Poetry Quote

Was privileged to do tarot readings with a whole room full of wise, wonderful warrior women last night. This poem came up in the conversation. It is a good one, well worth thinking about - just as it is worth living life to the fullest at any age. (accessed via www.poemhunter.com)

Warning

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple. 

Jenny Joseph

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Cornerstones

Holey smokin' guacamole!

I feel like a kid who just got Superman's autograph. Or, if you are our neighbor Jane, a six year old that just met Batgirl.

Remember the other day when we were talking about soda regulations in "Since When Did Dracula Have a Nanny?" from "The Vampire Diet" blog? Less than 4 hours after writing that, I read a post from Richard Bach's Blog about his new book "Thank Your Wicked Parents". Even though the topic is different, the post had a quote from the book that suited our topic perfectly - except it was said with far greater kindness and eloquence.
I didn't want to just slap the quote into our conversation all willy-nilly. I wanted to be as courteous, respectful and well, legal, about it as possible. So not knowing what to expect or quite what to do, I wrote for permission to use it. Blow me down. Mr. Bach himself answered!

And there you have why I have fallen in love with blogging and the Internet. Through the 'net and his kindness, I was able to have a short conversation with one of my all-time favorite authors! Online information can be fast and loose and unedited and of questionable quality, but at other times it is an unique opportunity to meet lovely brilliant minds we never could have met in person. I've always wanted to thank Mr. Bach directly, personally, for the gift his books brought to me at a time when I needed them the most. What a privilege to be able to do just that...and get permission to quote him too! Talk about frosting on the proverbial cake!

Here, Mr. Bach gives us an example of one cornerstone to real change. What does it take to make a real change - to take steps along a newer, truer, more genuine path for ourselves? One thing is, simply, ideas. How can you go in a different direction unless you get the notion that other possibilities really exist? Words and pictures are the bones and lifeblood of ideas. Without language and/or images, ideas can be ghostly, boneless things. Making a change based on ideas without language is like trying to capture morning fog in a butterfly net.

That is how Mr. Bach's books helped me. That is how I hope my books might someday help someone else. I had vague ideas, but I didn't quite have the language to really understand them much less live them. It felt like trying to grab a handful of an icy mist. Then I read "Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah", and several others like "The Dancing Wu Li Masters" by Gary Zukov, "The Tao of Physics" by Fritjof Capra, the "Tao Te Ching" and more. "Illusions" was certainly a favorite among them, which led to reading his other books, like "Nothing by Chance", "Stranger to the Ground" and of course "Jonathan Livingston Seagull". When they were published, "The Bridge Across Forever" and "One" were on my bookshelf before they were in paperback.

Now I had a conceptual vocabulary, a skeleton, for those not-quite-formed ideas from before. Books like these wrapped that icy mist in language, transforming it into solid crystals- strong, unshakable things pointing the way to a better path that had been there all along.

Ideas like these are a cornerstone for change. The solidified ones are the best ideas to build upon. Meeting like minds, and exchanging ideas turns fog into foundations and imagination into feathers.

This is the role that modern vampire lore plays in "The Vampire Diet" blog. It helps to crystallize our ideas about healthier eating. The modern vampire imagery makes that new path more visible and, hopefully, more fun. For the "Modern Oracle Tarot" blog, the tarot cards themselves serve the same purpose. The words and images associated with the cards show alternatives we might have otherwise missed, and makes the ideas we already have clearer and stronger.

If you get a chance, I wholeheartedly recommend reading "Illusions" or any of Richard Bach's books, and please do take a moment to check out his new website and new book at www.RichardBach.com.

I have a busy weekend being dropped in my lap, so we'll get back to the quote part of building cornerstones on Monday.

Before I forget to mention it - the blogs might be a little erratic during the summer, but I'll try to keep to a Monday through Friday posting schedule as best as I can. Have a great weekend! More on Monday.

www.RondaSnow.com

Doing a Psychic or Tarot Reading for Yourself

My friend and Mentor, Joy, has done it again. She really is wise, and a great writer, so I recommend her to you hands-down, full stop.

Her newsletter today (http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=3d2e4805e90d05c3a892356b6&id=cdd5d843d5)  really struck a chord with me. It is a little like that adage "physician heal thyself" And also another piece of genius excellence by Theresa Reed (http://www.thetarotlady.com/what-i-wish-my-tarot-clients-knew/).

It is true what Theresa said, that we readers do (or should do) a lot of self-care...and you should too because you deserve it. It is true too, what Joy said. It is possible to read for oneself...with a little detachment it works well. For me, the best way to gain that little bit of space is to use an oracle tool of some kind....tarot cards, "medicine cards" (by David Carson and Jamie Sams. I've had mine since '89 or so, but they are still around...http://www.amazon.com/Medicine-Cards-Discovery-Through-Animals/dp/0312204914/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337292547&sr=8-1), or another favorite...I Ching coin toss. The tangible results, the undeniability of the card in front of you, helps keep that step of distance to get the guidance you need, not the answer you want.

Do any of you read for yourself? Id be interested to know what you do to keep yourself honest, what you do to get to the root of the problem and the highest and best guidance for yourself when  a do-it-yourself reading seems the way to go instead of getting a reading from a trusted fellow-reader. What do you think?

Today's Tarot - 7 of Swords

Experienced navigators still look at a compass, maps, satellites - they get the information they need to do their job well. The same principle applies to people and intuition...even the most spiritually advanced still can benefit from guidance and validation. That is one of the best uses of oracles like Tarot.

www.ModernOracleTarot.com

www.rondasnow.com