When It Rains, It Pours

Art by Goyo Dominguez 

I guess I haven't had too much to say recently. It feels like one shitty thing has happened after another. I'd love to be able to offer you a bouquet of flowers I grew from the shit I have been experiencing, but I'm just not there yet. I'm still recovering.

The Light Within

Photo by Laura Makabresku

When we come here

To this place we call Earth

Pure light encased

Into flesh and then birthed

And for a time

So brightly our light shines

Innocent hearts

And uncorrupted minds

Gradually

Daily life takes its toll

Shrouds are added

Layers that hide our souls

Darkness descends

Suffocating our flames

Stuck in routine

Playing survival games

One day we hear

A small cry from inside

Of the child

Who wants more than "survive"

A journey starts

To find our way back home

Cutting layers

Peeling them from our bones

Deep sea diving

Into depths yet unknown

Garden of growth

Where healing seeds are sown

A tiny spark

Uncovered and revealed

Forgotten light

Is no longer concealed

The light within

Illuminates and guides

Chasing away

Fears where they try to hide

One tiny spark

Has become a rising Sun

Emanating

Warmth and love for everyone

Oktobre Taylor

September 11, 2022

Sun Bandit

The light within by Hales aka wandering_with_a_creative_mind

It's a beautiful breezy day. The sound of my wind chimes fill the air. Even though it is supposed to be hot today, the breeze makes it feel cooler than it actually is.

I tried to make a video for YouTube, earlier. I hoped to capture some of the sounds of the chimes in the background. The little bit of dream I talked about just wasn't enough. My mind was pondering the ideas I talked about deeper than what I had gone into on the video. So, I will repeat what I said in the video and add to it here.

Dream Journal Entry: September 9, 2022

As I was waking up, I heard someone referred to as a "Sun Bandit" but I have no sense of who or why. 

I dreamed a lot but only remember putting on purple eyeliner, but I didn't get it quite right and then tried to rub it off. It wasn't coming off easily and just smeared, so I thought I would try to reapply the eyeliner. I drew it out into wings that went beyond the eye itself.

By Vaughn Mir aka wyldraven

I think the purple eyeliner might be symbolic of someone seeing through spiritual eyes. Purple is the color of spirituality and the crown chakra. The person in the dream tried to wipe it away, but found it was difficult to get rid of it. It only spread the color. So instead of fighting it, the dream person just added more. Seeing through spiritual eyes gave them wings. It gave them the ability to see in a new way from a higher perspective like a bird with wings.

I wondered to myself, "What or who would be considered a Sun Bandit?" Well, anyone and anything that steals our light and happiness could be seen as a Sun Bandit.

My mind wandered back to my past life regression and the life I experienced as Mary, mother of Jesus. In my personal version of that story, Mary had been raped and gave birth to a blonde son, but her son was stolen from her. At the time, I considered that the symbolic meaning of this was that her innocence, her inner child, had been stolen from her, but there are layers of meanings in symbolism. Now, after hearing two simple words, I could see an additional meaning. 

Sun Bandit....Son Bandit...

Mary's son/sun had been stolen from her and replaced with a dark haired child who resembled her more. Mary's inner light was stolen from her when they took her child away. She grew to love the replacement, but he wasn't her own son/sun born from her...he was a moon, a satellite that had been placed there to appease her. A moon can reflect light and can be very comforting in the dark but it is unable to create it's own light. A moon relies on the light of another. Make no mistake, there is beauty and value in the dark as well as the light. We need both to create balance.

Photo by David Bellemere, model Hana Jirickova, captured for Porter No. 5 Winter 2014

The poem I wrote yesterday, 'I Was Thirsty', had me reflecting on the long arduous spiritual journey I have been on. I reflected upon how I was guided to all kinds of challenges. Somehow I managed to make ham and lemonade from all the pigs and lemons I was given. I made food and drink for myself through the lessons learned, the words written and art created. I was thirsty and hungry, but I learned how to forage. I learned how to feed myself. I learned how to quench my thirst...from within myself.

It's like I have said before, I don't think everything happens for a reason, but I do believe that we can give every experience purpose and meaning when we turn it into a lesson and an opportunity to grow. WE give those shitty situations meaning. If we never see the lessons we can gain, then they just stay pigs rooting around in the mud and lemons rotting on the ground at our feet. 

When I was 11 years old in this life, my inner child died, my Son/Sun was stolen from me, but the spiritual journey helped me rebuild and rebirth the Sun/Son within. I now have within me, my own ability to generate light. I'm no longer dependent on the light of others, but I'm also capable of sitting quietly in the dark with another and reflecting light so that they can rebuild their own Sun/Son.

I am the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth. Within me is a Universe with so many realms I plan to explore.

No longer can someone be a Sun Bandit in my life, because I rebuilt a Sun that can never be stolen again thanks to all the tools I have gathered along on the way. The tools can help me mend what is broken or tear down what is standing in my way.

Waking Up In A Dream by Blake aka blakecreates

"It is as we walk inside that we find places through which the light passes. Light may break at any moment from the interior of the mind. We go through countless pathways where thoughts swim by like an endless crowd of fish. The interior halls through which we walk are immense, and from time to time we find ourselves in the presence of Light. Everything we see from the outside has an invisible origin in an invisible realm- The interior realm of the mind where the greatest events happens, where the seed of everything that grows outwards hides. We are waiting for every moment to arrive at such a significant event, an event that will mold the totality of our world from the inside out." ~  Luna in the Light ( lunainthelight )

I Was Thirsty

Giuseppe Möder - La Fontana

I was thirsty

So Spirit guided me to a puddle 

The water I gathered in my cup was muddy

So I learned how to purify what I had been given

And I drank

I was thirsty

So Spirit guided me to a fountain

I pumped but the fountain was dry

So I sat down and cried until the fountain was full

And I drank

I was thirsty

So Spirit guided me to an old well

The water brought up in my bucket was toxic

So I bled into the well to cleanse the water

And I drank

I was thirsty

So Spirit guided me to a crooked tree

There wasn't any water to be seen anywhere

So I dug until I found an underground spring

And I drank

I was thirsty

So Spirit guided me to my own heart

My heart was locked inside an iron cage

So I forged a key that set the sea inside me free

And I drank

Oktobre Taylor 

You Are an Eagle

The Hermitage - Esther Bubley - Matera, Italy 1954

"‎They are angry with me, because I know what I am." Said the little eagle. 

"How do you know that they are angry with you?" 

"Because, they despise me for wanting to soar, they only want me to peck at the dirt, looking for ants, with them. But I can't do that. I don't have chicken feet, I have eagle wings." 

"And what is so wrong with having eagle wings and no chicken feet?" Asked the old owl. 

"I'm not sure, that's what I'm trying to find out." 

"They hate you because you know that you are an eagle and they want you to think you are a chicken so that you will peck at the ground looking for ants and worms, so that you will never know that you are an eagle and always think yourself a chicken. Let them hate you, they will always be chickens, and you will always be an eagle. You must fly. You must soar." Said the old owl.

By C. JoyBell C.

Talking to the Dead

Giuseppe Möder, Donne di Scanno, 1955

Dream Journal Entry: September 8, 2022

I just woke up with the message, "The dead are reaching out to me," repeating in my head. I think it was the message I was seeing in an image/scene I saw, but I can no longer remember what I saw...just the message.

I also remember a short bit about a photoshoot and people wanting to get shots of me. I wasn't used to being in front of the camera and it made me uncomfortable. I nervously laughed about it. I think they were photographing me to feature me in some article about my work. Alexandra and Keanu were there. I don't remember Keanu actually ever talking, but I do remember saying something about "I'm not a photographer. I just point and shoot. I don't have an eye for what I see like some people do" as though I had been given a compliment about my pictures. I also remember reaching out and touching keanu's hand and he held it briefly before Alexandra came up and got in the way. She was being sugary sweet to me but indicated that she was upset that the photographer wasn't taking more photos of her. The photographer got annoyed and said he would only take photos of her if they were "roof of her mouth" shots. I don't understand that symbol. She agreed to it just so she could get more photos taken of her.

Owl Always l Love You

Art by papperou.art

In-between Communication: September 6, 2022

As I was waking I heard, "I didn't kill myself."

Art by papperou.art

In-between Communication: August 28, 2022

I also remember hearing, "I want to feel you but the movie doesn't."

In-between Communication: August 16, 2022

This morning I heard, "It may be a rental property but it is our story." The impression I got was that the story that was playing out was real even if the body we were in wasn't originally ours.

Art by papperou.art

In-between Communication: September 5, 2022

"I don't want to pay you to see for me, I want to see for myself." Heard this in the in-between state as I was waking up.

Art by papperou.art

In-between Communication: July 11, 2022 

As I was waking I saw two owls, one upright and one upside down, side by side, almost like a yin/yang symbol. I also heard, "Mario is pregnant."

In-between Communication: May 24, 2022

I saw two owls. One was light and very bright. She was amazing and looked like an angel. I heard the name Seraphina. There was another owl but it was small and dark. I found a mouse and chose to feed the smaller of the two owls.

I think what that shows is that I have been building that dark owl. I was giving him food because he needs to catch up to be the same size as the light one.