I’ve been making my way VERY slowly (i.e., most of the time not at all) through the ho’oponopono course for which I signed up a few months ago. So far, though, completing the class isn’t feeling like the point as much as reconnecting with the practice — also gaining insight from the videos of the course I’ve watched — and the deep reminder that everything I see reflects something inside of me. The big place in which it’s come into play has been noting my high levels of anger at Republican pseudo-Christian right-wing fascists. How often, as I watch MSNBC or read articles pointed out by fellow ..read more

In my last post, I said the next one would discuss my journey with ho’oponopono and anger, but I received word yesterday that my dear friend Gay‘s husband, David, died yesterday and changed the plan. The Nine Gates memorial service for Gay is being held Monday, which would have been her 93d birthday. David had hoped to go but his health has been bad since her death; now the memorial will be for him too. The eighth death in 3 years among my friends (and let’s not forget both my parents too) kind of slammed me. And right now I’m in a stage of melancholy and wishful thinking. Both Gay and David ..read more

I’ve been following the January 6 investigations all along, noting things that maybe I know more about because of the law degree, but seeing pretty clear info out there telling us the DOJ was exploring J6 via grand jury at least as early as January 2022, months before the House committee began its hearings and much more info showing a consistent, ongoing probe. Bear in mind that the Constitution requires indictments be brought by grand jury and the law requires the prosecutors to conduct the grand jury process in secret. The only way we ever know about these proceedings is witnesses — who are ..read more

As SCOTUS in particular and Repug leaders in general continue to promulgate hateful, backsliding, white supremacist policies and programs, Democrats and the media continually express their amazement at how out of step with the opinions of most Americans the right-wingers are. I’m so tired of this b.s. disingenuousness. They’ve been showing us who they are at least since Reagan’s time. And like smug, patriarchal, rich white supremacists throughout U.S. history, they don’t give a flying f**k what the majority of Americans think or want. They don’t give a sh*t if their policies kill millions of ..read more

I’m shell-shocked. With the death of my dear friend, Gay Luce, I finally took in the enormity of what I’ve dealt with in the last 2-1/2 years and realized how gobsmacked I am. The upside is also seeing how well the many years of spiritual delving, meditation, yoga, etc. have served me. The other is seeing how, subtly, I fight a regular battle between my desire to just sit back and absorb and the societal message of “go, go, go”. It’s odd to find myself in that battle because long issues with my health have put me pretty far outside the norm of constant doing and I’ve learned to make peace wit ..read more

The topic this month at the spiritual center I attend (via YouTube) is self care. This reading from last Sunday’s service is such a nice adjunct to the post I published yesterday, I couldn’t resist putting it up here ..read more

Like most Americans I grew up hearing some odd ideas about how wealth indicates being in God’s favor and poverty indicates you’re not living “right”. Closely allied is a whole lot of work ethic BS, wherein people who are right with God and work hard pull themselves up by the bootstraps and anyone who is poor is obviously lazy and not living by God’s rules. I came up in a branch of Christianity where I also learned a lot about how little chance the wealthy have of making it into heaven, etc., so it was kind of a confusing hodgepodge for me. More recently, though, I’ve been noting how much thes ..read more

I’ve worked with the concept of other people or their issues being mirrors, reflecting back something about or from within me a lot over the years. Usually it’s been a tool for ferreting out negative aspects, old issues, things to release, etc. My friendship with Gay Luce has always provided a different sort of mirror and until now, one I’ve kind of sidestepped around. A number of teachers I worked with knew both of us and more than one mentioned how much they saw Gay and I as mirrors, always in the context of trying to get me to see how similar I am in energy and capacity to teach, etc. To m ..read more

Even before I received the news that Nine Gates Mystery School founder Gay Luce is in the process of dying, I’ve had Nine Gates on my mind. Thinking a lot about Gay, though, I’ve really been reflecting on her creation and the amazing ideas at the core of its structure. Although there are many layers to Nine Gates, the central theme is that we are like flutes with many notes possible but most of us only play one or two all the time. Each chakra has its own tone, its own characteristics, vibration, etc. When you really learn to tune into each chakra and understand the uses and purposes of each ..read more

I received word that my dear friend Gay Luce, whose health has been failing rapidly the last couple of years, is in transition, expected to die at any time. She’s been so important in my life, I can’t quite grasp the idea of a world without her in it. As has been true of a number of big changes that turned out great, meeting Gay was a fluke. I’d been taking some classes with spiritual teachers Arthur and Ann Cataldi. They met and liked Gay so much they helped sponsor a workshop in Chicago. Since they lived in FL and I lived in suburban Evanston at the time, they asked me to help field phone c ..read more