 16, 2015. This is the period of upheaval we should be looking at, rather than focusing on a single day in 2012.

But there is another player that is involved in this cycle: Karmic Saturn, known in Astrology as “the Tester,” entered the picture in the late summer of 2008 and was exactly opposite Uranus on Election Day when Barack Obama was elected President. Saturn symbolizes the status quo. Saturn is traditional, conservative and fear-based, and it punishes those who do not follow the rules. On the other hand, Uranus symbolizes the new. Uranus is progressive and radical, and it anticipates the future with excitement. The Saturn-Uranus opposition is a struggle between the old and the new, and this phase of political confrontation will continue until Saturn and Uranus’ final contact next summer.

From an astrological perspective, this means we don’t have to wait until 2012 for the action to begin, because we are already in a time of profound change, not unlike the 1960s. Now, however, we communicate in ways that are far more revolutionary, due to our constant interconnection via cell phone, email, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and numerous other social networks. There are new political opportunities for disenfranchised people all over the world to connect with one another, which may explain Barack Obama’s meteoric rise to the Whitehouse over the fearful cries of the old-school American political machine. It is this factor — our ability to communicate more quickly and openly — that will prevent the end of the world.

Astrology is not about predicting fated events; it’s about being aware of cosmic movements so we can get our timing right to make positive changes. The Astrology of 2012 is not about announcing the end of the world. Rather, it’s a call to action. Each and every one of us has a job to do, because as the great psychologist Carl Jung said, “The salvation of the world depends upon the salvation of the individuals living in it.”

Some of us may play larger roles in the current changes by getting involved in community, national or global politics. But each of us adds to the total picture when we live our individual lives responsibly. Astrology reminds us that there is no time to waste — we are each an agent of change and each of us can impact the big picture by replacing doubt with courage, and by conquering fear with love.

In other words, this is truly the time to “think globally and act locally.”

The Daily Motivator for June 11 – True wealth

True wealth

Everything has a cost. And that is good, because it enables everything to  have value.

You get what you pay for. And that is good, because everyone wins when value  can be traded equitably.

If you’re not willing to pay the price, it is not possible for you to benefit  from the value. What you get with no effort or payment on your part, is not  worth having.

It is your participation in the creation of value that makes it valuable and  meaningful to you. It is a waste of your precious life to expect something for  nothing.

It is the earning, not the possession, that brings fulfillment. It is what  you contribute that determines your true wealth.

The authentic and immensely satisfying wealth of life is always available to  you. All you have to do, is earn it.

— Ralph Marston

The Daily Motivator 

Elder’s Meditation of the Day June 4

Elder’s Meditation of the Day June 4

“Wakan Tanka never stops creating.”

–Archie Fire Lame Deer, LAKOTA

The Medicine Wheel teaches about change. It says that which is created will fall apart; that which is loose, will be used to create new. In other words, everything on Earth is participating in a constant change that is being directed by an order of laws and principles which were originated by the Great Spirit. We humans are equipped with natural change abilities. We have the ability to vision; we can use imagination and imagery; we can change belief, attitude, habits and expectations. We need to know ourselves and we need to know how we work inside to enable us to change naturally.

Great Spirit, teach me to change in harmony.

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‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for April 29th

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Leisure – what is it? It is that beautiful something that escapes us most of the time. Leisure, like most everything else, can be found if we truly want it. We seem to have the ability to do most of what we set our minds to do, and the less important things can be set aside for this particular thing.

We get pretty stale when we never take time to relax. A few hours of getting away from even a beloved madhouse will make a new human being out of a bundle of nerves.

Pursuit of leisure is to lose it. We can’t suddenly say that the next five minutes will be for complete relaxation. It takes that long to begin to unwind. Gaiety and rhythm and frivolity are shunned by most minds. But if there are none of these, even in the smallest amounts, then leisure is more of a restless shuffling – like a night out with no place to go.

We need to exercise our minds a little to achieve any goal, and leisure is definitely a goal!

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

 
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BREAKING A MAGICAL BOND WITH ANOTHER PERSON

BREAKING A MAGICAL BOND WITH ANOTHER PERSON

Ingredients

Second, if a person wanted to try a link-break, they would have to evoke the bond again
[to break it] … They could use a simple sorcerous ceremony to evoke the link. …
Get a private room, and draw a diagram on a surface you can stand and walk around on.
They’d diagram out a central circle one pace in diameter.
Then they’d draw another circle about one pace in diameter.
Then they’d connect the two circles with a line.
On one side of the line would be written the person’s name.
One the other side of the line would be written the other person’s name.
Next two effigies would be prepared. A photograph with a name written on it is nice.
People with old fashioned leanings can make them out of clay or wax.
With some caballa one could make them out writings on sheets of paper.
One effigy is for the person linked to. It’s put in a bowl or something that cooking wine
can burn safely in, like an aluminum kitchen bowl. The second effigy is of the donor.
That can be put into an ordinary kitchen bowl as well.
Next a series of things in a backwards-seeming order is performed.
First, holding the effigy of the other person, the characteristics of the other person
are invoked into it. It’s then stuck into its bowl and sealed in its circle; let’s call it circle B.
Then the donor’s effigy has the donor’s characteristics invoked into it and it is sealed into circle A.
The link connecting the two persons is then *evoked* from inside the donor,
with them calling it forth and projecting it into the line connecting the two circles.
Then with some convenient wand or kitchen spoon or something, tap the line
connecting the two circles, invoking the line to represent the bond between the two.
Then after walking three times around the whole contraption, counterclockwise and
make drawing gestures with the wand, kitchen spoon, laser pointer, etc. the force
linking the two is commanded to decouple and withdraw from the line into the
separate sealed circles. Then the line is broken physically with the wand, laser
pointer, whatever and the link is commanded to break and not reform.
Remaining are two potentized effigies in separate sealed circles.
It’s finished up by taking salt water (Epsom salts are nice) and banishing any
connection that the donor effigy has with the donor by pouring the salt water over
it without breaking the circle A, while commanding any connection be dissipated harmlessly.
Then cooking wine is poured into the other bowl in circle B and a match is tossed in
and the command is given for any link that the effigy has with the other person to be
cleanly and harmlessly consumed by the flame . Then the mess is cleaned up in a normal way.
If you should happen to do this, you do it at your own risk, and are fully responsibility for
whatever happens. It’s a good idea to experiment with cooking spirits beforehand in a
controlled manner to determine what kind and amount and lighting technique is most
advisable in individual circumstances.

Mari-Morgan (Blood/Harvest Moon)

Mari-Morgan

(Blood/Harvest Moon)

 

The Mari-Morgans were water faeries known for playing the harp beautifully and riding white, seafoam horses. They travel from their sea palaces on a crystal bridge, and have been known to protect sailors and save shipwreck victims. In this spell, you are calling upon their energy to use the water element to protect your personal space from the dark energies that come out at this time of year.

You will need a white candle, a bell, and a chalice full of water.

Draw a magick circle and call in the elements. Light the white candle and say:

With this flame I bring in the light of Goddess

To shine like a beacon through the darkness.

 

Beginning in the north point, stand with the bell and chalice of water. Sprinkle several drops of water and say:

Mari-Morgan, Lovely Lady of the sea

Please protect this space for eternity.

 

Ring the bell three times, and then go to the east, south and west points repeating everything you did for the north.

After you have finished casting the spell, thank the Mari-Morgans for their help and bid farewell to the elements. Pull up the circle, but let the candle burn safely down.

Wishy Washy

This magickal wash is thought to bring about your wishes

1  tablespoon sage

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 tablespoon sandalwood

Combine all the ingredients in pan, empowering them one by one. Bring to a boil, and boil for 3 minutes, Add the mixture to cold wash water. Say, “My wishes will come to me, take care of myself and my family. With harm to none and good will to all, mother, mine, bear my call. Bring these desired goals to me, so that me and mine will blessed be.