This field exercise was the best yet so far, as I learn to depend on Jesus for everything.  It was just as hard though circumstantial wise.  Hours of screaming from Hannah this morning as a fire ant bit her toe (a lesson learned in obedience the tough way unfortunately, poor child, I told her and Lewis several times that red ants get mad if you try to drown them or stomp on them…), many frustrating experiences, things breaking, so many projects went unfinished…one I spent hours preparing got lost on the computer the next morning, many workouts missed, my body is tired, my patience thinned, BUT I learned, each and every time my heart began straying from the path, to get on my knees and pray for help and deliverance.

The Lord has shown me how to sense when my heart is straying oftentimes…He has given me the gift of self awareness in that sense…I feel the discouragement, frustration, numbness, apathy in my heart…and I force my steps to open the Word or pray…and sometimes, the Lord forces me.  The other day I went to the computer for distraction when the kiddies were napping…and it wouldn’t even turn on.  I tried to print something for homeschooling and it wouldn’t work either.  It kept breaking worse and worse the harder I tried to make it work (I can be pretty determined…).  I sat down frustrated again and prayed and read the Word.  Halfway through a proverb, the computer turned on and the printer started working AND printing!!!    He lifts my eyes to turn to Him over and over again.

I’ve learned to depend on Him for protection and provision of our family.  I do my absolute best to provide that when Brian is gone…but I saw the Lord give my kids the most amazing little sweet spirits while I was cooking meals or cleaning up or in the moments when I really needed a break.  They would skip away and play sweetly while I finished up my work, checking on them to make sure they were still being good.  I can tell when the Holy Spirit is present in them…He gives them the sweetest, most cooperative spirits….it is such a sweet gift of grace to me.  Knowing the Lord in this way helps me know Him more intimately.  It draws me closer to Him in knowing how He really is everything to all of us.

I cannot believe how big our God is.  I am praising Him for allowing me to know Him in a new and most wonderful way–as my sweet husband, the lover of my soul, provider and protecter, my strength and shield.

Saturn limits our Mars, actions if we haven’t played fair { LIBRA}.

Of course the Curiosity landing on MARS is about the reality { Saturn}

I’ll spin off 50 shades of variations on the men are from Mars and Capricorns  are from Saturn theme.

Mars is considered weak in Venus’s home sign, he is not macho.  Saturn is exalted in Libra. Fairness, equality, balance, peace is what Libra is all about at its highest.  But LIBRA is ruled by VENUS,so the GODDESS has the final word about relationships justice and balance.

IN the TAROT JUSTICE is the Trump associated with LIBRA.

She is originally the GODDESS MA’AT Egyptian Immortal Goddess of KARMIC JUSTICE,who weighed her ostrich feather in her scales against the heart of the deseased.

Mars is sexuality drive, libido and conjunct to Saturn  it also symbolizes older men being sexually active and athletic.

Mars rules Scorpio and of course represents  DARK SEXUALITY what used to be forbidden till 50 shades of GREY came along. With Saturn { SATAN} this is Bondage, S & M, sadism, cruel, selfish, macho concrete, Mafioso kind of sexuality. It’s mean and nasty to say the least in Saturn reality.

50 shades of Grey ,which I have not read, is insidiously making female submissiveness seem normal and sexually titillating as a backlash to Women coming into true feminine power. TSK TSK…yes of course  a woman wrote it. She’s working for the bad boys,  I say.

Women finding it sexy to be spanked like bad children by a powerful masculine is very sick and imbalanced. This Feminine wound is an ancient sore spot, that hasn’t healed and is now  being used by the media to further manipulate and disempower women. It’s in consciouness now { Pluto} in order to free women to integrate the powerlessness that has been foisted upon them by the PATRIARCHY – SATURN. Women need to regain their rightful place as GODDESSES, the Great Mother of all. Not fall deeper into the trap. No pun intended.

I am sure I am going to hear about this…

Just wait til Saturn enters SCORPIO-October 5 - future article coming- to see how the DARK SIDE and seeing reality vs illusion changes our view of the world.

another side of Mars Saturn is

The OLYMPICS

A nice energy for mutual respect between countries whose young athletes are doing Martial things like competing. There’s been some lovely photos on FB of Athletes holding up democracy slogans and joyously hugging each other for winning, showing very Libran Mars displays of mutual respect. Nice good sportsmanship.

The Difficult aspect, the conjunction is considered the HARDEST, the most potent, sounds very sexy and Mars like doesn’t it?

If you are born with a Mars/Saturn conjunction you can have enormous will power drive ambition to succeed beyond all obstacles, late maturing. It all depends on what sign Mars and Saturn are conjunct in. The most problematic would be Mars Saturn in Scorpio.My ex first husband had this aspect - secretly ploting and scheming, ruthless, selfish.

But between the two MALEFICS MARS & SATURN this is a tough test. Mars conjunct Saturn is tough testosterone.

Men are being put to the test in their relationships now. The old Saturn boys club is being overthrown. See How the POPE is doing these days.

Drunvalo Melchizedek is decrying Dec 21 2012 as the end of the Old Patriarchal order, from what I understand and Dec. 22 2012 as the REBIRTH of the FEMININE.

Who gets affected the mOST?

MARS & SATURN affects LIBRA’s MOST who are  born Oct 16 17 18  with the conjunction to your Sun at 24 degrees of Libra.

 CAPRICORN’S born January 14, 15 16  

CANCER’S born July 8 9 10 through a Square.

ARIES born April 13, 14 15 by opposition.

If you know your astrology chart and have any planets at 24 degrees LiBRA especially you will feel the test and restriction of your actions.

FIND OUT HOW THE 2 MALEFICS are affecting your CAREER  and

RELATIONSHIPS, http://www.taratarot.com/id78.html

I’ll put this question to both men and women. How balanced is your career { Saturn}  ambition vs your feeling qualities, your balance in relationships. { MARS}

Men have an inner Feminine, their Soul, the ANIMA as psychologist Carl Jung termed it, is always considered feminine. This would describe Mars in Libra. 

whether you are straight or homosexual, Saturn in Libra is anchoring, embodying, making sexual politics practical and real.

Get to know your own inner feminine, listen to your inner opposite sexed partner. They will be mirrored back to you in your outer partnerships..

The test is so that men and women can discover a new form of balanced equal whole respectful relationship,. LIBRA Is ruled by VENUS,

Today Tim and I celebrate 5 years of marriage. It deserves all the romantic labels one might ascribe to a wedding anniversary – blissful, loving, caring, tender, fun, relaxing, and wonderful.  We’re not perfect: we argue, we’re not always thoughtful, and we struggle to understand one another, but those things don’t negate any of the positive qualities. In fact, those scuffles only make us better because they sharpen and refine us. They are the “holy sandpaper” moments of marriage, as Gary Thomas calls it in his book Sacred Marriage – which asks the difficult and not-immediately-warm-and-fuzzy-question: What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy? Tim and I certainly are happy together, but we’re also becoming more holy by being together.

Today I fondly remember some moments of our day 5 years ago: My girlfriends Kelly & Katie arranging the flowers – tossing over the rail the ones that didn’t make the cut, rummaging my mom’s potted palms to make Tim’s boutonniere, and serving so joyfully; My Aunts Samantha & Deanna pinning my strapless dress to my body as it fell off when I put it on since I hadn’t bothered for a fitting; Our perfect and small guest-list of 55 barefoot people and my always-concerned-about-sun-damage sister, Jennifer, handing out sunscreen; Playing in the ocean post-ceremony and not caring a lick about getting wet or sandy; having our friends and family lay hands and pray over us before we left the reception.  And these are just a few of my memories…

As fun as it is to remember, it’s equally thrilling to look forward. I’m so grateful that Tim and I have shared these 5 years of “doing life” together and that years ago he chose me to love and serve and cherish for all of his days (which he does! I am so spoiled). My continual desire is that our marriage will be that every day to come: loving each other, serving each other, cherishing each other. And not to make life easy or more enjoyable (which will hopefully be a byproduct!), but so that we can do more together for the Lord, for He truly is the center of our marriage and the third strand in our rope that keeps us strong.  Thank you Lord for blessing our marriage!

Ecclesiastes 4:12, The Message

By yourself you’re unprotected.
With a friend you can face the worst.
Can you round up a third?
A three-stranded rope isn’t easily snapped.

Christian Marriage

Believe the Lord and all He says;
Success on earth too comes in days;
Prepare your soul with grace always;
A Christian true has won the race!

by Dr John Celes

We now understand that between those two poles lies the entire swirling spectrum of manifest existence; our lives and bodies reflect our awareness and our assessment of the relationship between the Divine Couple of Spirit and Matter, Heaven and Earth.

In each cycle of Life – each spiralling of earth and sun, each individual lifetime, each wobble of our planet on its axis, even in each movement of breath as we inhale and exhale – we experience the courtship of the dualities of existence. It is a dance of exhilarating alchemical geometry – the very definition of passion….

I was in the UK for the Queen’s Jubilee, when fire beacons were lit from the tip of the Orkneys down the length of the land and throughout the Commonwealth – the ancient ritual sent shivers through me, awakening something primal – I felt like a wolf, sniffing the air….  The next day was the Venus transit, when energies of balance and harmony – of the healing of Relationship – were present and accessible for our world….  Fire, followed by new potential….

We’ve now crossed the threshold of the summer solstice; fire ceremonies were held at sacred sites and in intentional circles around the earth to mark this transition through the South Gate of the Medicine Wheel and into the fire element medicine…. In the southern States and southern Europe this is literally the case, as temperatures soar into the unbearable and forests are aflame. I’m told that this year, electrical consumption to cool the summer heat may surpass what is used to warm us in winter. Life on this planet is heating up as we are also exposed to higher frequencies from the sun and the plasma cloud through which we’re passing – we know that the movement of molecules becomes more and more agitated and random the higher their frequency….

That just about describes how people seem to be feeling and acting lately – agitated …chaotic.  Since the winter solstice, the sun’s increasing warmth has slowly extricated our gaze from our bellybuttons to focus on the world outside of ourselves. We are called into relationship, action, performance and competition as the wounded male in us seeks to prove himself lovable and of value. The teaching of the South direction of the Medicine Wheel is largely about the joy of being incarnate and all the different ways that this joy can be expressed…. What I am seeing is that the obstacles to passionate, exuberant existence that we have accrued in our lives are becoming painfully obvious and challenging – it is taking more and more energy to maintain the blasé and mundane! “Affairs are now soul size” wrote Christopher Fry in 1951, well before the Super-Size fast-food battle of the bulge had warped N. Americans into anaesthetised objects of derision. It looks as if some of the anaesthetic is wearing off – at least around the edges, Pacific and Atlantic…. Corrupt, repressive, dictatorial governments from Egypt to Canada to China are coming under attack from citizenry wielding the swords of truth, justice and righteous indignation.

What did you feel as we crossed into summer, and what has transpired in your life since then? Here at Heartroot, I felt practically catatonic – so much so that I contacted friends around the world to check how they were doing. The consensus seemed to be that Something very big was occurring – it felt to me like walking into a gale-force wind, or counter-current to a tidal wave….it took everything I had to stay rooted and more or less right-side-up. We’ve heard so much about the awakening of the Feminine lately, but the massive shift that has been taking place with the masculine energy on this planet has been strangely ignored.

What came in meditation was that the energetic template of the healed masculine energy has been put in place, and the last tendrils of the wounded male were struggling as they snapped, losing their grip on our reality. The solar eclipse in May set the stage for the dissolution of the hurt, tired paradigm of  domineering masculinity; with the summer solstice and the solar energy at its apex,  the renewed masculine is able to stand in dignity and integrity, utilising its gifts of intelligence and wisdom with compassion.

As we have passed through the door of the South, we now begin the feminine, inward path once again. Days now become shorter and the sunlight slowly decreases. We meander our
way back to the autumn equinox and a state of balance. I had two strong recurring images – one, of a bridegroom standing at the top of the aisle, awaiting his beloved. The other was going out into the fields to welcome the Shekhinah on the eve of Shabbat, the People calling the Bride.

The feminine aspect of each one of us is to be prepared, to be “dressed” for the ceremony of Sacred Marriage that will occur on the autumn equinox, this year so much more profoundly than we have seen before. Our physical bodies, our notions of Home, our
emotional leftovers – this is where Life will place our attention, so we’d might as well go there with awareness. The Divine Couple express themselves within us as well as in nature, as Spirit and Matter, inner and outer lives, intellect and instinct – all possible manifestations of the masculine and feminine principles –  seek union, balance, equality and peace.

Here at Heartroot, I feel the “dressing of the Bride” in the work that is being done on the land in preparation for the autumn equinox that has become the focal point of this year. I am observing and honouring my body’s needs for less food, more activity and more rest…. Hands and bare feet in the warm, dark earth, the sun coaxing wetness to my skin, I feel the Black Madonna rise within me, and rejoice….

In chapter two I find myself agreeing and disagreeing again…

He makes a powerful statement like this

Will we approach marriage from a God centered-view or a man-centered view? In a man-centered view, we will maintain our marriage as long as our earthly comforts, desires, and expectations are met. In a God-centered view, we preserve our marriage because it brings glory to God and points a sinful world to a reconciling Creator.

You know what… I can dig that. I agree. In fact the heart of this chapter he communicates understanding a God-centered view in order to endure hardships.

However my struggle (and this looks like it will be throughout the entire book so GET READY) is that I believe he overstates his issue. Honestly it sounds as if he is really reacting to the claim that so many people fall in and out of love, rather than try to reflect a God like love and stay committed.

The problem is that most people, especially when hardships occur don’t have proper tools to work on things. At the time it seems easier to give up than fight. However I think just because you can walk away doesn’t mean you have to choose to. For the Christian one’s relationship with God should be reflected in marriage.

Your spouse should be a reflection of your heart. Your love should be communicated clearly that your spouse can tell the story of just how much you care…

Let’s just say that the title of this blog is right around where I am at . There are a lot of things that were said that I agree with.

The author (Gary Thomas) deal’s with the elasticity (or lack there of,) of Romantic Love. By this he means that;

Romantic love has no elasticity to it. It can never be stretched; it simply shatters… Many will break up their relationship and try to recreate the passionate romance with someone else. Other couples will descend into a sort of martial guerrilla warfare, a passive-aggressive power play as each partner blames the other for personal dissatisfaction or lack of excitement. Some couples decide to simply “get along”.

I can agree with these statements. All to often people think “romantic love” is enough. Once the relationship’s passion, or excitement seems to run out, people thing that the love is over. The truth is marriage is a 24 hour, 7 day a week commitment.

However the overall premise of the book I disagree with. Gary says

The ultimate purpose of this book is not to make you love your spouse more… It’s to equip you to love your God more and to help you reflect the character of His Son more precisely”

The idea that marriage was to make us Holy seems to not communicate the idea of marriage in Genesis 2. God creates Eve because Adam has no suitable mate (i.e. lonely). Adam had perfect relationship with God then, so he didn’t need to be holy, but rather he needed a companion.

Nonetheless I am going to continue to read because I think although I don’t agree with the premise I think some of the concepts are really helpful. I do think you marriage can lead you into a more intimate relationship with your spouse and God.

Remember that Marriage isn’t just about two people falling in love and living together, but rather two people experiencing a new life as one.

‘The Birth of Venus’ by Sandro Botticelli c 1486

Tempera on canvas – 67.9” x 109.6” inches

The Venus Transit recently was an amazing transglobal phenomena which has left a powerful energetic trace across the known Universe. Beyond the astronomical scientific calculus, the cosmic paradigm shift into a Feminine quantum consciousness, designed to reset the harmonics of human duality on planet Earth, can be felt most profoundly within the esoteric metaphysical symbolism and creative DNA of mankind. Reality after all has an inexplicable poetry at its core where the bio-chemical physics of impulse that become apparent through sensibility erupt like super-nova to become distilled as art.

So it was with Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’ that became transplanted to the glorious inspirations of a Southern Californian ode. Being married to one’s muse has eternal dimensions that resonate within the poetic realities of one’s life. Often the shared breath and air blows into being a manifestation that finds harmony within a shared aesthetic order. A spark may ignite an awareness of something magical yet anchored to a truth that illustrates the emotional terrain of a holistic togetherness.

The ‘Butterfly Nebula’ (Apotheosis) painting was the culmination of a cycle of artworks that evolved through a period of a few years shifting though time and emotional geography. The work began in London and was resolved in Los Angeles, documenting through art the narrative of the sacred union between the beloved. When the Hubble telescope beamed back new images of the Butterfly Nebula, it happened to coincide with the discovery of my Queen Celeste. The Celestial aspect naturally offered a poetic synthesis that became metaphor for the drawings and painting that followed.

At the butterfly sanctuary in London’s Natural History Museum, these wonderous insects descended upon my Celestial beloved, igniting a series of graphite drawings exploring the urge to capture the poetic velocity of the emotion experienced.

‘Butterfly Nebula’ (Drawing Cycle)

Graphite on paper – 45” x 55” inches

by Nazim Artist

Having transitioned from London to Los Angeles the graphite nature of the work created in London, with its obvious black and white appearance took on the vibrancy of colors that emerged within Californian radiance exposed to the life affirming sunlight of this new terrain.

Here the metaphors nature would suggest sparked new observations and dynamics as compared to the intense matrix of London. Tiger Swallowtail butterflies, hummingbirds, scrub jays, bobcats, mountain lions and coyotes would reveal their elemental presence. The European butterfly references used in the graphite works were replaced by Californian butterflies setting the genesis for the Butterfly Nebula painting.

Botticelli’s Venus seemed to embody the poetic facets that resonated with the conceptual framework I had envisioned for the Butterfly Nebula. The visual impact of the ‘Birth of Venus’ is one which arrests the viewer with a sense of ‘revelation’. The ‘Goddess of Love,’ being born out of a scallop shell (the ancient symbol for the ‘vulva’) expressed through the curvilinear power of line and volume as the entwined male/female winged ‘Zephyrs hover about her. The drama of suspended animation the picture evokes propels the image into a cascading stasis.

The sudden realization of the other is what lies at the heart of the ‘Butterfly Nebula’. Rilke in his poem ‘Magic’ best describes the poetic intent of such revelation;

“From indescribable transformation. Flash! Such creations feel and trust. We suffer it often, Flames become ash. Yet in Art flames come from dust…..Here is Magic. In the realm of a spell the common word is lifted up above. And yet it’s like the call of the male who calls for the invisible female dove.” 

~ Rilke

The cathartic rapture of the Butterfly Nebula elude’s to the magical convergence and paradigm shift of two celestial entities forming the heart-fusion manifested in paint.

In the graphite drawings the male figure propels himself fluttering with butterfly wings toward the female figure that appears to guide him toward her.

‘Butterfly Nebula (Drawing Cycle)

Graphite on paper – 45” x 55” inches

Nazim Artist

With the painting (created on a life-size canvas measuring 6’x8’ feet) the reality of the male and female figures project the ‘hieros-gamos’ of their sacred awakening in ecstatic flight. It’s as if they are transformed into one giant butterfly in harmony to the tempo of their cosmic dance, the embodiment of transformational potential. The gold and silver tattoos that appear on the figures are derived from the Chinese Block Letters which are also part of the Japanese Kanji, that affirm ‘starlight’ along with other symbols taken from the runes and Reiki signs which attest to creative power and healing. The painting has a holistic glaze which energizes the artwork elevating the sensory cognition of the image.

The giant Tiger Swallowtail behind the figures reflects the symbolic voyage of being in California with the affirming grace and constellation of the mating Monarch butterflies that is evident within the reverberations in motion with the Venus Transit.

“A light came and kindled a flame in the depth of my soul. A Light so radiant that the Sun orbits around it like a butterfly.”

~ Rumi.

‘Butterfly Nebula’ (Apotheosis)

Oil on canvas – 72” x 96” inches

Nazim Artist

I am currently reading a few books including:

Liberating Black Theology by Anthony Bradley

This book confronts a personal matter. Growing up in a traditional black church and living out my faith in a predominantly white community as been culturally interesting.  However there have been some issues (including racism) that I have seen addressed from on cultural group and almost ignored by the other. This book helps connect a few things and bring some old teachings into the proper light. Ultimately I am on a journey to reconcile what I have learned from each culture while submitting to the authority of the Word of God.

Sacred Marriage: What if God designed Marriage to make us Holy more than to make us Happy by Gary Thomas

This book is really explained right in the title. I find myself reading this book and having others lined up concerning marriage so that I may become a better husband. I have made many poor decisions concerning my wife. I have not loved her with my whole heart as I should and by God’s grace and her awesome heart she remains just as sweet as ever toward me. Therefore it is my personal journey to be better for her every day.

I also have a list of about 25 books that I will be working through (usually two at a time). If you have any suggestions (always looking for a good read, especiallyas I try to engage more fictional books) please feel free to let me know…

Each day the pages of life turn, chapters end and begin… What is your story communicating about life?

Let’s begin with book reviews, because if I started with movie reviews, you may stop reading this article:

Move – by Hawkins & Parkinson

An interesting concept – take a survey of churches across the country varying in size, denomination, and landscape…and see who is successful in developing Christ-followers and what is done to develop those Christ-followers.

The Good:  As I said in the summary of the book, it certainly is an interesting concept.  Church leaders should read this book to gain a better understanding of what works in developing Christ-followers.  The people at Willow Creek were humble enough to admit there were some parts of their model that failed or fell short.

The Bad:  Did not need to be as long as it was.  Could have been reduced, partly because the charts that were given told you the story and the verbiage explaining it seemed repetitive at times.

Recommendation:  Worth a look.  The research is valuable to any church.

Sacred Marriage

Could it be that personal holiness is a higher priority than happiness in marriage?  How can drawing closer to the Creator make me draw closer to my spouse?  This book has the answers.

The Good:  Let me put it this way, I can already see a difference in the way I treat my wife as a result of the principles in this book.  It is a great teaching tool to understand communication, how to treat your spouse, and most importantly, how your relationship with God will affect all the above.

The Bad:  That I didn’t read this sooner in my marriage.

Recommendation:  But it.  Read it.  Allow your marriage to enjoy the benefits.

Radical

What if the “American Dream” is ruining the “American Church”?  It is time for a radical faith that Jesus calls for in the gospels.

The Good:  What a challenge.  It takes you from feeling comfortable to feeling convicting.  This book provides some powerful illustrations and challenges that take you to task.

The bad:  Some of it seems a little out of reach, and could cause some confusion.  I hate to say anything bad about Dr. Platt and this wonderful book, but I could see some younger in the faith seeing poverty as righteousness, and you need to be careful in making that comparison.

Recommendation:  If you want to be challenged, then read it and let it change your heart.  If you don’t want to be challenged, keep reading Calvin & Hobbes.

Movie Reviews

Courageous

Sorry, I am a little late to the party here.  We just recently showed this movie at our church, and man was this a powerful movie.  I know I was the first to pick up my kids from the children’s ministry after this movie!  What a challenge to parents and grandparents.

The Good:  It got to the heart of the issue in our families, the need for the fathers to step up.  It was challenging, convicting, and heart-warming.

The Bad:  It doesn’t have a Hollywood budget, so I should cut it some slack, but the acting at times was a little robotic.  Getting better though!

Recommendation:  A must see for Fathers.  Christian films are getting better and this should help erase some of the stigma that has been created from some previous films.

The Avengers

All of the latest comic book heroes in one place, and in the same summer as the Spiderman and Batman movies…I might as well start riding my bike down the block, get my Super Nintendo out, and start wearing tube socks again…because I feel like a kid again.

The Good:  The action was non-stop, and the storyline was very well done.  Loved the humor that was built into many of the scenes.

The Bad:  Could always clean up the language, but overall was pretty clean.

Recommendation:  If the box office ratings tell you anything…

Curriculum

re:View -by Cedarville University

Students need to understand how to engage culture, while maintaining truth.  How do you accomplish this balance and what is culture teaching?  Some good questions and answers for this series to tackle.

The Good:  The clips are well-done and Dr. Brown’s teaching segments are dynamic and informative.  If you want your students to influence culture, instead of allowing culture to influence them…then this is for you.  This gives you a great tool to allow for some incredible discussions and helps prepare students for life outside the church.

The Bad:  You need creativity or it could become a routine.  With an DVD curriculum, you need to change up the routine so the students stay interested.  For example, don’t show both clips everytime or at the same time.

Recommendation:  This is a tool I have been looking for…something that allows students to engage their culture and promote quality discussions with their friends that lead to the gospel.  Walking out of this series, the students will be more prepared for the real world and their culture.

Hope this helps guys.  As always, love to hear your feedback from what you are reading/watching/using.

Celeste Yarnall and Nazim Artist have been honored by Alan Mercer today in his fabulous blog. Read part one here: http://amprofile.blogspot.com/2012/05/celeste-yarnall-nazim.html?spref=fb

The Butterfly Nebula by Nazim Artist http://www.NazimArtist.com

Note: This painting is presently exhibited in Nazim Artist’s solo exhibition entitled Power Animals, The Art of Wellness which features The Butterfly Nebula, at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre in Hollywood, California.

Most artists do a study or “cartoon’ before they realize the final art work on a large canvas. The detail that I use for this blog that Nazim Artist created first, is from the final Butterfly Nebula which is part of cycle..A study is like a stepping stone on the way to a destination, the ultimate vision Nazim painted is actually on a 6 ft x 8 ft canvas. The artwork developed from Nazim’s study but was part of an earlier and ongoing cycle of work, however, it has been exhibited since September 2011 at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre in Hollywood CA. This exhibition closes June 18, 2012. If you are in the area please stop in and see the ultimate version in person. The Gallery Theatre is usually open after 11am and is located in the Barnsdall Art Center and Park. See my blog on the Art of Wellness for more details.

What does this ‘study’ say to you. It will be interesting to see what feelings these first images convey to you and how you express them and then see if your feelings expand when I post the Butterfly Nebula painting a bit later. Join in here with us and share what emotions it evokes.

The book looks at how we can use the challenges, joys, struggles, and celebrations of marriage to draw us closer to God and grow in Christian character.  It helps to see marriage as a kind of ministry, and a tough one.

“This is the reality of the human heart, the inevitability of two sinful people pledging to live together, with all their faults, for the rest of their lives.”

The book asks us to use the challenges of marriage as opportunities to learn more about God, to understand God more and to learn to love him more.  Marriage should push us to be more of service and to be less selfish.  Confronting our own selfishness has enormous spiritual value.  The focus should be on changing ourselves not our spouses.  It’s about spiritual growth and marriage is just the context.  It’s an excellent book.  Here’s a closing quote:

“Just as celibates use abstinence and religious hermits use isolation, we can use our marriage for the same purpose – to grow in our service, obedience, character, pursuit and love of God.”

Cover of Sacred Marriage

In Rome, it centred mostly on our historical inheritance of violence and the complementary veneration of suffering. Churches, statues and piazzas at every turn engrave the memory and the example of Christian martyrs into the psyche of the people. Stern images of popes through the ages glare down at the Vatican faithful and curious – faces of the men who seeded with profligate inhumanity the Inquisition, the Crusades and centuries later, the Intifada.
In Paris, the martyrs are still everywhere, on plaques and in parks, in street names and museums, but it’s a different brand of self-sacrifice that is remembered here, of civil resistance to political and ideological domination. A park around the corner from where I am staying commemorates the lives of the Alexandres Dumas and the end of slavery – and taught me that the famous authors of The Three Musketeers and La Dame aux Camélias were descended from a Haitian slave…. Of course, counterbalancing this are the mammoth monuments to domination and subjugation, preserved by thousands of camera clicks per day and proudly transported around the globe.
On the Isola Martana, the ruins of the churches of San Valentino and San Stefano wrap around those of the tower where the Santa Cristina and twelve other young girls were incarcerated, and possibly the Eastgothic queen Amalasunta as well. On this same island, the remains of Mary Magdalene are said to have been sequestered for a time, to save them from the ravages of… one wave of barbarity or another – Saracens…Visigoths? – sweeping through their original resting place in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume in the south of France.
The prayers and ceremony that we did on the island, at this site, were for the end of violence and the glorification of suffering, for the Feminine aspect of divinity to be able to take her place beside the divine Masculine so that the energies of their union – the Sacred Marriage: the non-duality, harmony and awareness of Oneness that we call Love or Peace – might spread as our human and planetary destiny throughout the Earth.
Divine Marriage. Twin flames. Soul mates. My dear sister Catherine and so much of the spiritual community believe in these possibilities as concrete, inevitable and imminent. I remember the feeling in my body – the absolute certainty that there was Someone out there for me…. When, I wondered, had I relinquished this?
Were there vestiges in me of that awkward sense of embarrassment at actually believing in Love…those same sensations that I consciously provoke in people when I ask them to read The Song of Solomon – The Song of Songs? That exercise where I show people that they really have not given up on Love – and that it’s a wonderful thing? Or, somewhere inside me did I really believe the archbishop and all the others who told me throughout the years that people like me – visionary, perhaps, and eccentric at the very least – were meant for a solitary life? Had I hidden the belief in a soul partner away for safe-keeping, so far inside me that I’d forgotten where I put it?
What I was conscious of was the deep certainty that we are complete as we are, and that looking for another person to fulfill one’s needs is a set-up for disappointment. We are all of us male and female in energy – and true freedom, it seems to me, is achieved in having free access to both aspects of ourselves , when we choose. When we polarise ourselves into just one half our beings, we alienate ourselves from a sense of wholeness and accentuate duality and dissonance. What I see in long-term traditional polarized relationships is that the partners tend to bounce back and forth in phases between masculine and feminine roles and qualities. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – one studies, the other works; one stays home with the kids, the other works; one makes the meals, the other buys the food – a simple division of labour, one would think.
Our values and our perceptions of the reasons for living have changed, though. How many people before the 60s really thought about having a Mission in life? The goal of self-realisation has spread from the monasteries, ashrams and convents and into to the inner city, off-grid and even the suburbs! We’re no longer as complacent about giving up who we (believe we) are in order to fit a social role; this looks to me as if it’s wreaking havoc in all strata of society – again, not a bad thing..!
Self-sufficiency sounds like freedom to many of us at this point…but I wonder whether it isn’t a bit like feminism became – do we really want to have to be strong, independent, self-sufficient…alone?
I recall what comes out of my mouth so often these days,” When you feel you have just two choices, don’t choose!” Having learned that “You can’t have it all”, we’re being tempted back into dualism at every turn, and choices like this tend to be a clear indication of the basic dualities that we’ve inherited and assimilated. Applied to relationship and love:
Alone = free + irresponsible          In relationship= trapped + responsible
Does this sum it up?

But where’s the place of Love in all this? I realise that I’ve been thinking dualistically: either we balance our own internal male and female energies and become whole, complete and self-sufficient, or we polarise ourselves and find a partner upon whom we are dependent. What if, between these two extremes, we can choose from an infinite Pantone display of tints and hues  – we can have it all?
The image of a fractal arises, and I am dancing, tiptoed and swirling, along the edge of the immensely complex and heart-splittingly beautiful form. I see my left side toward the inside of the fractal, toward interconnection and manifestation, and the right side of my body facing the outside of this image of existence, with the choice of flying off into other dimensions of being.* I feel myself embracing All….
I see each human as a scale of a fractal – a microcosm of ever greater macrocosms – and it occurs to me that the Sacred Marriage within us must be replicated in ever widening ripples outward as well….
And I breathe a delicious sigh of relief and release….
Blessings and Love,
Dawn

*http://www.butterflyeffect.ca

Neil Brocklehurst and Ali Rabjohns present

A Residential Weekend Workshop At Whaley Hall, Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire 23rd to 24th June 2012

 Inka Prophecy

The Inka prophecies speak about six men and six women coming together at this time in history to herald a radically new era some call a “Golden Age”. Step with us into an unprecedented opportunity to move away from old and dying structures, rules and institutions and emerge into a new relationship between men and women.

      Aims of the Workshop

This workshop will explore in detail the underlying cosmology and Inka prophecies of this beautiful and rich spiritual tradition from the South American Andes. What does it mean for us here in the West? we will explore this through sacred drama, movement, art and ceremony how these ancient traditions can help us make a radical shift into a new way of men and women co-existing together.

      About the Workshop Facilitators

Neil Brocklehurst and Ali Rabjohns are experienced practitioners of Andean Energy Medicine, training with the Four Winds Society and Alberto Villoldo.  They are also initiated into the 4^thlevel of the Inka mystical tradition under the tutelage of Professor Emeritus and Mystic Juan Nuñez del Prado, Cusco, Peru and his son Ivan.  They’ve both spent time in Peru working with a range of medicine men and women, participating in Amazonian medicine plant ceremonies and in Inka ceremonies in the High Andes. Neil has a background in public and mental health practice within the NHS and Ali is an accomplished artist, healer and teacher.  Both work with a variety of clients and groups using their shamanic and Andean knowledge.

Costs and how to book

Total £220, (early bird offer – £200) – this includes one night’s accommodation and all meals from lunchtime Saturday to lunchtime Sunday.  A further night’s stay on Friday 22nd is possible at extra cost.

N.B Please note that course fees must be paid in full in advance.

Please contact Neil Brocklehurst at n.brocklehurst@yahoo.co.uk for further information and to book your place.

Workshop Overview

Please contact Neil if you would like more detailed information about the workshop or the theories behind it.

• Friday 22^nd June (optional):  5.30 pm onwards,

For those wishing to register and acclimatize to the beautiful surroundings of the Peak District. There will be an evening meal and introductory talk on the Inka path and the “Golden Age”.  According to the Andean traditions we have been experiencing a major transition since 1993 they call the “Taripaypacha” or the time of meeting ourselves again.

• Saturday 23^rd June: Registration at 9.30am to start at 10 am til early evening.

We start with an Andean ceremony called a “Despacho”.  This event is a core part of the ancient and modern Inka healing practice .We will hold a fire ceremony to burn the despacho.

We will explore the Andean cosmological understanding of the Universe and the centrality of a mystical union between the sacred masculine and feminine.

Finally, we will create sacred ceremony, to gain a visceral and energetic understanding of the totality of the Inka cosmological map and create Ayni – the Inka law of reciprocity.

• Sunday 24^th June (early morning until after lunch)

Guided morning meditation (optional), fire breathing and breakfast We will focus on the sacred masculine using universal archetypes in order to honour and understand one half of the mystical couple. We will also focus on the Sacred Feminine and explore this through Pullkyu (Sacred play). We will weave all these elements together via a series of sacred Inka-inspired ceremonies and creative processes for a powerful enactment of the mystical union between the Sacred Feminine and Sacred Masculine.  We will use the talents of the group to ensure we remain open to something radically new and we will look for clear signs of how the Mystical Union is likely to unfold as we enter the final stages of the “re-birth” and “return” of the Inka.

We will gather for a final time for a special Andean closing ceremony as we each set off on our individual and collective mystical journeys back to our loved ones, work and homes.

Thank you, we look forward to seeing you there. 

“I’m tired of listening to sentimental talks on marriage. At weddings, in church, and in Sunday school, much of what I’ve heard on the subject has as much depth as a Hallmark card. While marriage is many things, it is anything but sentimental. Marriage is glorious but hard. It’s a burning joy and strength, and yet it is also blood, sweat, and tears, humbling defeats and exhausting victories. No marriage I know more than a few weeks old could be described as a fairy tale come true. Therefore, it is not surprising that the only phrase in Paul’s famous discourse on marriage in Ephesians 5 that many couples can relate to is verse 32 ['A man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery...']. Sometimes you fall into bed, after a long, hard day of trying to understand each other, and you can only sigh: ‘This is all a profound mystery!’ At times, your marriage seems to be an unsolvable puzzle, a maze in which you feel lost. I believe all of this, and yet there’s no relationship between human beings that is greater or more important than marriage” (Tim Keller in The Meaning of Marriage, 21).

Josh and I just celebrated (well, remembered) our 9 month anniversary in marriage yesterday. It’s actually quite weird though because despite the fact that it’s been 9 months, it really feels like we’ve been married for five years or longer. We already have trouble sleeping without each other, something I had equated to a problem only known by people who have been married two decades or longer. I’m sure that when we actually hit the five year mark and then the twenty year mark, I’ll look back on this post and laugh, but truly, it feels that we’ve matured and grown more in the last nine months together than we did on our own in the last few years.

There’s much about marriage that IS sentimental. What I love most about marriage is the “little stuff” that makes up the fabric of our lives. I love holding Josh’s hand, taking walks, just talking, teasing, snuggling, cooking together, chasing him around the condo to retrieve whatever item he’s most recently stolen from me, and just sharing life with him. And yes, that sounds like a Hallmark card (and in fact, there’s a card sitting on Josh’s nightstand that says pretty much what I just said here). But that’s not all there is to it.

Marriage changes everything about your life. You’re no longer able to do exactly what you want, when you want to. It grows you. It shapes you. It teaches you about the gospel. And yes, it’s hard. I’ve heard people say that love and marriage shouldn’t be too hard or something’s wrong with your marriage, but I disagree. That’s why I really like the Keller quote above.

I’m currently in the middle of another great book on marriage – Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas. Thomas says that marriage is “the greatest challenge in the world,” and also asks some really important questions about marriage and cultural perceptions and expectations of marriage. He asks his readers “What if God didn’t design marriage to be ‘easier’? What if God had an end in mind that went beyond our happiness, our comfort, and our desire to be infatuated and happy as if the world were a perfect place? What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?” (Sacred Marriage, 13).

I think God designed marriage to be hard. He wants us to be holy. And thankfully, I can say that marriage has made me both happy and holy, but I know that there are seasons of even greater difficulty ahead. In those seasons, I want to remember that the point of marriage isn’t that I am happy. Instead, the point is that God is working in my heart to make me holy, humble, and totally committed to the covenant that I made to Him, to Josh, and to hundreds of others last July. It’s an incredibly beautiful thing to share your life with someone. But make no mistake – it’s hard – but it is absolutely worth the struggle.

Tested and True

Psalm 18:2:

“The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

Yesterday, Brian and I celebrated our 6th year anniversary   Tonight, we had a night to celebrate together (without the munchkins)…and it was perfect.  Taking me back to our old days, with just the two of us, it brought back so many sweet, but also trying memories.  Brian and I were separated due to deployments, career courses, jobs, and babies for 3 and a half years-our entire engagement and the first years of our marriage…and our first assignment as a family was overseas in Korea with Brian in command…traveling several days out of each week, with troops spread out all over the peninsula and his headquarters between 3-7 hours (depending on traffic) away.  We were in a small Korean town, near a small troop-focused Army base (that nobody knows about!), which wasn’t the most family friendly base.  And here we find ourselves at Fort Irwin, a very isolated Army base in the middle of the Death Valley desert, with my man in the field, training soldiers two weeks out of each month for deployment.  We have had so many obstacles come our way in so many different areas….I look at this picture, recently taken of our family, with the desert winds blowing hard, but we are GROUNDED in HIM.  HE is our solid foundation.  HE is our ROCK.  We are so weak and feeble, but HE is so STRONG.  We cannot be shaken, because He has made us strong.

Our love is tested and true.  God is joining our hearts together, through tests and trials, and sweet, sweet victories in Him.  I LOVE the direction our family is going.  I LOVE the work the Lord is doing in our hearts and in our marriage.  It isn’t easy right now.  The circumstances are trying.  The tests and trials keep on coming.  But, one thing I know: HE will not let our feet stumble.  And He will make us glorious, as He is FULL of glory.

I love you Brian.  You are the most dedicated family man I have ever known.  You are amazing and I KNOW how much the Lord loves me through the death and resurrection of His glorious and one and only Son…and also by the fact that He gave YOU to me.  You are a daily reminder, a tangible reminder…of How deeply He loves me.  I feel blessed and FULL of His love and grace tonight.  Totally undeserving…and totally thankful!!!

Which is very long to a Gemini and especially long as Venus usually only dallies for 3-4 weeks with any one lover.

There’s something specific about this extended Gemini love affair.   VENUS, one of the stars of 2012 wants us to learn from the ANGEL/DEVIL  that is pure GEMINI.  Venus exploring our TWIN natures, there’s  lots to explore in the nature of DUALITY.

 Venus in Gemini wants the best of both worlds. She wants her cake and to eat it too.

Venus in Gemini expands the-do I want it?/don’t I want it? dichotomy. It’s called ambivalence. 

VENUS in GEMINI song: Let’s talk {and talk} about Love. 

Gemini’s are often labelled ADD, as their brains are going so fast, they naturally  get very easily distracted,

so here’s a video to watch.  Bonnie Raitt sings, Do I have to repeat it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z04r_tlWdRs

 Venus in Gemini is a love affair with the imagination, It is sexy chatty engagement with both lobes of the brain. 

The Air element sign is mentally expansive; everything you can image is possible. Thoughts do create our reality, so be very careful what your conscious and unconscious mind is thinking.  

Gemini Keywords:   Flirty,  Curiosity, Fast mover, fast thinking, ultra chatty, detached, ambiguous, Two-timer, Peter Pan, naïve, irresponsible, detached, trickster, travelling salesman, footloose, You add  your own……. 

Each sign represents an Archetype. I the Tarot the sign of GEMINI is associated with… wait for it.

Gemini The Lovers Trump # 6

                                                  THE  LOVERS

Here are two, of course different versions of the LOVERS  a Major Arcana Trumps. The Card on the left is a modern deck based on the Sufi poet RUMI the 13 Century Persian poet who wrote 30,000 mystical love poems during  a short life.  I have this deck, it is very romantic and beautiful.

The one on the right is from the Crowley Thoth Tarot the one I always use.You can see the attribute of the sigil of Gemini on it. The Twins.

When I first started to study the tarot seriously about 22 years ago. The connection of Gemini to the Lovers drove me crazy, I couldn’t get it. From studying Astrology I knew Gemini as the most immature, ambiguous, curious, detached sign of all. Not what I would think of associated with the qualities of Love.  Libra would be the sign I would first associate with love and marriage. I won’t go into all the correspondences of the Tarot and the Tree of Life, the Kabbalah etc.  suffice it to say the Lovers is #6 which is Tifferet in Hebrew at the center of the Tree of Life.

the Lovers and Gemini are about Choice, duality. The opposites, masculine and feminine, yin and yang, up down, Heaven and Hell, Good and Evil, right and wrong, us and them,Light and Dark  etc.

Gemini symbolizes consciousness itself, and our dual natured brains. VENUS in GEMINI loves to learn  and for the next four months the focus is learning lessons in LOVE.

another song:Lessons in Love by Level 42  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt7mtdLha-c

So there will be a lot of quick changing love affairs, mucho yakkety yakking, comparison shopping, and definitely a surfeit of being unable to choose one thing over the other.

The answer: TRY EVERYTHING….

More about VENUS in GEMINI, the big VENUS ECLIPSE of the Sun, VENUS RETROGRADE, soon…

Famous WOMEN STARS  born with VENUS IN GEMINI:  Some super beautiful and doubly hot babes!

 Jennifer Lopez, Uma Thurman, Gisele Bundchen, the aptly named Megan Fox, Cher, Jennifer Garner, Jessica Simpson to find out what other famous stars have Venus in Gemini plus what amazingly gorgeous guys do as well  go to http://taratarotweb.tripod.com/id32.html

If you need guidance on your love affairs or  feeling stuck because you can’t make up your mind and need some objective professional insightful help and coaching along the way:  To purchase readings go to  www.taratarot.com  

Buy astrology tarot reading from Tara Greene

And a last song for now LOVE ME TWO TIMES by The DOORS: a remix http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEaodmeOtuo

Today I wanted to talk a little about marriage books.

I have an un-ending hunger to absorb as much information as I can on marriage, it’s purpose as intended by God,  and people’s thoughts and ideas on how to make it flourish. Not everyone has this sort of interest, but even if you don’t but you are still married, I think it’s important to be continually feeding  your marriage so that it grows deeper and more intimate.

There are so many  resources to help build up a marriage- from small groups to books to studies, you name it. I have read a lot of marriage books, and I intend to read a whole lot more. I’ve found that I don’t necessarily agree with all that some of them have to say, but decide to read them anyways with a  critical mind.

By critical mind, I don’t mean that I go in judging a book before I’ve read it, looking for flaws in people’s ideas. Rather I keep in mind what the Bible says about marriage, what I believe about marriage, and then go in with an open-mind to what the author has to say. I usually find that even if I don’t agree with everything they believe, I often find parts of what they are saying that I agree with and that are very helpful.

I am currently reading Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together by Mark and Grace Driscoll. I’ve found parts that I appreciate, enjoy, and agree with, despite not agreeing completely with all of the theology they’ve expressed. I might do a review after I’ve finished the whole thing.

I think it’s so important to be continually learning how to foster our marriages, as it is the most important relationship a married person has after their relationship with God. I’ve found one the best ways to continue this learning is to read about other people’s experiences and thoughts on marriage. To read them with both with an open-mind and critical thinking. Not blindly accepting what we read, but not refusing to read it if we don’t think we’ll agree with it either.

What do you think? Do you read this way? Have you read any good marriage books lately? My favorite one that I pretty much completely agree with and will always recommend (you’ll probably get sick of me raving about it) is Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas. This is the book that helped form my views on marriage, inspires me to be a better wife, and really is applicable to a lot of relationships. Order it here!

image sources: 1, 2

I picked it up after reading Sacred Marriage and Authentic Faith by Thomas several years ago, and re-reading Authentic Faith this winter. I love the way Thomas writes and gain so much from his books.

Sacred Pathways takes a look at different personalities of people and examines the unique ways each are inspired by God. Thomas describes nine distinct spiritual temperaments and devotes a chapter to each:

• Naturalists: Loving God outdoors
• Sensates: Loving God with the Senses
• Traditionalists: Loving God through Ritual and Symbol
• Ascetics: Loving God in Solitude and Simplicity
• Activists: Loving God through Confrontation
• Caregivers: Loving God by Loving Others
• Enthusiasts: Loving God with Mystery and Celebration
• Contemplatives: Loving God through Adoration
• Intellectuals: Loving God with the Mind

At the end of every chapter are six questions that help you determine how strongly you fit into that temperament.

I’ve been so surprised to learn where I fit in! As I skimmed the chapter descriptions, I assumed I’d be a strong traditionalist. After coming back to my Catholic roots, I’ve found the sacraments and traditions of the church to add depth to my faith. But I really didn’t score very high in that category.

As I read chapter-after-chapter and didn’t really see myself very strongly in any of them, I was starting to wonder if Yukon Cornelius would say to me, “even among misfits you’re a misfit!”

But then I came to the chapter on Contemplatives and nearly laughed as I read it … oh boy, is that me!

We all have traits from various groups, obviously some are stronger than others. This book does a great job of helping me understand other types of worship and other ways that resonate with various brothers and sisters in Christ.

And understanding myself better is always a good thing; hopefully it will help me stretch into areas where I’m a little less familiar and comfortable.

It is rarely the case that we are able to forgive “one time” and the matter is settled. Far more often, we must relinquish our bitterness a dozen times or more, continually choosing to release the offender from our judgment.

–Gary Thomas, Sacred Marriage