Ode to the Sun

Nearing completion, 

this undeserved holy spot has housed our time together.

The Pacific Ocean looms large.

Holiness hangs in the mists.

Huge trees, not seen, but felt

Hold sacred space

This land is stolen

Goes to the highest bidder.

Native lands are allocated in the east,

close, but no cigar.

The Coastline is for capitalists

• A retreat to celebrate riches
• Measure time
• Quantify happiness 

The Mermaids and octopi watch.

Justice metes out coffee.

Stones are for theft.

The Water waves ceaselessly. Roars.

Birds Dive

Sea Gulls scold.

Knees twist,

minds do too.

What is holy

Can’t be bought or sold.

Excessive meals, 

good to the last bite,

gourmet food never running out.

Wrapping words around the modern experience,

Describing the psychosis of now

is a daunting task,

A sad one and thankless.

Who wants to know what lies beneath the glitter.

A hollow land full of ghosts,

A landscape of broken values.

Beautiful stones glitter in the sand.

They are not ours for the taking.

Will we ever learn?

High Priestess and Justice Meet before the Summer Solstice

 

On the Spring Equinox,

The High Priestess sat on her throne,

wiping away her tears,

Allowing an entire story of pain and isolation wash away

-come to an end.

Thus a new season in their life could begin.

_______

Summer Solstice now approaches,

The High Priestess has slowly transformed

thru the Season of Cardinal Fire, Fixed Earth and Mutable Air.

The Cardinal Water approaches.

Her tears are mostly gone,

A small curiosity has bloomed,

In the well watered soil.

High Priestess is no longer tightly tethered to her Grief.

Bare branches have grown heavy with leaf,

a new growing season in swing,

replacing the baroness from which she has emerged.

The Wheel has turned from her darkest night.

The Sun has returned.

The days are interminably long.

The High Priestess,

has purpose reborn in the soils each spring.

By summer solstice, 

seeds have pushed  way into a green lushness,

awakening their senses,

strawberries tasty in their mouth.

Already, they contemplate the Dark Solstice to follow

when once again the light is hard to find

and Persephone has departed for the underworld.

Will their souls survive the dark soil?

Will the planets keep turning?

Banishing the bleak questions haunting them,

High Priestess turns to their friend, Justice,

who has sat patiently by the creek

for High Priestess to return.

“What now,” asks the Priestess.

“Let’s get high,: Justice says in return. 

“I have some of last year’s medicine, 

rolled and ready.”

They light a joint in the sun dappled forest, still late spring green, 

Near a creek, slowed to a trickle, 

Justice sighed.

“It’s so beautiful right now,

For once, this place isn’t yet dry and burnt by the sun,

and ready to conflagrate any moment.” 

The Priestess, getting high, agreed.

“A momentary pause in the drought,

plus, the law finally swinging her blade down on the corruption.

Democracy may even survive this solar return."

Justice looked over at High Priestess.

“That’s my department,”

They both burst out laughing.

“You need to get busy,” 

High Priestess gasps and snorts.

Justice takes a long look at them,

deciding whether to take affront.

Justice has been taking a beating for awhile now

and couldn’t decide if they were ready to speak of recent traumas

they had experienced.

High Priestess noticed the shift in energy from their friend.

“Get out your feathery blade,” my friend, they urged. 

“People have worked hard for you.

The scales might once again balance. 

Name what has been done.”

Justice was not ready to declare victory, or even balance.

“Things are still extreme and volatile. 

Besides I love the woods.

I may stay here for awhile.

The streams and trees and land need their voice and vote as well.

Can any of our relations rest when humans have made such a mess of it all?"

High Priestess took a long drag, held it in, and dropped the joint in the creek’s puddled waters, 

Where it sizzled, went out, staying still  in the waters of the drying creek.

“We aren’t in balance..”

They lit another joint, passing it between them, thoughtful.

“We are only ideals, we aren’t really real” High Priestess said slowly, deliberately, her good humor quieted.

"Archetypes are only fully formed and complete in one’s imagination.

We are shape shifting and morphing everyday, no longer what we were or what we shall be. Everyone’s concepts are evolving.

We don’t know what changes will come to us, 

what we become. 

I am holding these histories as I have held all histories,

in my energy field.

“We have had a lot of loss,

And more yet to come,

Some victories.

We will not be the same,

Coming out of this 

As we were going in.

We are shedding skin, becoming tender and new again.”

Justice interjected, “let us enjoy the season we are in.

Let’s not look so far down the road, past and future.

Today is cool, water remains in the creek, no fires raging. 

Let us rest while we can. 

After this week, the sun wanes and night will slowly return.”

“There is much work to be done, Growing food and medicine.”

High Priestess looked at the many lush greens and flowers and sighed.

They both stood and held hands,

Watching the east, as the sun rising warmed the world.

“Not much darkness’s these days…”  

“No, there isn’t, but it too will return.”

Bowing to the sun,

Justice and Priestess kissed and went separate ways to their sacred tasks of the day.

Reflections in the Solstice Window

Setting solstice sun in Pele's Tear

The Queen of Pentacles accepts change. 

 The Moon moves through her phases, 

Filling us to overflowing, s

pilling over, 

draining away. 

There are patterns to the change. 

New patterns are emerging. 

Listen to the birds, 

Watch the ducks. 

Find the cat’s whisker, 

And come to know how 

to move in this world 

And the next. 

Wax and Wane, 

There are Tides in our tears and sweat, 

We bleed with the agonies in the world. 

We Recover. 

Water the gardens. 

Grow again, 

Commune with the spirits. 

Hold the course, 

as does the moon, earth and sun. 

Let it be a dance. 

 __________________________________________ 

Coming from a period of contraction, 

I am expanding into a purposeful intention to being open and curious 

to what the Universe (Uni) want to serve up. 

In my contraction, 

I felt the world - out there - was dangerous, 

inhospitable, full of disasters waiting to gobble up the world. 

General overall angst from the isolation of Covid had crept in and taken root. 

Like an unwanted plant in my garden, 

I find I have to uproot this fear and mistrust,

allowing Uni to be generous, 

to show me it isn’t all disaster and death. 

All along, the zinnias, corn, bean, and gourd seeds

have broken surface. 

The garden of beautiful life is emerging, 

if I allow it in and give it space.

If I am diligent in removing the crabgrass, 

flowers are quickly overtaking the dark bare soil. 

 I mulch and water. 

 The Sky pours Rain.

Dancing with the Devil

A Tarot card that dogs me is the Devil card, the 15th card of the Major Arcana The Devil belongs in the pantheon of cards making up of my personal numerology and tarot-scape. The Devil corresponds to Capricorn in the astrological connective tissue of the tarot. I am born in Capricorn season, though I don’t seem to match many  of the keywords - Ambitious, Leader, Conservative.  Exactly what does the Devil represent in tarot? Capricorn is ruled by Saturn. My Writual Journal tells me Saturn is about life lessons and destiny. Saturn is more resonant with my Capricorn existence - lots of lessons and lots of self chosen destiny.

Devil from the Holy Spectrum Tarot

 

The Devil archetype belongs to the Capricorn archetype. The Holy Spectrum Tarot Deck shows us a shrouded figure with questions that haunt us in daily life. What if, no you can’t, doubt yourself are the kinds of questions, popping out of the card.

Other decks show  us a devilish pan goatish figure, the figure of Pan, hinting at more pagan roots for the archetype. Pan was once the spirit of joy and wildness in the forest and now is perceived as the devil. 

Smith/Rider Waite Deck

I address this with the following conversation Devil and I had the other day. 

 

The chat began after I lit a sacred torch of disorientation and dismantlement, “Ye old Devil Weed,” I said when I realized time no longer could be trusted.

 

 
“You call me?”  The Devil appears, quite ready to converse. 
“I was objecting to the association of Devil and Weed, as if weed is bad for you.  Sometimes maybe we need to forget what day it is and how long we have been at task," said I, the one with a soul addicted to this particular nectar of vision and connection. 

 

"It’s the devil’s description, I disapprove of," said the Devil, who then cocked their head and asked, “Are you ready to dance with the Devil?”

 

“We’ve been dancing all along, you and me,” I respond. "You have the audacity to be born in Capricorn, same as me, but you got there first and cast your spells and claimed Capricorn as the Devil’s Realm.

 

Modern Goddess Tarot

 

Now every time I get the card, I feel like I am looking at myself and have to figure out if that is good or bad.”"I always wonder about the Pan aspects of Devil. 

 

 

Sometimes when your card appears, I think you and I, we are sensuously present, in the moment as coolest chicks, the artisst, the dudes in the flow of all creative.” 

The Devil answered seriously, “The wilder exotic part of me derives from Pan which has been in disgrace since folks got “civilized”. Actually I am about the ecstasy of being one with earth, air, water and fire. I have been, ahem, if you must… demonized.”

 

“Today, if I come up, people think I am  there to tell them they are being bad, or questioning  and doubting them, asking them to think of their weak spots, addictions and how one relates to all that binds you."

 

“May, I say?” trying to be helpful, “you are the archetype of Capricorn as our conscience. You are urging us to pay attention to what must be done to get all those 
Saturnian tasks done. You guide us through our days, helping us question our motives, our reasoning, and if we are on the right track. You often ask, “is this addictive, does this qualify as self harm, am I being slutty or is this encounter feeding my wild soul.”

 

“You, Devil, I proclaim you to be my wild soul, dwelling in the wild spaces  and not in the confines of polite societies. I will not make you take the blame for my unhealthy and out of control behavior. I consider you to be the wild one, living in right relationship to forest field and river.”

 

“Yes, yes”, Devil exclaims. “You get me. I bring you questions to keep you aligned, add queerness, transforming you from society’s slave into participating in the full spectrum of life.” 

 

And with that, they snapped their fingers loudly and disappeared. 

Oc and Chuen Learn Why

Chuen took a deep breath. “I am A monkey as you know. This totally freaks me out.  I miss my mommy and my daddy.  And, I really want to know what is going on. I am only nine years old where I come from -  and yet I feel, if you tell me, I can understand. I'd like some explanation if someone wouldn't mind.” 

With that, Chuen held the wand up and looked around. Owl flew over and gently extracted the wand from Chuen's hand.  I will tell you what I can.  We have no people as you know them.  In MesoEarth we are the tribes of all the humans and other living beings on the earth. We communicate telepathically, as I am sure you have noticed. We also use pure sound when the power of it is needed. We use this sound in the act of creating from the void. 

This sound magic is used within the Council of Ben. All of our councils are sacred gatherings. The Ben defines home as Eb meant road. Our roads should all lead to home.  Tell me, Chuen, what did you dream last night?” 

“I dreamed of living in a round structure,' Chuen began once the wand was placed in their hand. Owl stood near. “It was a big hollow round room. In the center was a cave filled with crystals. I lived outside of this cave in the curved space around it. It was beautiful.”

Owl took the wand back. “Chuen, this is your home you are dreaming of -not the home of your parents and sisters. The home of your soul.” 

“Chuen, you have been long absent from any councils of Ben in MesoEarth.  Oc accompanies you in the upper realm, and has also been missing. Now you are both here, though you are not exactly who you used to be. Your are the essence of Chuen, our monkey who became human, and who stayed in the upper realm. This is the monkey planet in a turtle galaxy. As odd as it sounds the monkey has become the face of planet earth. The monkey has lost her memory and no longer remembers MesoEarth nor where earth is in the dance of the celestials.” 

“We, in MesoEarth, are the tribes of earth. Humans and dogs come from our tribes. We are shadows in the minds of humans. Once we all moved together, growing in harmony, becoming, always becoming more sacred, and more alive and more conscious. Something occurred in the upper realm, separating humans from our shared lives together. It is the consciousness of dominance, that has spread like a cancer over thousands of years of seperaton.  

The monkeys left our tribes,  and began living separately in the upper realm, no longer acknowledging the sacredness of interdependent life - they lost touch with all natural rhythms.  As time goes on, the cycles of nature become as  hidden as possible in your lives. Time is prescribed by machines. Acting within one’s personal time is actively discouraged.” 

“Humans are no longer synchronized to planetary energies. It is a miracle you have come here, Chuen and Oc, as far apart as we have become in our realities. And I believe, as for you being nine in the upper realm, anyone older would not be able to hold the reality of MesoEarth. Your people do not allow anyone out of their narrow strictures of realty. Any older, and your mind would have been stripped of its ability to comprehend any of this. You have the flexibility of a mind not yet hardened into only three dimensions. You must have been near a portal for this to occur.”

"Oc, as hard as it may seem, your people need your help here in the MesoEarth. You can not help them by going home to the upper realm. You and Chuen are needed here. We have much work to do between now and the winter solstice. We are in the window of the new moon and summer solstice for the next three days. There is much visioning which must occur if we are to navigate a safe passage through where our spaceship earth is now passing. We Will need a full council if this is to occur. That is why you have come, and why you must stay until we have come full circle to where and when you came. The following days, weeks and months are most critical to the inhabitants of this planet if we are to make it."

Oc and Chuen Awaken

Chuen awoke before dawn. The entire dwelling seemed to come alive all together. Oc blinked at Chuen and asked, “what did you dream?”

“I dreamed of being at home, but it wasn't where I live with Mommy and Daddy and my sisters.  It was a round house made of beautiful wood and it was where I lived. “ 

Oc nodded sagely and said, “I dreamed of my two people. They may be in trouble. I feel like I need to get back to them as quickly as possible.” 

Chuen shuddered to think of all the chaos there would be while people looked for them. The second day here, they had cried all day in anger and frustration of not being able to be found. They were now a little brown monkey instead of a human being. That alone freaked them out, if you didn't even factor in the whole lost thing without a grown up in sight, not even people. Everybody was an animal from bobcats, turtles, thrushes, everybody they had seen seemed perfectly human except they weren’t; they were all animals. This dumbfounded and escaped their logic like a dream does.

This is what Chuen had decided: they were dreaming an extended dream that felt more real to them than anything they had ever dreamed before. Just knowing they were dreaming, being aware of this fact, made it seem more real and less real. They would wake up from this crazy experience if they could, but nothing they did woke them up. They had jumped and twisted and turned. Scampered up and down trees like the monkey they now were.  

By the fifth day of this journey, Chuen accepted their name and the fact they were a monkey. That was something else they didn't understand: how their name could irrevocably change. They  were not Willow any more. And Oc was no longer Scout. Oc talked to them without vocalizing with no sound Chuen could hear. Oc's voice sounded in the mind with great clarity. Chuen could formulate an answer to Oc, speaking directly to them without moving their mouth. This is how everybody talked here.  

When Oc and Chuen awoke and emerged from sleep on the day of Ben, the Bobcats led them outside to greet the dawn. Dark shades of blue and black softly gave way to brilliant greens, fifty thousands shades of green.glowing from within as night became day.

They proceeded to a nearby river. The Bobcats began wading in the water and urged Chuen and Oc to follow. The water was startling clear and cold. Oc swam furiously to keep up with the others, being such a small animal. Chuen noticed their difficulty and scooped Oc into their arms. Once everyone immersed themselves in the electrifying water, all emerged, and shook themselves dry with vigor.

Bees and a pair of Armadillos came to the pool. In awe, Chuen and Oc watched the Bees swarm over the water and dive bomb into it, and  quickly, back out. The Armadillos took a bit more time, immersing their strange hard shelled bodies into the water. Two thrushes flew in next, performing a unique baptismal. Woodpeckers, gazelles, coyotes, raccoons, fawns, macaws - the variety of animals was astounding. Vultures, owls, pumas, hummingbirds, weasels, eagles, quetzal bird. 

The crowd grew and grew. Finally the silent people (because they were all people despite their species), begin walking in single file towards the rising sun. They went over a rise where lay another hill with a circular path winding around it. Everyone followed the path around the hill four times growing closer and closer to its green-clad sides with each revolution. Oc noticed a small door leading inside the hill. An eagle and an owl fanned smoke onto each person, sweeping them from head to foot and back again with their wings. A bright hummingbird dripped a sweet fragrance onto each person's crown. Then each dropped low, entering through the small door and tunnel. A short crawl later, and the room opened into a big round orange clay bowl.Everyone sat or perched in this circular space in complete silence. The relief of a large eagle resided in the clay in the center of this space. Directly in the center was a fire and within it glowed many hot rocks.

A spotted fawn pushed a bowl of liquid around with her nose. Everyone partook with a small swallow including Chuen and Oc. Last, A large jaguar emerged from the tunnel, took the seat left vacant in the north,  and sat with his tail switching looking around the sacred space. 

Armadillo began the council by asking all to turn to the east and a chant honoring East rose in sound. Each direction was intoned and then the center.  

Eagle began to talk. “ We thank Armadillos for beginning this ceremony. She is of the Ben energy, on whose day this council now meets.”

He continued,  “As you all know these are auspicious times. We are close to the solstice, when the wheel turns and resets itself into a new era, eons in coming. We ready ourselves for the changes being wrought as this solar system moves through space. This is the last solstice before the revolution and resetting of the Days. We have much work to do.”

“UpperEarth is not taking this ride through space and all the changes it brings with any grace. They have so poisoned their earth, air and water  and spirit so all are in danger of mass extinction.

“We welcome Chuen and Oc, visitors from the Upper Realm. They dropped into MesoEarth when Ik blew in 12 days ago. BobCat discovered them yesterday on the Eb day,  before sunset. 

We enter into the The Men Trecena in day atfter tomorrow. This is the Trecena of Vision, of the Eagles' Eye View. This is an appropriate time for us together in MesoEarth to hold a collective vision in crystal clearness for the next thirteen days. There are many ceremonies and rituals as our tribes are gathering from near and far, heralding in the birth of summer, the waning time of year. That which hot and bright begins to subside.  The Descent into Darkness begins at the Solstice.

Today is Ben. Our local tribes are gathered. On this day we pray, dream, contemplate on being at home on our Earth, in our bodies, treating the land, water air and each other with respect . Today, also we welcome Chuen and Oc who are misplaced from their home. They are from the Upper Realm, as you know.  Let us listen to their story. 

Eagle placed in front of Oc a thick stick, inset with turquoise and aquamarine stones, topped with a very clear crystal whose center held a dark brown citrine incursion surrounded with  smokey blue gray quartz. There were the bright feathers of the quetzal bird tied near the top and intricate beads. Oc understood this to be a talking wand and knew as long as they held this, there would be no interruptions.

“We were a small pet dog and a young girl where we came from,” Oc began. “I have two people I take care of. I must get home to them because I sense they are in great danger. I don't know how we got here or why. I do not know why my powers of communication have deepened so dramatically. I do not know why Chuen is a monkey and called Chuen. I do not know how to get home.” With that small speech, Oc handed the Talking Stick back to Armadillo who offered the stick to Chuen. 

Peeking into the Way of Oc and Chuen

 Let’s peek into Oc and Chuen’s first story

The story of Oc and Chuen is a story which began coming alive  on an Eb day when my exploration of the Mayan Cosmos first began. 

There are twenty days making up Mayan Time. These days have energies and stories that inform how these people thought about themselves. Their sense of the way of the world unfurls through the people’s measurement of time, as practiced daily through their observation of their calendars .  Thus, these calendars holds their creation story, their values and their archetypes. Their behaviors and actions are prescribed to certain days. Eb's qualities as explained by Maya_Thought on Instagram are featured here and below

The ancient Maya were mathematically precise people who multiplied without dividing.  Much like the eternal expansion of the universe, they looked at wide ranging patterns repeating themselves thru multiples, rather unlike the Western sciences that dig deep into the division and fractions . 

 

Maya People, even today,  accept a flow of days, collectively derived, providing  common meanings from the archetypes of each daysign.  Modern Mayas have different names for the same energies and also use different associations of the day-signs with directions. I use the Classical Mayan name designations (which Yucatan Maya also still use) from the classical Mayan period that flourished until about 1000 AD in the area of Central America.  

There are twenty day-sign energies in every calendar . Oc - dog, and Chuen - monkey,  are the 10th and 11th day-sign in the Maya Long Count way of numbering the twenty day-signs, basic to all Maya calendars. 

The Tzolkin, a 260 day sacred calendar has thirteen rounds of the twenty day-signs gives us the stories and meanings there which reverberate in Maya world views to this day.

(chart from Kenneth Johnston)

We enter the story of Chuen and Eb during the 12th daysign, Eb, the road, the path and the way. It is a Native American concept closely resembling the Tao in eastern cultures. 

This story brings us into the center of the ten days in the twenty day creation story. Many people consider Chuen to be the first day of the human calendar - when we appear in the scheme of things.  We have the dog which is cosmic law  and guardianship walking with the monkey, who is seen in the light of civilized humankind and they are walking a road (Eb)  leading to community and common good.

The 13th day sign - and one should know the Maya revered 13 above all other numbers - is Ben. In this story the council meets each Ben (every twenty days). Ben is a concept of community, alters and family. It is represented by reeds and bamboo. These plants can be seen by the strength the massive entangled roots giving the community an ability to withstand the floods and storms while living on and near riverbanks. 

 Ik, the wind in the story, is the second day sign in the order of creation,  if one begins with the daysign Imix - and for these purposes, I do.  This story illustrates  or plays with the Mayan concepts of wind (Ik), dog (Oc - guardianship, law)), Monkey (Chuen which translates to artisan or craftsman and is associated with arts and culture),  the road (Eb) and Community (Ben).

I hope this helps. Light, Carole. (Ik Glyph with ancient tree shaped by wind, original art, Carole Dixon)