Dreaming of water, hearing of sun

It's still winter.  We're layered up here in the forest and clean long johns and freshly washed bedding make  for comfort and pleasure wrapped in a nice package.  Last night one of my dreams had me out in the ocean waiting for the wind to pick up my kite.  I guess it was a wind-surfing kite though there was no board to skim the water tops, just me totally immersed in water with my son near by.  Never did get up out of the water, but when I woke it was to laughter (mine) as I thanked my lucky stars for giving me a salt water swim without leaving the bed.

A couple hours ago I was on the cellphone to my pal JT who is on a fabulous road trip to sunny places.  A wondrous trip.  I could hear the sun in her voice, her glee unmistakeable.  She and her partner LW are headed for a bead show, and more than that they are sunning themselves and getting the Vitamin D that I must find in a tiny bottle dosed by the drop.

The new year coming up is giving me an infusion of joy.  Chatting with JT the Earthy, hearing her relish the company of beaders and potters playing in the sun, I want to be there, too.  I'm a deep-water Scorpio with transcendent connections to make lots of lemonade from lemons or funky homes from bits of dream-work and star-dust, but I do love the warmth of the sun.  Hawaiians are sun-people after all. 

Hearing my friends are thriving on their RV trek from the wetlands of the Pacific Northwest gives me hope:  we could trek again in our vardo or in the trusty Subaru which is more aired and off-gassed by the day.  Though we are settling here on Whidbey, there is room for short, sweet ventures.  All is not struggle and work. 

The Year of the Rabbit (or "Hare" as my dear friend Glenda prefers) is a year to catch your breath, and as I've mentioned before 2011 is a "4" Year numerology-wise for the collective and me personally.  It's a year of process and hard work.  As the Bunny is poised to hop forward, I begin to see where my focus will need to be and prepare to work.  There must be time for rest and relaxation or the bunny will be worn and far from a happy, health hare.

Dreams of water, and the voice of sun call me to places where I could refuel and play.
Where you will go to refuel and play?

Ho'oponopono and the Kane Moon

Ho'oponopono is the ancient Hawaiian practice of setting things right.  Literally the word could be looked at as "ho'o" to make or the act of "ponopono" setting right or regaining harmony (pono).  The link included in this paragraph will take the reader to one kumu (teacher) of Hawiian healing practices, Maka'ala Yates.

Compost

The moon must still be in deep-feeling Scorpio.  JOTS is comfortably asleep on the slantboard, Pete is in the vardo in exactly that same place.  I've been asleep earlier in the cycle of things.  It's very early morning here in the forest.  The dark sky hiding the stars brought instead a fine mist of rain.  Tucked under the ease of the quonset I sat with a hot mug of water and felt the all.

We have received news from home that unsettled me.  Even though I'd already been alerted by the stars of the possibility, I am human with a gigantic capacity for feeling or feeding on feelings so you could say I'm composting.  Sitting outside, the rain gently caressed.  It's easy to be in prayer when the darkness is sweet and the quiet a soft companion. 

Distance becomes less physical when I am being with all of it, comfortable with the present the grief of vulnerability moves and that is good.  The thick soft cotton pancho kept me warm and dry, the
 air precious I felt thoughts rising or digesting and it was worms that came to mind.  Compost, worms, composting worms.

Back inside the quonset, the laptop took me here to string together these musings about Compost:

First,  a few WORM FACTS

Earth workers work at depths in the soil. They generally move and create burrows in a horizontal fashion but may come to the surface to gather food, hence distributing surface nutrients to various depths. Often quite large, their burrows channel water and air well below the topsoil. While earth workers have an important role in the soil, they are not suitable in your compost.

What you need are compost worms. These worms thrive in a rich environment and usually live near the surface creating burrows vertically between the surface litter and the safety zone of the soil under.


The conditions you need in your compost are simply the appropriate safety zone, breeding conditions, moisture and predator protection for worms that will thrive on the varied diet of domestic waste.

Anatomy

Worms are basically a very efficient digestive tube. Food (your waste) goes in one end and comes out the other as plant food (castings). They have no eyes, ears or nose but a rather large, toothless mouth which inverts itself over a piece of food, then retracts to push the food directly into the digestive system.

Worms have an in-built ability to sustain the optimum population according to the available food and space. While conditions are right, they will breed at full potential until the desired food and space ratio is reached. This is an excellent scenario in a compost situation as the more food you add, the more they populate.

A worm's circulatory system is controlled by several simple hearts pumping blood to a ventral vessel, a dorsal vessel and capillaries. They have a very sensitive nervous system of which the setae are major sensors and a tiny, insignificant brain.

Although their anatomy is very simple, worms are one of the strongest animals on Earth for their size and have been around for 600 million years!

Source:  http://www.compostworms.com/id4.html

Next, a bit of Synthesis (human compost)

MORE Star-Reporter SATURN In Libra ... responsibility, partnerships, fair-play

Ever have a night where it seems the stars are screaming for you?  Well, it was one of those nights for me.  We had unplugged the vardo of electricity, and Pete was out in his deep sleep space.  I climbed out and off the futon, pulled on my robe and beacon hat and opened the door.  The umbrella roof shielded the sky, but I knew they were out there, waiting.

Ka Makani returned after a day of hiding somewhere else.  The tall trees that are our companions were doing their hula e, e.  Graceful and powerful I watched the pines thick heads move.  When I rounded the corner of the house, there they were.  Millions of 'em. 

Quiet was loud, and the lack of electricity running through the thick extension cord pervading.  Ever feel the lack of electrical current?  Years ago I used to travel to Yachats, Oregon a coastline town that has long been a favorite place for me.  I lived on O'ahu and made these trips to join Amy and Arnie Mindell in workshops.  Those were the days of my life when I facilitated or joined large groups of people to explore social change, healing potentiality, and on and on. 

Back to the point of Yachats and this Star-Report ... one thing Arnie Mindell encouraged us to do was to get regular doses of STAR DUST and STAR LIGHT.  We are star dust and we need to be refreshed on it was message.  I've never forgotten that, and can still recall my star light walks alone in Yachats, Oregon.  The star dust within me are the finings and those million stars are the magnet. 

So ... last night I was out there with the stars and went back to sleep refreshed as well as a woman sleeping unplugged in her snug home.

STAR-reporting  Saturn (long-term character building) is in the sign of the Scales (Libra) until 2012.

From CafeAstrology this bit about Saturn in Libra
http://www.cafeastrology.com/saturninlibra.html#libra

"...Saturn will be looking for balance, integrity, and fairness in the sign of Libra. We will be redesigning our definition of "self" that includes an "other". Our ability to commit comes into question. Our ability to play by the rules in partnership also becomes critical. This is a time during which we explore our personal boundaries in partnership. Just how much a partnership limits us becomes glaringly apparent, especially in terms of our own fear of losing someone, or fear of rejection, and how that fear might limit our personal freedom.

NOTES FROM MOKIHANA:

Boundaries and partnerships are playing hard in the 2nd House of Ways of Making Money/Income and the 9th House of Higher Education/Philosophy and World-view for Pete and me.  "Our ability to play by the rules in partnership also become critical..."  Pete and I have been sharing our world of building and living from a tiny safe-for-us home for more than two years.  In so many ways it's been a naked to the world sort of expose (Scorpio depth coupled with lots of Capricorn/Saturn character-building on my part). 

If we've been giving more than taking, or taking more than giving, in an existing partnership, Saturn's transit through Libra will point out the flaws in that type of arrangement. It's all about responsibility and doing our share. If we've been unhappy with a partner's contribution to the relationship, Saturn's transit might magnify that problem in our minds.

NOTES FROM MOKIHANA:

Sharing information is one thing. At some point (and we believe the point is now) we will put out THE POI BOWL and ask for a bit of nourishment in return. That's what the bowl is doing over there on the side-bar.
We notice how our journey has inspired others to amplify their dreams, and recently saw a vardo so similar to VardoForTwo.  The internet allows all manner of virtual gleaning, and 'stealing our ponies' is easy. 

We have invested nearly every resource we have to build our life from VardoForTwo.  We have shared uncompromisingly every step of the way, and will continue to blog and blather in our unique and quirky style.
What we can't do is share without contribution. 

So ... in the future as Saturn remains in the sign of the Scales, and goes back-ward (retrogrades) just to make sure we're learning the lessons, we will be mindful of what the stars are shouting and attend to character-building in the best possible ways.

Any questions?

Team Up and Inventory your Tools

Moon Time and Prayers

The old moon is in its final stages.  Yesterday and last night was 'Ole Pau.  I remembered to say my prayers of thanks to Akua Kanaloa and Kaloa, mindful of the gods as I went about my repairs (washing pillow cases and our futon cover by hand in a dishpan, and drying them over the heater; recovering from an exposure ). 

"Mahalo Ke Akua, I repeated over and over."  When the sun came up the light from Ka La shone bright through the tall standing trees.  I chanted "Ea La e, ea La e," over and over again.  If during the course of the moon I forget the deeply restorative nature of my ancestral roots, it is during the 'Ole Cycle when I am consciously slowed that I partner with intuition and attend to repairing and patching, reevaluating and giving thanks.

The  exposure during the 'Ole cycle was a self-imposed one.  We have had the distraction of a tiny television and a DVD player upon which we could watch favorite movies, over and over again!  The DVD player began sticking weeks ago.  Pete figured out how to make it work.  But, the 'fix' involved opening up the player and priming the disc like priming a pump or turning the handle on a Model T auto.  The innards of the player got warmer and warmer and finally the smell was toxifying, and my lungs and brain were frazzled.  Re-visiting your decisions and choices ... that's what 'Ole cycles are about for us.  Where is the TV and DVD?  Banished for the while under the tarp house. 

I am recovered with the help of my NAET practices of moving qui down my spine and out the bottoms of my feet; nebulizing glutithione, and using glutithione in a nasal spray.  In addition, we unplug the vardo of electricity at different times and slept for six hours last night without EMFs and it was a very different kind of sleep.

'OLE DAYS AND NIGHTS OF THE HAWAIIAN MOON CALENDAR

The 'Ole Cycle of three nights have begun.  Like I said in the previous post, it is sometimes hard to catch my breath ... and I miss dates and 'ole nights, too.

Our practice here on our blogs is to refrain from new posts during the 'Ole Cycles.  There are three this time, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. 

In the Hawaiian Moon Calendar these are named: 

'Ole Ku Kahi, 'Ole Ku Lua, 'Ole Pau


(Twenty-first to twenty-third nights)


First, second and last `Ole nights. This is a time that is not recommended for planting or fishing. It is windy and tides will run high. Farmers use this time for weeding. `Ole pau and Kaloa kukahi are the kapu periods of the akua Kanaloa and Kaloa and offering are made with pule(prayer).

A hui hou.

ON THE HORIZON: Chinese New Year, February 3, 2011 ... welcome the Year of the Rabbit

The Lunar New Year has long been simply "Chinese New Year" to me.  Long before I knew that the moon affected the start of a new year, I remember Chinese New Year as a girl in Kuliou'ou Valley on the island of O'ahu.  I think I write about those times somewhere every year around this time. 

Who do I see and what is happening?  I am a shy and observant big-eyed girl, barely five years old and I have already begun to love letters and stories.  Mrs. Quon is my teacher.  She lives right next to the school.  Paint easels and tables with primers with big black letters and pictures of children and their dog (that would be the famous Dick, Jane and Spot).

Amazingly, the memory of climbing into the jungle-gym with long threads of white coconut candy covered with hard sugar stays with me all these nearly 60 years.  It was only one Chinese New Year in my life, that year as a kindergarten girl in the valley school.  Joy is like that though.  It lasts.

What is Sequential Access?

In the 'geek-world' Sequential Access is defined this way:

The phrase sequential access simply refers to the fixed order of access. As well as being fixed, this order is pre-determined and follows a logical progression. Some types of sequential access are unavoidable, such as when playing back a cassette. Other types are a deliberate choice. This can include computer data stored as a linked list, in which each piece of data contains a reference to the following piece.

Three years ago the phrase Sequential Access became our mantra and the password for the process of building Vardo For Two, and reassembling our lives. In no way did the geek-world's definition enter our consciousness, but then all definitions are one in the greater dictionary so who could have known.

I've just finished a post over on Q and A from Vardo For You ... It's an answer to that question "What is Sequential Access?" and hopefully a source of hope for those who are in the process of deciding to build small and MCS-safe. 

Link here to read what Sequential Access is about in our world.

PART TWO of Relationships : The potential of The Composite Chart/Report for a couple living with MCS

What is a Composite Chart?

Elsa Panizzon, author and creator of the astrology blog Elsa Elsa.com describes a Composite Chart this way,

"As for calculating a composite chart, there are various ways but most common is to take the midpoint between the two Suns and that becomes the Composite Sun. The midpoint between the Moons becomes the Composite Moon, etc. I like this method probably due the Libra in my chart as the two individuals meet in the middle and this becomes the relationship. :)"


Why Astrology?

The short answer is why not. 
Astrologer Liz Greene from Astro.co presented a seminar given on April 27, 1997  "One and one equals three Relationships and how to survive them."  I found the seminar in print while researching this article for VardoForTwo.  The entire seminar on The Composite Chart by Liz Greene can be found here.  Part of Greene's work is used here to set the stage for viewing the relationship that includes the challenges of living with MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivities).  Greene said:

The composite doesn't seem to describe what either person feels about the other...When we are looking at a composite chart, we are not exploring what two people activate in each other or feel about each other. We are interpreting the energy field they generate between them. The composite chart is like a child, a third entity which carries the genetic imprints of both parents but combines these imprints in an entirely new way and exists independently of either of them...

My motives for digging into the composite chart as a form of navigation stem from the very real and often times confusing cross-roads Pete and I find ourselves at over and over again.  One of my favorite readings from the book Courage to Change reminds me that confusion can sometimes be a gift. "Looking back on instances when I felt desperately in need of an immediate solution, I can see that often I wasn't ready to act. When I became fully ready, the information I needed was there for the taking."

We are not a young couple starting a new relationship.  We are instead a couple in our 60's who came together late in life, and with us we brought a life-time of energy and history, and modes of thinking and behaving.  Seven years ago, a boatload of challenges pulled up with our names on it.  The boatload is often more than we can understand or tolerate without help. 

It has been my choice to seek out astrology as a compass when inner guidance seems mis-placed.  Since the intent of the Composite Chat/Report is to 'interprete the energy field (two people) generate between them' I saw this as an opportunity.  All relationships generate an energy field between them.  The added dimension of a relationship coping and managing the effects of MCS with its changing manifestations deserves all the insight available.    Astrology and the Composite Chart of two people living with the choices of others (and who among us doesn't) is a means to make sense of things that are beyond our control, and like all spiritual paths, there are so many ways to get there from here. Rather like redirecting the energy we have used trying to fight the illness, tools like this Composite Report aids in recovering and shoring up from the effects of the illness.

The bones of this article is the Composite Report prepared for Pete and me by Elsa Panizzon from the astrology blog ElsaElsa.com.  Elsa did not calculate and narrate the report personally. She uses the software available to her to do the composite, and provides this service at a price affordable for many, including us.  I have culled the report and used particular aspects, planet positions and narration to shed light on the way our relationship might respond to episodes, exposures and challengres specific to our journey with MCS. 

Our journey in VardoForTwo is a boatload of experiences that could benefit  from insight we might otherwise mis-understand as oppression without cause.  The Composite Report that follows points out and lays out the combined energy and talents from a broad view.  It helps to see what others see in you, sometimes it's tough to get that vantage point when you're busy bailing water. 

Woken for the pause

Sometimes, like this morning, I am woken.  Life is full, busy with effort.  Woken from sleep, the pain cries to be felt.  What? Am I hungry?  Can't be hungry ... eating causes pain.  Tired? How can I be tired, I was sleeping?

Sometimes, like this morning, all the effort to transcend is just too much and I wake.  If  I am still I might find pause.

"As with any addiction, the escape from pain of our shadow self only increases our suffering. Our strategies amplify the feeling that something is wrong with us and stop us from attending to the parts of ourselves that most need our attention to heal..."

-from  The Sacred Paus  By Tara Brach

 ttp://www.spiritualityhealth.com/spirit/practice/shadow

Sometimes, like this morning, God wakes me from the fog and I listen.  In the quonset, while JOTS sleeps, I found that article and paused..

Ever happen to you?

Relationships

     Well, it is time to make it up as I go along.  A term I often use to describe my method of building something from scratch. New, used, sometimes borrowed materials and tools in hand plus the belief that it's possible to do.  I did not say when such a proposed idea will be finished because my life has yet to succumb to any ruler, yet finishing can make life more comfortable and fun.
 
     So Mokihana's and my Relationship includes the life skills, love, early childhood training, compassion, exciting possibilities, trust, individual and mutual choices, care and share,  willingness to be attentive, supportive,  belief in continuing education, kindness, occasional goofy/crazy, joyful,  plus love of the universe.   Keeps us busy and it turns out prepared us to live with EI and MCS.  Like a swinging pendulum,  living in a world saturated with chemicals/smoke/mold/cat dander/incense/perfume and cold,  we travel back and forth everyday from involvement with everyday life to isolation from it. The impact of an unexpected sudden exposure is unpredictable and often confusion reigns. I use the overly protective response and Mokihana will establish her boundaries while we muddle through when the world is swinging the pendulum faster than normal.  With our love and all the above, we rely on our Relationship to slow the reactionary responses, smooth the unevenness into calmness and resort back to taking all the increased  amount of necessary steps living with MCS demands.  Time consuming to the point of  it having a life of its own  because short cuts will restart the cycle all over again. The Relationship is the arbitrary/solidified, go to/fall back and expected/fulfilling life's gift, that together we have nurtured  with Akua's guidance.

     Borrowing from other chemical sensitve's life stories and learning through our daily experiences, I trust Mokihana's decisions of what is healthy for us and what is harmful.   In return I had to gain Mokihana's trust that the choices I make will not compromise our fragile existence. Lots of good intentions has posed the most challenges to our Relationship. I have become more sensitve from living this chemical/fragrance free life so I also participate in occasions of brain fog,  sometimes causing unnecessary exposures to us both.  These episodes have had a devastating effect me and I struggled to recover when most often  time would heal. Trying to determine the meaning of being dependent on each other and responsible to ourselves requires a calm open way of communicating with each other.  Knowing we can settle into a time for listening and sharing our feelings makes life so enjoyable for me, "time it is  time it was  a time of innocence"         

     The lessons have been learned only now waiting to be followed like me wearing a mask when subject to an exposure.

Pete

Full Moon in Cancer, January 19, 2011 and the Rune of Possesions (FEHU)

Pete and I are still working on the two-part article about The Relationship, in a way it's a new start for us because we've put the IN THE WORKS post up and that's the truth. 

We talked about some of the ideas and thoughts running through Pete's head, and I said something like, "That's so good you talk about the things that happen.  Expressing them will.happen.." 

He finished the sentence said, "When the right words come I'll know it."

We're working on this article together and we're committed to letting the words come in time.  The Full Moon in Cancer is a perfect time to commit or recommit to the people who are your people.  I was on the cellphone over the past two days socializing with three people who have been long-standing clan.  We have been through hell and high/low waters over the years.  Friendship stretches and some of them splinter like glass.  Maybe those are the kinds that were made for a purpose, a season/reason and the splinters fly out there to be stepped on again (those hurt, we bleed on the fragments).  Learning to step away becomes the lesson until amends, reconciliation or letting-go the order of the way.  Other friendships stretch and retain their resilience.  Some of those friendships go limp for a time, like a clothesline left in rain they still work when you need to hang up a load of laundry finally washed out and ready for another go, mattering not that the former taunt quality is now a bit different from the wear.

There is need in my life to be social, and yet that need to be with people has been redefined.  Being with people physically is still challenging, I suit up as best I can, and yet the party is still in the making. Fragrance-free gathering places and people is a slim experience. The phone call remain a line of connection that makes for time of committment.  I can call my people and we can 'see' one another.  Pete has a dear pal who called him this weekend and I can always see the glow that comes through when that phone call is over.  It's a lasting link!

I feel lucky to know who my people are, and what they mean to mean (and in turn what I mean for them).  Full Moon is a ripe time, when what you focus on is magnified.  Full Moon in Cancer is all about FAMILY, HOME, CLAN, YOUR PEOPLE.  Here's a link to ElsaElsa for another view of this lucky Full Moon in Cancer.

Do you feel lucky?

FEHU The Rune of Possessions

This Rune is the stone that remains me to be conscious of my present definitions of material values, possesions and all that nurtures me.  I pulled it late yesterday as I considered the up-coming Full Moon in Cancer.  From the outside my life is limited:  no car, a tiny home, socialization a reassembled reality.  What does nurture me is changing and when I am able to go with the flow and see what sustains, I am surprised.

What happens when your priorities and values get turned upside-down?

Here and There

Waimanalo, Oahu

Wishing we could be there ... warm ocean bath on the Windward-side

My legs warm against the heater ... Quonset in the woods is where we be

thanks, CKB

IN THE WORKS ... A Two-part Article about THE RELATIONSHIP

I wrote something flippant the other day about the meaning of the 'Ole Cycles in the Hawaiian Moon Calendar. 

" So basically in a 30 day period, 'Ole cycles give you 7 days and nights to chill-out and regroove."

The truth of things is that many of the 'Ole Cycles are rarely times of 'chill-out' and most definitely a time to regroove and reasses the conditions of our life.  Pete and I began the process of envisioning Vardo For Two in 2007.  That Christmas my son helped to design and create Kaulana Mahina (the Hawaiian Moon Calendar). That calendar was our Christmas gift, and a major source of balance, structure and reliability at a time when all three were non-existent.  When we were without a home, identity or comfort we turned to the healing regularity of Nature's cycles and began counting on the moon.

Change we experienced individually and as a couple in the years of being homeless and without safe shelter made its way onto pages of blogs.  Someone else must be living these times, yet the need to describe it was my own doing and Sam and Sally became the characters who'd save our lives for something yet to come.  Our life together now is different nearly four years later, better in many ways.  The effects of MCS change us in unique ways because we chose to rebuild a life in a tiny space that can be moved.

We lived in a car for six months, and while learning what EI (enviornmental illness) is including the triggers, symptoms and solutions might be for me (who lives with the more severe level of the illness) it is my partner, and the relationship, that also factor into the whole picture of survival, evolving and accepting the journey.  I'm calling this the "1 plus 1 = 3 The Relationship" because it's the relationship Pete and I create together that is what makes or breaks us as we go through the many hurdles, challenges, decisions, adjustments and movement in our daily life.  Separately we come together with our stengths, personality and ways of thinking and acting.  We also come with our legacies, our history and the secrets we don't even recognize.

Pete and I are working on a two-part article that summons the human and spiritual feel for life as journey, and not destination.:

Part One, The effects of Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS) on intimate relationships sights the daily adjustments and (finally, sometimes) the adaptation that take place in an intimate partnership that grows from chronic illness, and specifically MCS. 

Part Two,  The astrological potential of the Composite Chart of partners who live with MCS offers another angle and navigational perspective based on the position of the sun, moon and planets at the time of their births as a "Composite".

Elsa Pannizon, author and creator of the astrology blog Elsa Elsa describes a Composite Chart this way, "As for calculating a composite chart, there are various ways but most common is to take the midpoint between the two Suns and that becomes the Composite Sun. The midpoint between the Moons becomes the Composite  Moon, etc.  I like this method probably due the Libra in my chart as the two individuals meet in the middle and this becomes the relationship. :)"

Come back later in the week for Part Two of "1 plus 1= 3 The Composite Report"  it might just give you something to talk about!

SLow

Winter slows things up.  I sat at the keys yesterday after a doozie of an 'Ole Cycle (it is not all cruise and chill-out, as I flippantly wrote in my last post) with an idea for a two-part article.  Pete was tucked back into the vardo and JOTS tended to herself with no particular interest in blogging.  Getting back into the  practice of writing on the keyboard takes a bit of retraining.  My solitary life sometimes freezes me up with over analysis, and no writing and that can simply defeat the purpose of being alive.  I feel the pressure of my the belt move against my belly.  Okay, there is life.I spent a chunk of time researching the topic for the article and began the 1st draft.

Some writing, most writing is done over time.  Good writing grows with practice, and the technology of blogging and social mobility of the internet would have me(us) believing writing just happens.  Well, yes and no.  Sitting here this morning, I write to get my fingers moving and my practice in place.  Winter does slow things down, and often the illusion that our tiny world lives from the vardo as 'less than____________" can dampen the soul. 

The late November ice-skid of an accident with our faithful 'Scout' the Subaru had the old gal in the auto body shop.  Pete worked with the repair man to be as careful about the methods of repair:  cautioning him to use no chemicals to clean, and to do as much of the body work outside the shop.  But after all of his best efforts, the hood and left-front of the car were painted and the VOCs from the job make it a no-go for me.  It's been almost three weeks since the car is back to us, and ten days for the work.  So the freedom of movement via a car has been slowed down. 

I notice the empty limbs of the apple trees and the cherry look bleak in the orchard beyond the wire fence.  Their old leaves rot into ground-cover turned over by the kick'n chickens and rooting ducks.  The trees don't seem to mind slowing down. 

These are the 'ole days and night of the Hawaiian Moon Calendar: no new posts Tuesday through Friday

A NOTE to any new visitors and readers:

As is our practice, we refrain from new posts and regroup, repair nets and review the past weeks, on the 'OLE CYCLES of the Hawaiian Moon Calendar.  On the sidebar you'll find links to Kaulana Mahina (the Hawaiian Moon Calendar). 

'Ole Cycles are the 7-10th days and nights using the NEW MOON as "1"
Then again the 'Ole days and nights are the 21st- 23rd nights using the NEW MOON as "1".

So basically in a 30 day period, 'Ole cycles give you 7 days and nights to chill-out and regroove.

A hui hou,
Mokihana

A Three-Rune Day and Musing on the Water Signs

The locals in the area began predicting a hard winter, or a long winter, or a cold winter.  The talk started in early fall among the farmers at the Saturday farmer's market.  I listened, and knew to pay attention.  The birds around the forest were making sure they took every last huckleberry and wild blueberry on the bushes around us.  We harvested some, but mostly the fruit was bird food and they would need it I figured. 

Our hoses are frozen again ... that would be the second or third time so far this winter.  The ducks(all nine of 'em) and our Crowing Hens (all three of 'em) stood at a stand-still this morning. Temperatures had dropped, snow speckled their feeding ground and Pete watched them through the small vardo window.  "They don't like it!"  Frozen water, no place to swim after the long night and grubbing for food will be tedious.  Oh well, they forage on and thanks to Pete the Poultry Man they have plenty of clean straw for bedding, fresh feed morning and night and the big ole rats that harass the ducks for their eggs are regularly thwarted by the tall white haired one with the elf-hat.

The cold temperature irritates my sinuses and I am learning to be on guard for the signals that trigger the migraine.  I note them and then I go to work:  moisturize my sinuses with saline spray, wear my mask outside to keep my face warm, sip on the Coke.  That last one is stretching my willingness to go to any length to care for myself.  The high fructose (most likely GMO) corn sugair!!!YIKES.  I went looking for an organic cola to replace it ... found it, and then when I got home found it was CAFFEINE FREE.  I had a good laugh with that one.  It's the caffeine I'm after.  Caffeined tea is another 'better' option, but I'm sensitive to black tea because black tea naturally contains FLUORIDE and that'sjust too much cross-firing of the thyroide for me.


Water, water, water signs
So, here I am back at the keys with my thigh warming up in my fleecy sweats next to the heater, JOTS is in her bliss-spot and Pete is working this morning.   Nota from Elsa Elsa got me thinking about the nature of water today.  My Scorpio-nature is feeling all manner of deep dark stuff and earlier my innate decompression mechanism 'CRYING' kicked in to let some of that 'stuff' out.  It works.  My Mom, the every transformative PISCES with the ability to let things flow used to tell me to let off steam ... more often.  Guess she must have known those long ago years past that she had birthed a steam engine with the need to let go her greatest challenge.  Pete is the CANCERIAN man, the third type of Water-sign in the astrological village.  He's the one with long-term memory, feeling every thing and caching it away for the long-haul. 

With winter setting into itself with freezing water a repeating experience we watery types must be getting an extra bit of 'feel.'  Frozen water:  frozen feelings.  For me, the deep-sea diver and miner of the depths it's no wonder my head goes Migraine when it freezes.  All that depth needs to be released or broken pipes.

Why a Three-Rune Day?

Pulling Runes (the stones) helps me ground and warm that watery emotional energy that needs to be released, gently, gently, gently.  On most days, one Rune is enough to give me direction, a tip, a voice of counsel.  This morning while the sky was still dark, I pulled three Runes to ask for inner counsel.  Some times one Rune is not enough.  The Runes I pulled came in the order picture above (from top to bottom).

The Rune of Growth, Berkana/Birch.  A Rune of new beginnings, health.  A Rune long associated with Woman. 

In the Book of Runes and the Healing Runes this is the Rune of "Prayer" and "Growth". 

I pulled this Rune twice in two days. 

The Yew, the Rune of "Turning Point"

ALGIZ, The Rune of Protection, and the Rune of Boundaries
I pulled this Rune just the other day, and posted about it.





I often wonder why I do this ... blog, blog, blog.  When I do this (wonder) I know I'm stepping into the freeze of looking out to see who is looking in (at me).  I know I'm navigating or trying to navigate others lives.  When I thaw-out, chill-out and get down to my innocent and quirky Scorpio Sun with oh-so many aspects of a Capricorn I suspect I blog because Expression is the game I signed up for oh-so many watery moons ago.  Long, deep, winding. 

Are you watery?

NEW BLOG ... Q and A from Vardo For Two

We have created a new blog.  It's called Q and A from Vardo For Two.  Pete and I have been communicating with more folks beginning or thinking about building a safe haven similar to our vardo. 

QandA From VardoForTwo is a place to ask questions about the process of building BEFORE you get fully into it. If you have begun and find yourself with a muddle to work through, maybe we've muddled through a similar thing.


Rather than address individual questions through email (which is still a good thing) ONLY, we'd like to spread the information whenever possible to make best use of the energy involved in answering.

YOUR COMMENTS will fuel this blog. It does, it seems to us, take time and the energy of many to make change and then change is uncontrollable.


If you're thinking about building a moveable safe haven this winter and need to run your ideas by someone(s) who have been on the journey leave a comment/question/idea by us here with your comment.

This new blog and format for directing questions might be useful for the need for safe housing is still the #1 issue for so many of us.  A vardo-like home is one possibility.  Mindful process and support through the journey have been essential.  Go to the new blog with your questions, mullings or quandries.

All the best,
Mokihana and Pete

Boundary matters

The Rune ALGIZ

Rune of Protection

Healing Rune of Boundaries

Once again the comfort of the baby blue metal quonset offers me a place to be at the keys.  Yes, JOTS is in her place, the ceramic heater runs electricity through its circuitry and warms me.  The humming melody of the  former JT and Weed refrigerator is doing its own music.  So, the quonset is a basic pulse of EMF (eclectromagnetic fields).  There's an up side and a down side to this setting:  up= we are sheltered, dry and warmer than if we weren't in the quonset; down=EMF make it difficult for me and others who are EMF sensitives.  One of the things I knew when we built V42 was the possibility of 'collecting' more electricty than I could manage would be there.  Our interior walls are stainless steel and a great conductor of such energy.  To deal with that possibility Pete and I went through many discussions, back-and-forths with the pros and cons, and in the end have limited electrical wiring and a stainless steel interior wall.  We are grateful for the home we have and now there are other boundary matters to address, there are always more. 

Metal is inert and the material of choice for me since I react negatively to many woods and painting/finishing has its long-term issues of chemical VOC and drying time issues.  Yak, yak, yak.  The point I'm at today is:  with time, life does reveal more.  Journeying as we are in Vardo For Two moving from denial to honesty is faster these days.  It's like we have little room for staying in the dark, and then there's Saturn, the task-master who is not allowing any back-peddlin'.  So, for the past couple of mornings I have been experimenting with being 'unplugged.' 

What is an UnPlugged Wahine in a Vardo?  Just that, a woman in a vardo unplugged from the source of electricity that runs a circuit to heat us, run the 60 watt lamp and air purifier.  Those are the basic electrical draws.  When the migraines started a week ago I stopped running the air purifier because I couldn't tolerate the sound.  That helped.  The ringing in my ears lessened.  That was nice.  I now keep the purifier off except from wood smoke is in the air or other smells need recycling.  My sleep has been noticeably different, and deeper.

Until the temperature rose to 40 (from 20) sleeping without heat would have been counter-productive.  Boundary matters are not either or-wall-making choices.  Sequentially we made changes that made sense for my over all well-being.  Now that the temperature is in the 40 degree range, being in the vardo UNPLUGGED is something to experience.  Here's what I'm finding:

1.  Still under all the blankets I have (three)
2.  Warm up the vardo before unplugging
3.  Shut all the windows
4.  Turn the heat out and turn anything else off
5.  Unplug the extention cord outside

6.  Get comfortable and cozy under the blankets
7.  I then do an NAET energy clearing exercise of rubbing  8 points on my hands, inner elbows, shins and top of the feet between the big toe and the next toe.  (If you need or want more clarification leave a comment and I'll try to get clearer for you)
8.  Then, I relax and generally do a slow and easy Relaxation Qi Gong ... relaxing from top of head to toe meditation.
9.  I really take it easy and basically let go.

10.   At first I feel the physical tension, and that's the truth.
11.  I keep breathing, and relax.
12.  I begin to see the streams of electricity, and that's the truth.
13.  I keep breathing, and relax.
14.  My body relaxes more deeply.
15.  My teeth unclench.
16.  The ringing in my ears softens.

17.  By the time my body notices 'cold' it's been about 30 minutes.
18.  Time to warm up, and gather my dear self together.
19.  I rub my hands together to end the clearing.
20.  I go outside and replug the extension cord.

21.  I notice the difference I feel:  detoxifying energy as in deep and restful sleep or deep meditation.
22.  Thank you.
23.  I turn the heat back on in the vardo and go to the quonset to make warm food for breakfast, and tell Pete how I'm feeling.

Why the picture above? 

Most days I begin by drawing at least one Rune stone.  I like to feel as others similarly do with the drawing of Runes, that I am calling home ... seeking counsel from the oracle.  I pulled ALGIZ today.  That's the Rune ALGIZ pictured above. 

Drawing this Rune is always about going a reality check on my boundary matters.  "Respect and protection for your feelings, your health and your well-being are almost always at issue when you receive the Rune of Boundaries ... Cherish your ability to set appropriate boundaries (and) create freedom..." So reads the interpretation from The Healing Runes by Ralph H Blum and Susan Loughan.

Another, new to me, interpretation from Rune Meanings sheds an appropriate angle on ALGIZ:

In terms of the journey, we have passed through death and rebirth, and must now face the Guardian before returning to our world. It is he who charges us to use our new-found power wisely. The person can no longer be simply concerned with their own personal development, but must now consider the effect that their actions may have on others. This is a crucial turning point, and the person will either choose to adopt a system of ethics or ignore the effect on others and only work to serve their own ends. Again, the sword is in their hands, but they must decide whether to use it for defense or offence.

http://www.runestones.com/RuneMeaning.htm

I would say my passage through the migraines and the experiences of new-found power is an example of power that must be used wisely.  I am comforted over and over again in the last twenty-four hours with the grace and gentle power of "creativity as the glue of social cohesion."  That's a quote from the YouTube Video of Cool Water Hula wahine, Kristi Hager.  Pete and I are loving the new possibility of wisely used power.  Link here I watch that YouTube, posted over at Makua O'o. 

I think I love that sort of glue.  Kristi Hager said, "We dance to change ourselves."  What a change in the story of boundary vs. wall, Kristi.  Boundaries matter. Hope you watch this video, and who knows maybe we'll b dancing to change ourselves, too.  You?

Talking, walking,being human

With the reattachment to the cyberspace of the computer I'm checking the star casters who have served me as Pete and I meander Planet Earth.  I can say more or less with certainty that Earth is 'new' for me.  Though perhaps an old soul in some respects, more than not, Earth and Earth-wiseness is something I have to work at, a lot.  My time as a student of astrology has given me tools for map reading, in a very real way, the practice, science or artform such as astrology gives my mind the exercise it needs to thread together the disparent and nonsense.  Grounded in me as well is a legacy and history of an old-Earth people and that would be the gift of my Hawaiian-Chinese mother. 

So, after my week of migraines culminating in the experiences with major pain, light and I am calling it INSIGHT, I look again at my experiences with being a human, a Earth-being.  I found the following article/post through Elsa P.'s ASTRODISPATCH .The blog is called AstroTableTalk and the article is a thorough and mind-bending one that might be something to bite and chew and swallow over time.  I found it timely for me, so I took big bites of it and still have more to read through. 

What made a lot of sense for me, and is perfect for getting real today, is snipped and put below.

LINK TO THE ENTIRE POST  Here:  http://astrotabletalk.blogspot.com/2011/01/living-with-outer-planets-post-war.html

"...The planets as gods (a modern, sometimes controversial, astrological identification) exist outside of time and space. The results of their actions, the past, present and future, are instantly clear to them. If we are intuitively gifted, then those patterns may be clear to us too, at least to some extent, maybe in flashes now and again. We, however, are creatures of clay, our journey is through time and space: those flashes can be helpful, but it is not our place to know the minds of the gods, to see too much of the deeper patterns of development that we are passing through individually and collectively, or else we would not be able to live them...

...As astrologers, discovering the deeper patterns, the hidden meanings, behind existence is precisely what we are about. It needs, however, to be in a way that is physically lived – the astrology is a mere pointer. I said it is not our place to know the minds of the gods, but at the same time nothing is more important. It’s a matter of how you go about it. If it emerges organically from the way you live, from attempting to understand your experience, then that is balanced, that is Saturn. If you grasp after it, or if you identify yourself as that sort of person, whether as bishop or mullah, shaman or astrologer (!), then that can often suggest an attempt to bypass the actual living of it.

I'm sitting here in my bathrobe with my boots on, beacon-colorful fleece hat on up against the ceramic electric heat.  My JOTS is in her bliss-spot on the slantboard and Pete is already out and about.  The life we have here has gone way beyond any map of a "Gypsy" (no offense to the Roma to whom I have only the greatest respect) wagon life.  I have used many manner of intuitive tools and connections to KE AKUA (creator, mother-father god) to make my life a spiritually rich.  Whether through my own appearance , or through projections others might have of me, such a spiritually-evolved one, ought to be able to transcend all loss and struggle/angst.  This passage from the article really set me feet on the ground, and tethered my mental camels:

"We, however, are creatures of clay, our journey is through time and space: those flashes can be helpful, but it is not our place to know the minds of the gods, to see too much of the deeper patterns of development that we are passing through individually and collectively, or else we would not be able to live them..."

Time and time again, the life from VardoForTwo are human times--gritty, dense, messy, passionate, funny , difficult and changeable.  My personal map (astrologically my natal astrology) pointed to the many angles of character building that would be my life/obstacle course/hall of opportunities.  One at a time, and sometimes a hand-full at a time my development progresses or digresses.  Those migraines were indescribly painful and yet there were other humans who live through similar pain and have offerings that helped me through the human experience.  What I saw and understood through the experience will become who I am today, maybe staying tomorrow -- maybe not. 

Being MCS (multiply chemical sensitive) means all senses a human has are at one time or another or all at once in heightened states.  That might be 'extraterrestial' because there are so many new normals or abnormals when the nervous system is wide ON or wide OFF.  Here at the blog it is important for me to sift some of these experiences to the page and hit the send button. 

Pete is almost always amazed at what he finds when he reads these posts.  We are together, and yet there is so much space between us ... and that is what makes life in a tiny home like ours possible, I think?

The V-42 ... can you guess the shape of such a thing? It's a plane, no, a plan ...

"The Douglas XB-42 Mixmaster was an experimental bomber aircraft, designed for a high top speed. The unconventional approach was to mount the two engines within the fuselage driving a pair of contra-rotating propellers mounted at the tail, leaving the wing and fuselage clean and free of drag-inducing protrusions. Two prototype aircraft were built, but the end of World War II changed priorities and the advent of the jet engine gave an alternative way toward achieving high speed." 

-both photo and description above are from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Warmth has returned to the Pacific Northwest.  "Warmth" being relative, my brother would still shake in disbelief when I tell him it's 40-something and we like it.  JOTS is in kitty-land bliss:  the slantboard with the lamp on over head.  The quonset is warm.  Through the leg of my wolly sweats, my thigh is toasty. 

Winter is difficult for lots of folks.  I've been to two friends with blogs in different parts of the North American continent to catch up on their lives since these tutu in the vardo have been living their lives.  My heart goes out to 'em.  We send prayers and soon a little bit of support to help in other ways.  The pipes here have unthawed, the hoses run water to our sink and the breezes are blowing through the tall trees.  I'm just back from my first stroll since just as Christmas, and I feel good!  The migraines have passed, at least for the now and I have experienced more of my real life.  If there is some lesson that came from those pre-ecliptic slams on the insides of my head it might be:

1. keep an open-mind (put don't let your brains fall out!)
2. reach out (how would I know I could get by with a little help from a Coke?)
3. amazing grace comes from all sorts of places/spaces (pain being one of them)

Just a few days ago we got a comment from our long-time cyber friend Liberty.  She referred to our blog with a tag that I've not recognized as a form of naming.  I loved it, and laughed when I saw how you get called what you get called and sometimes it works/sticks or just becomes a plan.  She referred to Vardo For Two as V42.  Thanks, Libby.

Necessity has long been one of the reasons for invention, in Frank Zappa's case I don't know?  Anyway today's post is a meandering thing, like thawing pipes I'm innocent in the flow of things.  Being human here on the Island in the Sound with no radio on, and WHAT?  It feels like home to me.

Tiles B4 floor

Winter, 2008

White Center, WA.

 The V-42

newly topped, tiled and not yet ready to be home

White Center, WA

Winter, 2008

Life here on the Earth is an experience.  An experiment?  I read somewhere that we are the gift Creator gave to us.  What we make of ourselves is what we give to the Creator.  Hmm?

As the sun eclipsed ... resolution/acceptance of the conflicting attitudes toward change and memory

http://www.mele.com/music/artist/olomana/like+a+seabird+in+the+wind/

Music is said to be the voice of the Gods.  Timeless and yet present at precisely the point where the innocence of a moment lets all guards down opening to the potential of miracles, music can be the balm of birth wounds or resolve that is divine.  In the darkness of last night's pre-eclipse Pete and I lay together and talked of time present and times gone, time lost and friendships never to be the same.  We talked of corrections, heva (wrong-doings) and then the sun eclipsed with Capricorn's New Moon.  Miracle?  Probably.  Change?  Undoubtably.

We are older now, and we have left many, many  places and people.  So too have we become more and more accepting of what we had and what we have now.  Among the songs that melts all guards that keep me distanced from my self, the Hawaiian classic Ku'u Home O Hahalu'u written and song by Jerry Santos and his partner the late Robert Beaumont, speaks to my heart.  If you click on the link above you can listen to it yourself.

Cindy Combs, slack key artist from the Island of Kauai has also recorded this incredible, timeless ode and from the liner notes of her album "Slack Key Lady" I found this:

Ku'u Home O Kahalu'u (vocal)


Tuning: C Wahine (C–G–D–G–B–E)

-from the Liner Notes of  "Slack Key Lady" by Cindy Combs, Dancing Cat Records"

One of the great songs of the 1970s, Ku'u Home O Kahalu'u eloquently addresses the conflicting attitudes toward change and memory at the heart of traditional culture. Like many of the most successful pop songs, it is at once both candidly personal and strikingly universal. Cindy's friend Jerry Santos wrote it and first recorded it with the late Robert Beaumont as the popular duo Olomana on their 1976 album LIKE A SEABIRD IN THE WIND (Seabird Sound). As reflected by the song, the group Olomana has always been involved in deep community issues, combining political, social and artistic ideals of the highest order. "I've been in love with this song since the first time I heard Jerry sing it," says Cindy. "For the album I was trying to create an arrangement in C Tuning and just couldn't get what I felt it needed. Something seemed to be missing and I was getting kind of frustrated. Then, driving into the studio the next day, the Olomana recording came on the radio and that did it. Hallelujah, it was like a sign and after that, things just flowed." The Hawaiian word 'o'opu refers to Gobi fishes, Ko'olau refers to the Ko'olau Range on O'ahu; and the last phrase of each chorus (and the song title) "Me ke aloha ku'u home o Kahalu'u" means "Love for my home, Kahalu'u." Cindy dedicates her version me ke aloha pumehana (with warm aloha) to Jerry.

Is there music that does this for you?

SOLAR ECLIPSE In Capricorn, coming up soon "like a bag of rocks!"

I'm at the keys with my dark sunglasses on.  It's still not early warm.  JOTS is tucked into a curl on the slantboard, and I've just been to Elsa's  for some good old Community Cousins and perspective on the energy that is swarming.  Astrology will often give me both the practical and beyond logic or science's counsel to life's angst.  I'm in my dark sunglasses as some of you know, because I've had a series of migraine headaches with pain that is way, way off the charts.  One of the things that accompanies migraine is light sensitivity.  Well, with low light Washington the place where I live, I am in my Hawaii-grade glasses so the sensitivity is accute.

A solar eclipse in the sign of Capricorn is heading our way on the planet.  Capricorn will be in its home (in the sign on the zodiac) beginning tomorrow, period! (that's a correction, the eclipse is JANUARY 4TH TOMORROW)  Please see the link to Elsa above for the accurate timing of the eclipse.

Elsa writes:  “This stuff is very COLD when you get right down to it. It is naked and hardcore and uncompromising…”

The eclipse will be packing my 12th House along with a handful of planets including the sun, moon, my North Node, Pluto and Mars not far along in the 1st house.  I often log my astrological findings here on VardoForTwo to note the complexity of life as an oldster living a semi-nomadic life. Living safe and staying safe and sane is not a simple task...things change all the time. These migraines are a new signal for me, and like Elsa says, "...It is naked and hardcore and uncompromising.."  With 12th House issues any and all old habits and self-defeating patterns will fill that bag of rocks.  Elsa reminds me to set my intention for dealing with these old habits and patterns, because in addition to a solar eclipse it is also a NEW MOON.  I need to be unafraid to be responsible for my thoughts and my actions.  Above all else it has occurred to me that "being and behaving kind is important at all times."  I have been right and not kind.  I have expected kindness from others while they fumble with understanding what I need/think.  There is history to correct when Capricorn comes to stay in your house. 

I'm setting my intention to be kind, and include myself on that list of recipients for the intention.

You?

Cool Water Hula

I learned of this wonderfully inspired hula wahine from Butte, Montana (!) dancing and entrancing us all to

"...be part of the bigger picture of transforming a greed society into a green society.  KEEP PRACTING."
Kristi Hager

LINK TO KRISTI HAGER teaching themovements to "Cool Water Hula" http://coolwaterhula.blogspot.com/2010/03/kristi-hager-teaches-cool-water-hula.html

Mahalo Kristi.

New Year ... shorts only ( if only we could be wearing 'em now!)

JOTS my blogging pal is watching from the slant board. For the time being I am perched on the kitchen stool under a lot of clothes.  This laptop is groaning so let's just hope it's not its last lap.

The cold snap brought in 2011 up and down the Pacific Coast.  The water hose and drains are frozen and I have a new experience to understand, and though I have reluctantly been initiated into yet another club that I would not choose to join ( I have never been much of a clubber), my friend Leslie helped me limp into the arms of those with MCS AND Migraine headaches.  Nights are the worst for me, frigid, dry air triggered the first pain of a different dimension.  Thanks to many friends I learned to:

• add humidity to the Vardo to soothe my sinuses; a boiling kettle from the quonset helps, wet towels hung on clothes line adds some relief; bending my bowed head over that steaming kettle got me through the first couple of days.
• the saline warm water rinse soothed my sinuses; and does so daily
• a nasal spray called XCLEAR is an overthecounter saline and XYLITOL spray that helps

When the headaches came back with colors and patterned lights I called Leslie, and she helped me into the fold of migraines.  Though ironically comforting, this latest initiation is a heck of a way to begin the new year.  STILL, there is something about these trials that amaze and ring through ... "Those that sustain you while you are in need beyond imagination, they are to be blessed.  Mahalo Honey, Pete"

• Dark sunglasses (thank you Maui Jim's) help when light sensitivities requires darkness even at night
• I don't do pain meds, so thank Akua, for now the Southern Remedy and caffeine-endorphin rush from COKE helped me through the night and I was migraine free through my  first night in 4.

22 Degrees outside, and 50 in the quonset.  EMS (electromagnetic sensitivity) is causing problems, and might be aggrevating my old kino (body).  So, this is short, and then there will be more changes coming. It's wonderful how my dreams take me to steaming hot places and clear saltwater and white sandy places at night.  There are so many dimensions of reality. 

Last short

Thank God for the journalists who still keep the news we need to know coming ... JOAN Conrow that would be you.

Joan Conrow thank you for keeping us posted about one of our Kuliouou Valley heroes, Henry Noa.  When I'm able I will  tell you readers about Kuliouou Valley, and among the people of that place there is Henry Noa and the Correa-Reeves 'Ohana.

Never say never to anything.  I'm gonna sip on the second can of coke in two days, after what ... 15, 20 years?  Yup, never say never.

Hauoli Makahiki Hou,
Mokihana, Pete and JOTS