The Cleansing Storms

The dark ominous shadows of clouds over Deep Canyon.

Over the past few days my part of the world has been deluged with unexpectedly heavy rains along with crackling lightning and deep growling thunder.  The sun and the clouds have been in vigorous competition to control the skies, one minute dark and brooding, next golden light flooding down.  I've found it exhilarating!  In the calmer moments between the downpours I wander outside and enjoy the cool moist desert with it's most unique and unforgettable odour.

The vegetation, so used to surviving in the harshest of conditions, is absorbing this life giving elixir from the heavens as fast as those cells can handle it, for who knows when the next rain will come?  Within a couple of days new growth will be evident everywhere I look.  That is the nature of the desert.

The rich saturated colours of the rain soaked landscape.

                                                             
I can't help but make the connection between this desert storm and storms I've had in my life.  Whenever I've been coming down with some sort of sickness I've felt heavy and sluggish with trouble concentrating on anything.  As the condition moves through me I get to feeling worse until healing begins again.  It is the same when I'm struggling with an emotional issue.  Nothing is clear and I have no energy.  I'm stagnant. But then I come out the other side and I'm brimming with health and vitality again   My thoughts are clear, my heart is optimistic again and I have my mojo back. Stagnation gives way to new growth again.

In my world I've found every cloud does seem to have a silver lining.

A late rose blooming after the rains.

Cloudy Vision

It was late afternoon recently and I was inside finishing off few last minute chores before walking the dogs.  It got quite dark quite quickly and I, thinking it was later than it was, scrambled to get done and get out before night really set in.

On stepping outside with chaotic dogs ensnaring my legs I looked up to see it really wasn't that late at all.  The sun was being shut out by a very thick cloud almost directly above me.  What would have stopped me in my tracks, if the dogs hadn't already managed that, was these uncanny rays of light bouncing back up into the sky.  I was awestruck at the time and still am now when I see this picture I snapped with a simple little point and shoot camera.  I have not manipulated this image at all, this is as I saw it.

I got to thinking about the metaphor the World was presenting to me here through that simple little Lens.  I've often heard the saying of someone being 'under a cloud' and this is literally what I saw.  That life giving powerful sun was being deflected by one little cloud.  Light was all around, but not under, the cloud. 

I wonder how many times in my life I've been under a cloud and not realised I only had to take a few steps sideways to get back to the light?

Stalking Cacti

I've been closely watching a cactus in my neighbourhood these past few days.  Every year almost without warning it throws out a beautiful big fragrant white flower, then just as quickly it's gone again.  That seems to be the cacti way.  I've never managed to get a picture of it though I surely have tried.  This year was to be the exception.  I've been stalking that plant with my camera!

Well, the World had a message for me through the Lens as it usually seems to, but this one wasn't what I expected at all.  That potentially magnificent cactus bud simply did not open!  It went from a fat juicy bud almost bursting at the seams to a withered up dead appendage, in just two days.   I had even visited it after dark in case it was one of the night blooming Cereus, but no, not even at night was it about to open.  I was/am so disappointed.

I got to thinking what could the message be here for me.  What  point of view, or what metaphor, was the World offering me?  Then it hit me:  what if I died, bursting with unrealized potential?  It probably wouldn't concern me at the time, I'd be dead, right?  But what about the World around me?  We all came into this World with  unique gifts and talents which, if we don't discover and use them, could the Universe/God, family, friends, or even our community,  be just as disappointed as I was when the bud withheld it's gift from me?

Popular author and public speaker, Wayne Dyer, often reminds us 'not to die with our music still in us' and now, more than ever I can see his point.

Remembering the Good Ole Days

Jasmine from Nature's Whispers Blog has encouraged her followers to explorer the history at our doorsteps and share it with each other.  Leading by example Jasmine has blogged about some very interesting historical sights near her home in Wales in her "Sharing Treasure" segment which I invite you to check it out.

I got to thinking about where I live and the stories this place could tell!  My home is in the Palm Springs, California area which was the playground for the rich and famous Hollywood set from the late '20's through to the latter part of the century.  Back in the day most of the stars contracts only allowed them to travel 100 miles maximum from the studios on their days off when they were under contract.  Palm Springs is exactly 100 miles from Hollywood.  And so the heydays began...

Set into the landscaping of a private home near me I had noticed these plaques and thought this would be the perfect time to turn my Lens to the past and see what message the World has for me.

 
Bill Morrow:  Well respected screen writer and producer in the early to mid century. He worked with Bing Crosby and shared the screen writing for the Frank Sinatra Show which ran from 1957-8.
Pete Petitto: A good friend to Bing Crosby and his family.  Pete was Crosby's road manager and also managed the Crosby boys, Bing's sons on their singing road trips.
Trav Rogers: He first arrived in Palm Springs in 1929 leading a string of 15 horses.  Quite the entrepreneur, Trav was a man of vision.  His first move was to set up riding stables and bar simply called The Stables.  It quickly became popular with the monied set and upgraded it's name to Rogers Ranch Club.  The downstairs bar was remembered by many, if only because of it's name - the Mink and Manure Club!  Apparently the bar floor had horse stalls either side and a long table for the ladies to place their mink coats in preparation for partying down. 30 years later Trav was still an active developer.  He and another created a yacht club in the north shore of the Salton Sea, a few miles to the east of Palm Springs.  It was the largest on the west coast at the time.  Not bad considering the Salton Sea is landlocked.
Edie Fischer I was unable to find any information on but I will keep digging.

I have always been fascinated with history.  I wonder at the challenges people faced and how they overcame them.  I wonder at the stories they used to tell before tvs dominated the evenings.  I wonder what they would like to say to me, here in 2010, if I had the ears to listen?

Fall's Bounty

Autumn has arrived this year with more than a little fan-fare.  For the first time in 20 years the fall (or spring if you live in the southern hemisphere) equinox and the full moon arrived on the same day.  Somehow those coinciding events made the arrival of the fall more meaningful to me this year. 

I was driving through apple country looking at those beautiful ruby globes ripening on the trees.  The trees were looking a little tired and their foliage was somewhat dried up but the apples were rosy, crisp and bursting with sweetness.  The parent tree had given it's all to it's off-spring and was now ready to cut the fruit loose. Those plump apples with their seeds inside could continue to take their genetic message out in to the world.

I got the feeling that that is where our beautiful Mother Earth is at with us.  She has given us her all and is tired, polluted and dried up.  Some even believe the Earth is going through menopause now.  She's done mothering us, it's time for us to stop sucking the Mother dry and start creating our own lives.  It's an interesting philosophy and whether is stands up to closer scrutiny or not, it carries a sensible message which few could deny.

I am grateful for the bounty and beauty of this Earth.  Using my camera I give back to the Mother in the best way I know how, by encouraging others to use their gifts.  We all have them, you know.  And we can thank God, Goddess, Mother Earth for those, too.

Allowing

The World had an interesting message for me this week, although I have a strong suspicion that he/she God has been hammering away at me for a very long time in attempt to get me receptive enough to hear it!

It was one of allowing.  As in letting go of trying to control situations that are not mine to control.  I have had too many responsibilities accumulating, and in my efforts to do everything well quite a few things began to slip through the cracks.  As a result I've had my load lightened i.e I've had to allow someone else take over what I was never well suited for anyway.

It has been quite challenging to watch someone else do what I have been doing in a completely different, and dare I say, 'wrong', way and allow them to do it without my interfering.  The ego has taken quite a battering, and yet when I can just allow the situation to be, (I can't change it anyway!), and let go of the outcome it's amazing how much time and energy I have to do what I do best.  I can give myself my undivided attention and stuff gets done.  What's more, I'm having fun doing it.

One of the tasks left on my to-do list is photographing all the plants on the property and cataloging them in file.  I am having so much fun with this.  I can turn my Lens on the plants and let the magic happen.
My work has become my play time.  In fact, I can even imagine I can see fairies dancing in the creosote flowers below.


It became apparent to me for perhaps the first time in my life that there are no fairy badges of honour presented to those who stubbornly persevere with joyless labour, and yet if I allow myself to yield to the nudging of the the Universe my life is so much easier, more fun and definitely more productive.


And maybe the fairies do dance, too.

Transmutation

Today in the garden several snake skins were revealed as the bushes' wild summer growth was trimmed back.   Those skins were so surreal.  There were four of them, ghostly white and when the sun hit them they glowed in quite an eerie way.

The snakes had outgrown their skins and, without much fuss or anxiety that I'm aware of, had simply discarded them and moved on with their lives.  I'm sure it must have itched a little as it came off and possibly even left the snake with a few tender spots for a day or two, but I didn't see any dead snakes entrapped in their shedding skins so all must be well in their world.

Isn't that the way it should be with us as well?   Snakes are said to transmute their forms which isn't quite the same as transform.  To transmute means to switch it up, so to speak.  To evolve in some way. I wonder just how many times have I stayed where I am, resisting the urge to evolve. Keeping myself small because I'm afraid of a little discomfort if I step forward into a more powerful version of myself.

I looked at my plants transformed from an enthusiastic tangle of branches to a tightly shaped bush ready to grow again, then looked at the snake skins.  The snakes were done with their old forms, they had transmuted into new forms.  There was no going back for them.  They were totally committed to their new lives.

I realize that is what I'm being asked to do.  This world is ready and patiently waiting for me to step into my power and live to my potential.  Living small is not helping anyone, least of all myself.  I will move forward, that's a given as nature has control, but will it be a bold and joyful transmutation or digging my heels in, kicking  and screaming.  The choice is mine.