change

"If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves."
- Carl Jung (1875-1961)

who is your muse of muses?

“It’s Gala who discovers and brings me all the essences, which I then turn into honey in the busy hive of my mind. Without Gala, the world would have no genie: Dali would not exist.” – Salvador Dali (1904-1989)

fragile silken threads

silk threads & amethysts waiting to become part of a CASIMIRAif a human being is as fragile as a single thread...

...is humanity the cloth made of countless woven threads?

who are the threads in your life?

what texture is your cloth?

mystery and miracle

"The entire being of a woman is a secret which should be kept."
- Isak Dinesen (1885-1962)

We all have secrets.

Secret recipes...
Secret fantasies...
Secret talents...
Secret places...
Secret dreams and longings...

I constantly discover secret aspects of myself...it is part of the mystery and miracle of life...

patience

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. "
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

lovers...in each other all along

“The minute I heard my first love story I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They are in each other all along.” – RUMI

Poeta Carpintero: El Cielo Puede Esperar

Poeta Carpintero,

construyendo sueños con palabras,

transportándonos a otros mundos internos

- de la memoria

- de la historia

- de la vida y del mas allá...

Poeta Carpintero, Amigo del Alma

- Felicidades -

she who heals

what needs to be healed in your life?
who do you need to forgive?
who needs to forgive you?

"She Who Heals:

Mother, sing me a song

That will ease my pain,

Mend broken bones,

Bring wholeness again.



Catch my babies

When they are born,

Sing my death song,

Teach me how to mourn.



Show me the Medicine

Of the healing herbs,

The value of spirit,

The way I can serve.



Mother, heal my heart

So that I can see

The gifts of yours

That can live through me."

- Jamie Sams

blossom like a flower

"If we are peaceful, if we are happy, we can smile and blossom like a flower, and everyone in our family, our entire society, will benefit from our peace." - Thich Nhat Hanh

believe

do you believe in prayer? do you believe in miracles? do you believe in love? not just romantic love, not just physical chemistry, but unconditional love?

do you believe in forgiveness?

do you believe?

I'll believe for you today...

connection

as I was stretching in morning ritual, I heard an inner voice whisper:

CONNECTION is the KEY

"Like the MOON,
Come out from behind the clouds. SHINE."
- BUDDHA

CONNECTION is the KEY...

soul of the soul

"Oh soul,
you worry too much.
You have seen your own strength.
You have seen your own beauty.
You have seen your golden wings.
Of anything less,
why do you worry?
You are in truth
the soul, of the soul, of the soul." - RUMI

luna llena

vestida de estrellas, bailo bajo luna llena, bañandome de luz

dressed in stars, I dance under the full moon, bathing in her light


from my journals

a reminder to be true

an exquisite turquoise transitioning into a CASIMIRA sculpture








one of my favorite poems by Oriah Mountain Dreamer:

"It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments."

© Oriah Mountain Dreamer from the book "The Invitation"

a reminder to be true to myself, to my dreams, to my art

originally posted in 2007

what do you really want?

"Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong."
- Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996)

What do you REALLY WANT...?

Do not give up...

LOVE and INSPIRATION are with you...

DO NOT GIVE UP...

mother and child

The bond between Mother and Child is sacred.  It is life itself...it has existed before time and continues beyond our fragile human bodies.

thinking of my beautiful Tia Margarita and her beloved son

my mother - a winner

"Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory."

- Diane Arbus (1923-1971)

My mother shares this philosophy. No matter how she is feeling, she always manages to put herself together.

freedom

forgiveness is freedom,

it is lifting one's heart and giving it wings...

"The act of forgiveness is the act of returning to present time. And that's why when one has become a forgiving person, and has managed to let go of the past, what they've really done is they've shifted their relationship with time. Forgive and call back the energy wasted on past events."

- Carolyn Myss

a mother's love

"Love the whole world as a mother loves her only child."
- Buddha (563-483 B.C.)

moonlight on my bed

"All night I could not sleep
because of the moonlight on my bed.
I kept hearing a voice calling:
Out of Nowhere, Nothing answered "yes."

- Tzu Yeh (approximately 4th century)

from a sacred book I received this afternoon

wisdom from a friend

"Life is fragile, handle with passion!"

- Carey Perez Waulk

muse of muses

Earth is a Mother to us all.

She nurtures us with ancient wisdom.

She nourishes us with infinite love.

My spiritual journey is directly linked with Nature...Mother Nature, my Muse of Muses.

sacred poetry of flesh

"And your very flesh shall be a great poem."
 - Walt Whitman (1819-1892)


let us treat our human bodies

our earthly temples as sacred poetry of flesh

celebrate beauty, practice compassion

"You use my world without gratitude. You are blessed but fail to see your blessings. Open your eyes. The sun rises in beauty. The day begins. It is my day that I give you. You are my cherished child. Open your heart. Learn to thank me for all that unfolds for you. I am always present, always active. I bring you people, places, and things to bless your path. I am your provider, your opportunity. I am your path. Be conscious of me. Count your blessings and allow me to multiply them. Every thank-you triggers another gift. Blessings build upon blessings. They multiply in a grateful heart.

Bring me your heart. Let me soften it. Let me teach it to cherish and appreciate the smallest things. The puppy basking in the sun. The butterfly alighting on a bush. The industrious ant. The budding rose. All of these are part of me. All of life is my life, and all of life is yours to enjoy.

Celebrate beauty when you find it. Practice compassion for every living thing. Allow life to teach your heart how to respond to life. Let the willow teach you flexibility. For the poplar learn optimism. From the cottonwood take lessons in gentleness. I bless you with all these. Exercise gratitude that I may bless you more."

- Julia Cameron, excerpt from her book
"Answered Prayers: Love Letters from the Divine"
a beautiful book that found me years ago

from my journals

2004 hand-dyed silk and concert ticket

a birthday sorpresa he said
i was a bit tired, but went ahead

meeting at the bookstore
in the middle of rain

our waiter was
french
spanish
colombian
quite a cocktail - that mojito
a mountain of gorgonzola cheese, please

annie lennox rocked the house
she's fifty-two not sixty-two
moving like a graceful dancer
with fuchsia eyes...

excerpt from my 2007 journal

goddess in every woman

My definition of a sex goddess is a woman who is in touch with the primal, earthy energies that make us human.

She is a woman who acknowledges her feminine power.

She is a woman who celebrates her sexuality with respect for her body, her temple.

She is a woman who does not need to be in a sexual relationship in order to feel sensual or secure...

There is a sex goddess in every woman...



"I never really thought of myself as a sex goddess; I felt I was more a comedian who could dance."


- Rita Hayworth (1918-1987)

dangerous beauty

She was beautiful and she knew it.

Her skin was alabaster with mother-of-pearl iridescence.

She dressed in layers of flowing, transparent chiffon veils that floated around her long and slender ethereal body.

She pouted thick, sensual, hungry lips resembling only those of Angelina.

Her enormous dark eyes bulged out just enough.

She chased after him.

Had she no pride?

She pursued him, kissing him desperately, almost biting him.

Was she ready to mate?

Do fish have sex...?

notes upon observing a fish tank in a waiting room

new moon ushers in the year of the dragon

Tonight I begin to collect dreams, ideas, secrets and whispers of wisdom within the pages of a new journal.  My toddler blessed the book with color, freedom and love...

wishing you poetry today...poetry heals

Si me quitaran totalmente todo
si, por ejemplo, me quitaran el saludo
de los pájaros, o los buenos días
del sol sobre la tierra,
me quedaría
aún una palabra.
Aún me quedaría una palabra
donde apoyar la voz.
Si me quitaran las palabras,
o la lengua,
hablaría con el corazón
en la mano,
o con las manos en el corazón.
Si me quitaran una pierna
bailaría en un pie.
Si me quitaran un ojo
lloraría en un ojo.
Si me quitaran un brazo
me quedaría el otro,
para saludar a mis hermanos,
para sembrar los surcos de la tierra,
para escribir todas las playas del mundo, con tu nombre, amor mío.

- Alejandro Romualdo (1926-2008)

an archaeologist discovering my true self

"If you focus on the present, your life will be constantly renewed. The present moment is the only time that is eternal. It never dies, nor can it be forgotten. Therefore, happiness in the present can never be taken away from you. It will free you from the snare of time, which brings about suffering through thought, evaluation, and analysis. Being fully in the present, you experience the timeless. In the timeless, you find your true self." - Deepak Chopra

an archaeologist
discovering my true self
fragment by fragment
smile by smile
moment by moment

surrender

in the light of truth
...surrender to live life with nobility, grace and elegance

inspired

"Draw a crazy picture,

Write a nutty poem,

Sing a mumble-gumble song,

Whistle through your comb.

Do a loony-goony dance

... 'Cross the kitchen floor,

Put something silly in the world

That ain't been there before.”

- Shel Silverstein (1930-1999)

mi vida es mi obra

Are you living your life as if it were a work of art?

"Mi vida es mi obra: Siento la inmensa dicha de haber nacido bajo la tutela de los Andes que son la expresión de la fuerza y el milagro cósmico así mi obra expresa el espiritu de mi tierra Andina y el espiritu de mi gente aymara." - Marina Nuñez del Prado (approximately 1910 -1995)

goddess of women

"I am Isis, mistress of the whole land...I am she who separated the heaven from the earth. I have instructed mankind in the mysteries...I have ordered the course of the sun and the moon. I am queen of the rivers and winds and sea...I have made justice more powerful than silver and gold. I have caused truth to be considered beautiful. I am she who is called the Goddess of women..." - excerpt from the Inscription on The Temple of Isis at Sais

living the dream

...Though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.

It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

Do you have a dream?  Are you living your dream?

bravery and beauty

"Thank you to my wife...whose bravery and beauty haunts me still."

- Christopher Plummer

a day of reading, painting and writing...

"This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment.  First to let go of life.  Finally, to take a step without feet." - RUMI

truth

seeker of truth

follow no path

all paths lead where

truth is here

- e.e. cummings (1894-1962)

Melba Debayle Tercero: High Priestess

"...Inside the temple are lovely priestesses, chosen for their elegance and grace, who spend their lives serving the goddess, singing and dancing to her glory..." - Mary Olsen Kelly

remembering Tia Melba on her birthday

contemplate Mother Earth's beauty

"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show."

- Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009)

pueblo blessing

Hold on to what is good even if it is a handful of earth.


Hold on to what you believe even if it is a tree which stands by itself.


Hold on to what you must do even if it is a long way from here.


Hold on to life even when it is easier letting go.


Hold on to my hand even when I have gone away from you.


- Pueblo Blessing

winter's dance

let us welcome winter's snow with the wonder of a child,

let us welcome winter's dance and celebrate the seasons of our lives

wild mother moon in all her fullness

“All good things are wild and free.” 
- Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

a dream - story

The jewel-encrusted cave led her to an enormous drape of flowing water. Behind the luminescent waterfall curtain she discovered another world...a world where butterflies spoke and angels painted...a dream where the ocean sang and the moon danced...

excerpt from a dream-story originally published in May 2007

begin

"Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, 

BEGIN IT. Action has magic, grace and power in it."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

positive thoughts

"Thoughts are like drops of water. When I think the same thoughts over and over again, I am creating this incredible body of water. First, I have a little puddle, then I may get a pond, and as I continue to think the same thoughts over and over and over again, I have a lake, and finally an ocean. If my thoughts are negative, I can drown in a sea of my own negativity. If my thoughts are positive, I can float on the ocean of life. I dwell on positive thoughts."

- Louise L. Hay

we are all works in progress
let us be kind to ourselves and to each other
let us choose thoughts of peace and compassion

two pennies

"When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other." - Chinese Proverb

holy curiosity

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity."
- Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

what are you curious about ?

sparks into flames

"Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement."

- Golda Meir (1898-1978)

dance in the rain

the cold rain blesses my flesh


in the silence of my heart


I listen to my spirit


don't be afraid of getting wet


go out and dance in the rain