July 14: Celebrate LTMC's 2 Year Anniversary!!!

You're invited to join us for an evening of celebration! The native drum has just returned from Sundance Ceremony in Croyden, Utah and is ready to bless LTMC's continuation and initiate our Summer Retreat the following Sunday, July 17. We'll be singing inter-tribal songs and Sundance Ceremony Songs in celebration of the summer season when dancers and singers come together with prayers for the people and communities. This promises to be an extra special night. Visit our FB events page to join, invite friends and find out more:

https://www.facebook.com/events/713904325416298/

Dirty Angels

I had a few of them appear last evening (larger than mosquitoes) and tried to swat them away to no avail! Dang it, I thought I was beyond this...I had a blow up with a loved one last night and got sucked in!

I woke at 2:30a with a heavy heart and decided to take my sorry self outside to sleep beneath the moon and morning star. I dragged my Therm-A-Rest and sleeping bag onto my deck and as soon as I got settled, I knew--this is the stuff of transformation, the blow up is the practice. I missed the first opportunity to transform the crappy-crap, but garbage is in a constant process of becoming a rose, so, um...get to work.

"Hello, my dirty angels, I see you..." I tapped, I breathed, I identified, and I lay beneath the bright moon and finally drifted off to sleep, into dreamland, where I saw one of my precious "Tahoe" Moms. She sat in our green garden rocking chair directly next to where I was laying on the deck, and motioned to the dark sky overhead--a cosmic scene like the pictures from NASA unfolded. Black and crimson gases erupted from a bubbling star field. She looked into my soul, like she has a tendency to do, and asked, "Do you have the ability to pull from this glorious Creation?"

The swirling beauty of stars, filled me, "Yes, ma'am!" I say silently in my dream. It's that kind of moment. When I woke, I asked the dream question to the moon, which now hung directly over me--"Do you have the ability to pull from this glorious Creation?"

She answered, "Of course, My Dear." I closed my eyes and went back to sleep. Some things are best given over to the night sky.

I woke this morning entirely refreshed and committed to continuing the journey using my North Star of love and compassion as my guide. I know too, my dirty angels should not be swatted. Their wings are tattered enough. They appear to show me what needs tending. "Hello, Little Rose," they say, "it's time for transformation."

Orlando Nightclub

I showed up to class yesterday and felt the white elephant in the room, a blanket that seemed to lay heavy on us all. I have two students in the class who are part of the LGBT community and they looked devastated. I proceeded with curriculum, making a quick adjustment to the evening to allow for a solid 30 minutes of discussion before we closed for the night. I love my students with a ferocity that often surprises me, and often when something like the shooting in Orlando happens, I think...that could have been one of mine...one of mine, it is one of mine--this has affected us all. In our classroom conversation I asked the question, how many of you were angry? All but two of my seventeen raised their hands. How many of you were sad? All of them raised their hands. Then, the question that always seems to be asked in return? What can we do?

Hmmm, we contemplated and discussed that natural, beautiful impulse of wanting to do something to relieve the suffering we see. Here was my reply--take care of those seeds of anger and sadness within yourself, for they are a taste of what caused the gunman to shoot. 

I came home from school, and as is my nature, I went to the written word for comfort. I hope this provides nourishment....

Orlando Nightclub
©June 14, 2016 Karla Johnston, InnerConstellation.com

Watching events unfold, I feel my Avenging Angel sprout wings,
Hello, my anger…my sadness.
I threaten flight.
Then, I’m not sure how, but a sudden realization, a blessing is bestowed—
righteous anger is a taste of what caused such tremendous suffering.
Seeds of anger and intolerance when watered will grow.
Is this what happened to the gunman?

What can I do for those suffering?
Take care of my unwholesome seeds,
listen to my Dirty Angels—they show me what needs care,
practice looking at myself and others
with love and understanding.

I see you, our seeds, and practice another way—taking refuge:
in stillness,
deep listening,
and transformation.

In closing, here is a mantra that I found beautiful and healing. May you enjoy the voice of an angel, Ajeet Kaur, who sings a song to turn our minds toward peace and ease of rest. It's sung before sleep, or for the final sleep of dying: Antajaamee