Oil Spill Clean Up Help

It has come to my attention that many people on Tribe spend a lot of time reading blogs but are not aware of what is going on in the 'other' world.

So in case you missed it, oil clean up training is taking place today (Wed) and this Sat in GG Park.

From todays Chronicle

How to help
Bay Area residents who want to help can call these numbers or visit these Web sites. Volunteers may find that patience and persistence are necessary because some Web sites and telephone hot lines have contradictory information. Some agencies may not need volunteers immediately but will need them after the first rush of interest fades. People not trained in cleanup of hazardous materials should stay away from oiled areas.

To help in San Francisco


-- Training for cleaning beaches will be held Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the County Fair Building at Golden Gate Park. Two training sessions will be held Saturday. Trained volunteers will be certified to clean area beaches. Volunteers will be given schedules for future beach cleanups. No cleanups are scheduled Wednesday. For more information, go to www.thevolunteercenter.net/

To help in Berkeley


-- Training in cleanup of oil-spill residue from the shoreline will be held Wednesay at 1 p.m. at Hs Lordships restaurant at the Berkeley Marina off Seawall Drive. Limited to the first 80 people. Another session will be held at 8 a.m. Saturday at the West Berkeley Senior Center, 1900 Sixth St. Find more information at www.cityofberkeley.info or call (510) 981-6720 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary


-- www.tiburonaudubon.org

-- (415) 388-2524

International Bird Rescue Research Center


-- www.ibrrc.org


-- www.ibrrc.org/volunteer_steps_nc.html

Oiled Wildlife Care Network


-- www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/owcn/volunteers.html


-- www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/owcn/par...ants.html


-- www.owcn.org


-- (800) 228-4544

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi

I came home from Entheoncentric Salon - wow! what a night! - and looked out my window....

and I saw this!!! I could not believe the amazing stellar formation I was looking at.

Then I just happened to see the description on line.......

Of course it was all a little bit clearer than the photo from my little Elph would suggest. I took this photo with a tripod on my roof with my little teeny Canon Elph at 6:00 am.

So given the incredible night I had at Entheoncentric Salon, it was not surprising to see that my powerful Leo Moon was in full effect, present with Regulus (Leo), and hanging out with Venus, who rules my Sun sign, Taurus. Luckily Saturn came along for the ride to keep me amazingly independently grounded and lucid the entire time.

Thank you Vani for a wonderful evening and for allowing me to be myself. I love you more than ever.



Description below by Joe Rao, Space.com.

At sunrise, Venus will have climbed nearly 40 degrees above the east-southeast horizon (10 degrees is roughly equal to your clenched fist held at arm's length. So at sunup, Venus will stand nearly "four fists" up from the horizon).

Meanwhile, a much dimmer planet, Saturn, glowing with a mellow yellow light, rises shortly after Venus. And right in between the two planets shines the blue-white 1st-magnitude star, Regulus, in Leo, the Lion.

Next week, an ever-changing "Celestial Summit Meeting" will greet early risers as Venus interacts with Regulus, Saturn and a lovely crescent Moon in some very interesting celestial configurations.

The eye-catching array kicks off this weekend. On Saturday morning, Oct. 6, Venus, Regulus and Saturn will form a wide triangle with the Moon hovering high above them.

As for Regulus, it marks the heart of Leo, a star pattern whose origins trace back to the earliest Mideastern peoples, especially those of the Tigris and Euphrates area. Among virtually all civilizations there, this constellation was accorded king-of-the-beasts status and regal symbolism.

And although it shines only 1/229th as bright as Venus and ranks at the bottom on the list of the 21 brightest stars, we know today that Regulus is also regal in an astrophysical sense. It's a highly luminous blue-white star, and just as earthly kings were uncommon personages among the human population, a star like Regulus is also uncommon among the stellar population. Its spectral class is B7; one of the very small minority of those born with enough mass to occupy an exalted station near the top of the main sequence of star classification.

And lastly, its distance of 78 light-years means the light you see arriving from Regulus now started on its journey to Earth right around the time of the great stock market crash in 1929.

Lovefest

why can't it be this simple?

Day 10

of my Spring Cleanse.

This year I was much better at following the 'rules' and it was much easier than last year.

This time I did the salt water flush:

Add two teaspoons salt to one quart lukewarm water, consume in the morning first thing upon waking.

At first I could not do it. But I persisted and did this for three straight days and by the third day it was not so bad. Do NOT try this and then cruise off to work. It is called the 'oral enema' and that is just what it was! Within an hour I had water just blasting out my ass. Amazingly bizarre but very cleansing. After this I started feeling very energized and had no trouble riding my bike to work and completing my physically demanding workday. In fact one morning one of my coworkers was amazed that I was so energized. She said with disgust, "I don't know how I am going to keep up with you today ". And then she went to get her morning coffee.

Although I know I could easily go for another week or two, I am going to end the fast after 10 1/2 days on Friday afternoon with a great big heaping portion of freshly squeezed organic orange juice. Saturday I will probably cheat and skip the OJ and go straight to veggetable broth and then.........

AVOCADO BURRITO
8 leaves of romaine lettuce
2 avocados
2 jalapeno peppers
4 tomatoes
1 orange
Mix and mash the avacados, peppers and tomatoes. Squeeze on the orange for sweetness. Place avacado mix into a lettuce leaf and roll up.

YUM!!!!

The Vernal Equinox and Apis

Today is the day to start fasting.

The Sun will cross directly over the Earth's equator today at 5:07 PM Pacific time. Interestingly, it is not exactly the time that light and darkness are in balance. That happens a few days prior.

The Equinox has long had particular meaning to me and the more I learn about it the more I see it is so. I got married once on the Autumnal Equinox and my astrological Sun sign is Taurus, represented by the Bull.

The ancient Egyptians celebrated the bull (or as it's symbol was called, the Apis) as an ancient masculine emblem of the vernal equinox and the element of earth—consequently of the planet itself. Pultarch wrote: "The Apis ought ever to be regarded by us, as a fair and beautiful image of the soul of Osiris." Osiris represents the spiritual nature of the lower world which is murdered and distributed throughout the substance of the physical spheres; Apis is the emblem of the material world within which is the spiritual nature—Osiris.

I am celebrating this moment of balance and equality by doing a spring cleanse. I started my fast this morning. I am not planning on fasting as long as I did last year. I am thinner now and I do not have complete access to a car so I may have to bike it on some days. I shall listen to my body and behave accordingly.

Namaste everyone.

A Precious Seattle Moment

Enjoying a cup with my sweet angel . A classic Seattle coffee shop scene, this self portrait was taken at Victors Coffee in Redmond during the holidays. We were having lots of fun with the tripod and the auto timer. She knows all of the basic features of the camera and can take her own pretty decent pictures. And yes Redmond does have its bohemian haunts if you know where to look.

She turns six in a few weeks. I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She can now read my blogs. It pains me so much because of how much I am missing. I love her so much. She is such an amazing little woman.

I love you Cassidy.

Akashic Record

So I rarely ever smoke pot. But last night I smoked just a little with Vani. And I do mean just a tiny amount. Then we lay down on our Persian rug in front of our stereo speakers and we floated away on waves of ambient psychadelic sound.

A short while later I had this sensation. It was so visual - it was as if I was watching a movie. Yet I also had this amazing sensation of awareness or knowledge. I was somehow experiencing the essence of man apparently through time. I could not only sense but could actually clearly see in my mind, a very primitive man with little else to draw upon, in his rather frightening and unpredictable world, than his raw grit and determination. He had to be fierce to avoid becoming a "victim" yet he had to also be gentle and kind if he were to develop relationships with women and family. I felt him snarling at threats / enemies. Yet I felt his warm tender side. I felt him succeed or fail. Perhaps he had many mates obtained through some combination of ruthlessness and kindness. Or perhaps he felt himself alone, an outsider. Then as if someone had hit the hyper fast forward button I felt the same exact situation being played out in more and more modern surroundings. It was the same story but eventually the cave was replaced with a condo and a office and the clothes went from fur (if that) to more modern clothes to suits, etc. The story line remained exactly the same, however, about the relationship between man and his Yin and Yang energy. It was as if I had felt this deep connection with what it felt like to be a man over thousands of years of human development and at the heart of it all nothing had really changed other than the settings and costumes.

So the very next day I resumed reading my book, "2012, The Return of Quetzacoatl" and I immediately read about something called the Akashic Record, which is purportedly the "spiritual imprint of the record of humanity". I researched this on the internet and it seems to be very similiar to what I feel like I experienced. A very strange coincidence perhaps. I had never heard of the Akashic Record before.

Of course I am a natural skeptic and I have nothing to offer other than a record of my experience. But whatever it was - Akashic Record, Hallucination, Imagination, Dream...... it was pretty intense and felt very real.

Hawtch Watcher

I recently applied for a 'Hawtch Wawtcher' position at Kaiser in Oakland.

I was a Hawtch-Wawtcher for most of my working life but fled the corporate world and the meaningless existence it entailed for me. I went through a divorce and a bankruptcy and took a year off before taking a low paying, low stress job in the Presidio selling sporting goods.

Now responsibilities are closing in and I am feeling the need to make some changes in my life. I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do but I do need to do something.

Nothing is permanent.


Oh, the jobs people work at!
Out west, near Hawtch-Hawtch,
there's a Hawtch-Hawtcher Bee-Watcher.
His job is to watch...
is to keep both eyes on the lazy town bee.
A bee that is watched will work harder, you see.

Well...he watched and he watched.
But in spite of his watch,
that bee didn't work any harder. Not mawtch.
So then somebody said,
"Our old bee-watching man
just isn't bee-watching as hard as he can.
He ought to be watched by another Hawtch-Hawtcher!
The thing that we need
is a Bee-Watch-Watcher!"
WELL...

The Bee-Watch-Watcher watched the Bee-Watcher.
He didn't watch well. So another Hawtch-Hawtcher
had to come in as a Watch-Watcher-Watcher!
And today all the Hawtchers who live in Hawtch-Hawtch
are watching on Watch-Watcher-Watchering-Watch,
Watch-Watching the Watcher who's watching that bee.
You're not a Hawtch-Watcher. You're lucky, you see!

Theodor Seuss Geisel
from the book, Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?

an experiment in temporary community

I made a conscious decision this year to place my Burning Man focus on people and relationships. In turn my experience was far deeper and profound than it has been in the past.

During our trip to BRC we were delayed a full day by "Tortoise Man", an incredibly slow human. It's a good thing we were not a wagon train, he would have been left to the buzzards.

Arriving at BRC we struggled to find adaquate space to build and create. After a few false starts and some challenges with dust storms, we found a warm welcome for us in a large interior space at 3:15 Guess Street.

As usual I spent a large amount of time building my Shangri La in the desert. A large, well protected, sensuous, seductive space with nice fabrics flowing in the wind. With Persian Rugs, throw pillows, the disco ball spinning various colors from the spot light onto the white backwall. With the smells of coffee and cardomom, sage, marijuana, and oils. An endless supply of crisp, clean, cold, Sauvignon Blanc and Champagne always on hand. Vani would sit cross legged on pillows preparing in the most primitive fashion amazing vegetarian meals. We decided to eat primarily fresh fruits and vegetables (and tacos) and were eating fresh spinach salads up to our last day. Vani's culinary creations were strikingly beautiful yet simple and clean. All meals were lovingly shared and voraciously consummed by the circle of new friends we found ourselves surrounded by.

My partner and I are very social and love people but we are also fiercely independent and value our privacy. I could not have put together my new shade structure without the knowledge and experience of my wonderful neighbors, Kieth and Lauren, the goat ranchers.

We quickly found ourselves absorbed into Camp 'Come Together'. The central open airy parachute topped dome had billowy yellow and white fabric sidewalls over amazingly clean and comfortable sofas on a nice Persian rug with a ridiculously large coffee table. This became our town hall where meals, drinks, other substances, and laughs (and apparently a few shouts) were all shared.

I had my first serious cry at Burning Man at dawn on Sunday morning. I had spent the evening with my campmates rolling hither and dither by bike until my bicycle was 'borrowed' from me at the Serpent Mother. After a nice carriage ride from a 6' tall bunny (thank you Fuzzy and Kelly!!!) to Opulent Temple I danced. Then I watched the sun rise from the top of the tall platform ("what? no guidewires!?") next door before walking home. A few blocks away I was persuaded by a rather mysterious man to join him for a glass of wine in his RV. Bill was a photographer and pianist from NY city. He was travelling with his cousin. What followed has got to rank as one of my strangest BRC experiences but also one of my most moving. After a few glasses of wine and some very strange conversation Bill told me all about the loss of his brother - killed in the Amazon by random violence. We cried. Then I told him about my seperation from my daughter. Although we are close I can not be there for her as I would like since she lives in Seattle. Emotion came pouring out of me like a river. I cried and cried.

Then a sound gently drifted in from the back of the RV. Feminine, emotional. Sexual??? I daringly tapped on the door. 'She' was sobbing. I begged Bills cousin to talk to me. She told me she never got to say goodbye. And now they were gone. Soon we were all in tears. I held her. Then we talked about the Temple. I told her she had to go and then she was up and out the door. Gone - to say goodbye to her parents. Then Bill pulled out a flute and played me a song. I asked him if he knew 'Amazing Grace'. I was then treated to the most amazing serenade. A moment later his cousin returned and sang out the lyrics while Bill played. It was an extremely moving experience.

My partner made some very intimate connections and I celebrate the love she shared. Although I did struggle with this at times, love is about giving rather than taking. I recognize this and embraced the experience and the emotions it evoked. My heart chakra - anāhata, अनाहत opened up and I felt blessed and evolved. I grew.

storm clouds

The past week has been extremely painful emotionally for me. I am working so hard on letting my feelings come through and pass over me without lingering but it has been a real struggle for me lately.

I read this in bed this morning and it resonated.

"To feel is a verb; it is something that happens. We all feel. Emotion is a noun, a thing. To feel is beautiful, belonging to both the animal and human condition. When we allow feelings to harden and coalesce into emotions, which we transport like overburdened slaves, we deny ourselves life's freshness, its ever-present potential for renewal and transformation. We waste so much energy through allowing our emotions to govern us. Feelings and emotions involve our organs, breath, and mind. Those feelings that we experience before they pop up in our heads are called "gut" feelings and are respected for their instinctual source. In a healthy organism, feelings should pass like clouds over the sun. When feelings get anchored by thought into our memory, they become emotions, which are no longer related to the moment but to the past. They accrue a greater density and darkness, like storm clouds that block out the sun itself. These stagnant emotions poison us and prevent us from seeing what truly is.

Look at your dog. When you leave him, he is sad; his heart is on the ground. When you come home, is there resentment? No, he is overjoyed to see you. Are you closer to reality or is your dog?"

B.K.S. Iyengar