Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Molly Ivins Dies of Cancer at 62

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Best-selling author and columnist Molly Ivins, the sharp-witted liberal who skewered the political establishment and referred to President Bush as "Shrub," died Wednesday after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 62.

Ivins died at her home while in hospice care, said David Pasztor, managing editor of the Texas Observer, where Ivins had once been co-editor.

Ivins made a living poking fun at politicians, whether they were in her home state of Texas or the White House. She revealed in early 2006 that she was being treated for breast cancer for the third time.

More than 400 newspapers subscribed to her nationally syndicated column, which combined strong liberal views and populist humor. Ivins' illness did not seem to hurt her ability to deliver biting one-liners.

"I'm sorry to say (cancer) can kill you, but it doesn't make you a better person," she said in an interview with the San Antonio Express-News in September, the same month cancer claimed her friend former Gov. Ann Richards.

To Ivins, "liberal" wasn't an insult term. "Even I felt sorry for Richard Nixon when he left; there's nothing you can do about being born liberal - fish gotta swim and hearts gotta bleed," she wrote in a column included in her 1998 collection, "You Got to Dance With Them What Brung You."

In a column in mid-January, Ivins urged readers to stand up against Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq.

"We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war," Ivins wrote in the Jan. 11 column. "We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, 'Stop it, now!'"

Ivins' best-selling books included those she co-authored with Lou Dubose about Bush. One was titled "Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush" and another was "BUSHWHACKED: Life in George W. Bush's America."

Dubose, who has been working on a third book with Ivins, said even last week in the hospital, Ivins wanted to talk about the project.

"She was married to her profession. She lived for the story," he said.

Ivins' jolting satire was directed at people in positions of power.

"The trouble with blaming powerless people is that although it's not nearly as scary as blaming the powerful, it does miss the point," she wrote in a 1997 column. "Poor people do not shut down factories ... Poor people didn't decide to use 'contract employees' because they cost less and don't get any benefits."

In an Austin speech last year, former President Clinton described Ivins as someone who was "good when she praised me and who was painfully good when she criticized me."

Ivins loved to write about politics and called the Texas Legislature the best free entertainment in Austin.

"Naturally, when it comes to voting, we in Texas are accustomed to discerning that fine hair's-breadth worth of difference that makes one hopeless dipstick slightly less awful than the other. But it does raise the question: Why bother?" she wrote in a 2002 column.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, whom Ivins had playfully called "Governor Goodhair," praised Ivins for her wit and insight. "Molly Ivins' clever and colorful perspectives on people and politics gained her national acclaim and admiration that crossed party lines," Perry said in a statement.

Born Mary Tyler Ivins in California, she grew up in Houston. She graduated from Smith College in 1966 and attended Columbia University's journalism school. She also studied for a year at the Institute of Political Sciences in Paris.

Her first newspaper job was in the complaint department of the Houston Chronicle. She worked her way up at the Chronicle, then went on to the Minneapolis Tribune, becoming the first woman police reporter in the city.

Ivins counted as her highest honors the Minneapolis police force's decision to name its mascot pig after her and her getting banned from the campus of Texas A&M University, according to a biography on the Creators Syndicate Web site.

In the late 1960s, according to the syndicate, she was assigned to a beat called "Movements for Social Change" and wrote about "angry blacks, radical students, uppity women and a motley assortment of other misfits and troublemakers."

Ivins later became co-editor of The Texas Observer, a liberal Austin-based biweekly publication of politics and literature.

She joined The New York Times in 1976, working first as a political reporter in New York and later as Rocky Mountain bureau chief.

But Ivins' use of salty language and her habit of going barefoot in the office were too much for the Times, said longtime friend Ben Sargent, editorial cartoonist with the Austin American-Statesman.

"She was just like a force of nature," Sargent said. "She was just always on and sharp and witty and funny and was one of a kind."

Ivins returned to Texas as a columnist for the Dallas Times-Herald in 1982, and after it closed she spent nine years with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. In 2001, she went independent and wrote her column for Creators Syndicate.

"She was magical in her writing," said Mike Blackman, a former Star-Telegram executive editor who hired Ivins in 1992. "She could turn a phrase in such a way that a pretty hard-hitting point didn't hurt so bad."

In 1995, conservative humorist Florence King accused Ivins in "American Enterprise" magazine of plagiarism for failing to properly credit King for several passages in a 1988 article in "Mother Jones." Ivins apologized, saying the omissions were unintentional and pointing out that she credited King elsewhere in the piece.

She was initially diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999, and she had a recurrence in 2003. Her latest diagnosis came around Thanksgiving 2005.

---

Associated Press writers April Castro in Austin and Matt Curry and Jamie Stengle in Dallas contributed to this report.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

So Long Barbaro R.I.P.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

IRAQ WAR PROTEST - JAN. 27, 2007


War Protest Washington DC

You know all the right wing media will print and yak about is that Hanoi Jane was at the protest. I am very fond of Jane. How many times does she have to say she's sorry for sitting on that AA Gun? Fox News dot com has already printed a story about the protest calling her Hanoi Jane. But wait, whats that pin Jane is wearing? It's a Vietnam Vets Against the War button. Just like the one I have. Yes, The Right Wing Nuts will be sure and take the focus off the protest by spamming us with - Jane was there but will they talk and write about the little sixth grader who could barely peak her head over the podium and spoke better than the clown in the Whitehouse.

Standing on her toes to reach the microphone, 12-year-old Moriah Arnold told the crowd: "Now we know our leaders either lied to us or hid the truth. Because of our actions, the rest of the world sees us as a bully and a liar."

The sixth-grader from Harvard, Mass., the youngest speaker on the National Mall stage, organized a petition drive at her school against the war.

You Told Bush and his Buddy's a Thing or Two Little Sister. Thank You So Very Much!!!!

Saturday Kitten Blogging Before & After


Friday, January 26, 2007

Ghost Dance by Robbie Robertson


Violent Evictions at El Estor, Guatemala


PLEASE WATCH THIS

Monday, January 22, 2007

Brain Police\Slide Effect

This long story poem is about one of my hospitalizations. The mental health system has changed a lot since then but still has a long way to go. I got involved in systems change and at times became a voice for people who had no voice. I helped start the P.M.H.C.A. (founding board member and a past president) as well as being the first MH Consumer to serve on a county MH/MR board. My three friends Nancy Able, Ron Gibson and Jack Barry who were very involved in systems change with me are no longer with us. This poem is dedicated to them.

Sequence #1 Brain Police

I was sitting in my shack
I was laying back
Feeling kinda lame in the brain
When they came for me
Put Down, Tied Up
They came for me
Those Brain Police

What had I done?
Why had they come?
Took me Away
Put me on a Unit
in a room with nothing in it
but me and my pain
Those Brain Police

Hours later
or was it days
Someone let me out of the room
with no windows
padded floor and walls
A white coat came and talked to me
Said he was there to help
How can you help?
A life of pain
Do you have the answers?
Can you help me place the blame?
No one is to Blame
You have a Bio-Chemical Imbalance
and it has made you Insane

Take these he said
as he gave me some purple pills
They'll make you well
in no time at all
And after that
YOU WILL ATTEND!
Doctors Rounds
Therapy Groups
Arts and Crafts
Drama
and Current Events
No Questions Asked
YOU WILL ATTEND
OR ELSE!!!!

Well, I went to a group
and when they tried to
drag me into the conversation
I withdrew further into may pain
Come out! Come out!
The gang begged and pleaded
and then....
A nurse with a smile
but heart of stone
said...
If you don't participate
you'll be forced back
into the room
The one with no windows
and padded floor
and walls,
but this time
we won't let you out
till you decide
to become an active
member of this unit

What does that mean I called out?
That means your behavior is
Most Inappropriate!
and you'll be sorry you talked back
You'll be glad we're doing this
You'll see
We'll make you better sooner or later

They took me away
and locked me in into the room
the one with no windows,
padded floor and walls
They fed me thru
a hole in the door
and pushed those purple pills
through too

One day and it wasn't that soon
they let me out
Told me I would have to
cooperate now or
there would be more of the same.

So it was back to group
as I noticed my mind
was feeling quite hazy
at the same time
I was in fear of going back
to the room
The one with no
windows , padded floor
and walls
When I was asked to speak
I spoke....
In a voice so low
I could hardly hear myself
What have I done
To be treated like this?
Why am I here?
It was then
that the nurse interrupted
(The one with a smile and heart of stone)
We Are Here To Make You Well!
We Ask The Questions Here!
WE ARE THE ONES THAT ARE NORMAL!
AND YOU ARE THE ONES THAT ARE SICK!
I held back the thought that came to mind
In fear of being put back in the room...
I held it back
but said instead
I guess I will have to Try harder
if I am to get well
That's right said the nurse
as her smile got wider
Now you're on the right track
and I bet you feel better already
yes it's true, i lied
as the pain got worse
and my mind stood still

I spilled my guts
in group that day
to a room full of strangers
with over medicated eyes
The pain and the tears
The abuse I had suffered
all in my youth
came back in a flash
That evening I felt even worse
as the side effects hit
as they increased the dose
of those purple pills

Sequence #2 Slide Effect

Hallucinations soon came
Voices calling my name
A little black pup
visited me twice a day
My body soon stiffened
Hands in a fist
that could not unclench
Slide Effects!!!!

Sleep that would not come
I craved it so much
So they gave me a tape
To Relax me, That's all
As they tripled my dose
of those purple pills
SLIDE EFFECT!!!!

And I would have complained
but the fear of the
ROOM!!!...
kept me from it
As I walked around the unit

But soon it happened
It was either talk or flip
So I asked a nurse
Why am I like this?
Hands clinched, No Sleep
And my body so stiff
You must pin point your anxieties
was all she said

Well I can't take it anymore
I was never like this
The voices, the dog
what is going on?
Your asking too may questions
and if you persist
We'll give you a new treatment
To make you feel better

I TOLD YOU!!!
I was never like this
I said in a RAGE!
frustrated at best

Once again your behavior
is most inappropriate
While you are here
you must never complain

I will never got back back to that ROOM!!!...
So she called the guards
Who pulled my stiff arms
behind my back
Who took me to a new room
Who forced me in to a tub
The Nurse arrived
as the guards undressed me
I watched all this happen
without saying a word
Fearing that if I spoke
it would get much worse

Watching in fear
as they wrapped me
in a wet sheet
and then pouring
Ice over me
from my shoulders
to my feet

Its hard to SCREAM!
when your straped in
a tub full of ice
wrapped up in wet a sheet

Please stop this I pleaded
I must get out!
Your killing me by degrees
no this isn't funny
I must get out!
Peering over the tub
trying to look out
I noticed I was alone
Alone and in Pain
Pain in my body
as well as my mind

I guess I was in there a long time
How long does it take
for a tub of ice to melt???
I had no Idea
as the cold made me
pass out.

Morning Star Ranch 1966

Yep, Thats me (the guy pointing on the right) at Morning Star Ranch
(the Digger Commune).

George Carlin - Owners of This Country



George Telling Like it is!

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Mamas And The Papas Straight Shooter Monterey 1967



I know this song doesn't feature Denny as much as some of the other Mamas and Papas songs. It is my favorite song of theirs. I was at The Monterey Pop Festival.
R.I.P. Denny .

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Winter Finally Comes To Pittsburgh


The Northsides' first snow of 2007
This is just for you Joe in Orlando

Saturday Kitten Blogging

Can't believe I was this tiny can ya, oh, and I slept a lot!

When The President Talks To God by BrightEyes

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Baseball 1961 vs 2007

Baseball Heros


One of my favorite baseball movies is 61*. The story of Roger Maris and Mickey Mantel chasing The Babes home run record. Mickey was a known drinker and womanizer, while Roger was a family man and a chain smoker. I remember 1961 like it was yesterday. My Pittsburgh friends always tease me about 1960 when the Pirates won the world series on a bad hop and a 9th inning home run against my Yankees. But 1961 was something else again. The movie tells the story so well and its directed by Billy Crystal (another Yankee fan). At the time I was saying farewell to high school and joining the army. I followed the Yanks that year with much glee and at times with much anger , anger at the media, anger at some of the fans and anger at the commissioner of baseball. You have to understand that many of the NY fans considered Maris an outsider cause he had been with the team a short time even though he was the MVP in 1960. Mickey it seemed had been there forever. So some fans were real hateful to Maris the outsider and wanted Mickey to break the record. 61 was the first year of the extended season and the commissioner decided that if the record was broken in more than 154 games an asterisk would be added after the new record. Mickey was use to all the media attention because he played in NY for so long. The media gave Roger fits, he was basically a shy guy and didn't crave attention; the media was all over Roger. As the home run battle played itself out Micky had got a infection in his leg and that meant it was up to Roger to break the record; which he did in the last game of the season.

I've been pissed off for many years since that last game. Rodger Maris died in 1985 never to know that a few years later the record was his and his alone as they removed the asterisk after his name.

In 1998, Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs passed Roger Maris' single-season home run mark which stood for 37 years. They finished with 70 and 66 home runs respectively. This year was the first year that McGwire was eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame and I am glad he didn't make it. In fact I hope McGwire never makes it and the same goes for Sammy and Barry as well or any other player suspected of or knowingly used steroids. Thats not the way the game is played. Babe broke the record on hotdogs and beer. Rodger smoked a hell of a lot of cigarettes. There are too many unanswered questions about those other guys.


As a footnote to the record race in 1961, I bet you don't know who I was rooting for?
If you said Micky your wrong, even though I think he was one of the greatest ballplayers ever. If you said Rodger your wrong as well. I Didn't care who broke the record as long as it was a Yankee that did it. Watch the Movie, You might like it even if your not a Yankee fan!

What ever happened to states rights?


Medical marijuana clinics raided in L.A.

Federal raids reflect disparity with state law that allows prescription use

The raids highlighted a conflict between a California state law and the federal drug agency. California voters in 1996 approved the Compassionate Use Act, which makes marijuana available by prescription for medicinal uses. The DEA, which does not recognize California laws legalizing medical marijuana use, has recently increased its enforcement.
Check out Norml for more info on legalizing medical marijuana.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Would O'Reilly Tell Martin Luther King to Shut Up?



Thanks to the Crooks and Liars website for the link!

Sunday, January 14, 2007

One for The Thumb - Whoops!


So Fox News thinks the Saints fans are nasty!!!!
By the way, he's not my kid.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Saturday Cat Blogging


Step away from that computer and go get me some food, Yawn, Before I go back to sleep!!!!

Profit From Pain


do not let him
profit from your pain
he was the one
who hurt you
he was the one
who tore you down
he was the one
who abused you
do not let him
profit from your pain

I can see the tears you hide
as well as the hurt in your eyes
I feel your pain
it makes me hurt inside
I can see your abuse
it shows and
it's not pretty
do not let him
profit from your pain

he was the one
who stole your heart
and broke it
in the end
he was the one
who destroyed
your self-esteem
who threw away
your dreams
do not let him
profit from your pain

take some time
and recover
know you are loved
by all that you have helped
take some time for yourself
take some time to heal
Let him go
and know now
He shall never
Profit from your pain

On The Wire


A CyberPunk Love Poem

glimmering stares across
electric waves of
shimmering light
electronic impulses
flashing home
feeding into me
feeding into you
symbiotic shivering
lost in our VR touch

on the wire
we reach across
time an' space
drawing ever closer
reaching out
reaching in

on the wire
our love shimmers
glows bright
then suddenly fades
as we kiss goodnight

I waste another day
lost in the heart of darkness
longing for your return
on the wire

CyberPunk Poem

A little cyberpunk poem that got me writing again after years of not being able to conceive a thought thanks to psychotropic drugs and shock treatments

A cool breeze took possession of him
as he sat in front of his machine
Switch on
Jack In
Disks spin
Life goes on
in Cyber Space
Digits, Letters
Faces
Limbs
Colors
Flatline
Disks stop
Switch out
Life ends



Friday, January 12, 2007

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Musician Friends of Mine

I added some music links to the side panel. I first met Eric Wood back in the 60's in Greenville PA. Eric was just a kid then but played a mean guitar and wrote his own songs. Last time I ran in to Eric he was playing at a coffee house in the village in NYC when I was in town for a mental health conference. Eric has toured Europe and has a few CD's of his music out. Mike Stout is an old steel mill buddy. We worked on the benefit concerts for Local 1397's food bank after the mill closed. His radical folk music really rocks the soul. I first met The Granati Brothers when we were looking for bands for the 1st benefit and they really came through for the local. Give a listen to the Brothers music for a rockin good time.

Sunday, January 7, 2007

The Lost Boy

A lot of people never understood why Sinead O'Connor tore up a picture of the Pope on SNL. A lot of people protested her singing at the Dylan concert a week later. If you listen to the lyric's of Sinead's earlier ablums you would know and understand that she was a Child of Abuse. This poem is Dedicated to Children as well as The Grown Children of Abuse

The poet and his pen
scribes words of
The poet and his pain

The silent pain of childhood
that lasts a lifetime
within ones brain
That hidden pain
that one knows
from the experience of abuse
and neglect
to the rage that grows within
while you wonder
why me?
what did I do?

so young so innocent
so torn so tattered
so young and battered

as the years go by
and the voice in your head
speaks only negative
of every good thing
you try and do
as you try 'n fight the pain
as you try and live
a so called normal life
But the voice calls you
and you'd better answer
if you don't
you might get a whipping
in three quarter time
with a leather strap
that has a history
all the way back to
World War Two

there is no peace
even in sleep
as the voice
steals your dreams
as you wake in a rage
SCREAMING!!!
LEAVE ME ALONE!!!
I ain't done nothing wrong
an its true
you've been a good little boy
robbed youths sweet inocence
grown in to a man

all you you've ever wanted to do
was fly to never never land
to join Peter and his Lost Boys

The Times They Are A-Changin'

Saturday, January 6, 2007

Questioning 9 11

I woke up sometime around 11 am on September 11 2001; I missed the biggest news story of the century because I was working the night shift at Daily’s Juice Co. in Verona PA. The first thing I did that morning and what I do every morning is get on the web and check the news sites. However that morning I could not get through to any news site or any site. Seems that the backbone was down. You can imagine what was going through my mind when I finally got through and saw what was happening.


I clicked on the TV while watching the playback of the towers crumbling on the web; wondering as I watched in shock of the reports coming in if this was really happening. I immediately thought of a friend of mine who worked in the towers. It was much later I found out about the 90 people and 10 firemen from my hometown that perished in the towers. There is a Memorial web page on Far Rockaway High Schools reunion site. Later that night I joined my Wiccan and Pagan friends in the Wiccan chat room on Dalnets IRC server in a protection ritual for the US.

Earlier that day I had to tear myself away from the net and TV to go back to work. While waiting at the bus stop, (wondering why my bus was late), I noticed an unusual amount of buses coming from downtown. When I finally made it to work I was told to go back home because the plant had shut down.

My friend Wendy who I was staying with at the time greeted me at the door with tears in her eyes. She was hanging a huge American flag in the window. Like many Americans at the time we were in shock and disbelief of what was happening to the country.

The next day I read the Pittsburgh Post Gazette web site why my bus was late and all those busses were coming from downtown.
Many office buildings in downtown Pittsburgh were evacuated, as was the Pittsburgh International Airport. Other area businesses either closed or allowed their employees to leave. By 1pm, Pittsburgh was a ghost town. At 1:25pm the Coast Guard closed Pittsburgh's rivers to all water traffic. The subway system was shut down at 3pm, all four Allegheny regional malls shut down around mid-day, and events across the area were canceled.

I've always had questions of what really happened in Dallas Texas the day JFK was shot about the truthfulness of the US Government. I didn't start questioning 9 11 until I saw this on a web site.
Pittsburgh Control Tower Evacuated Over 15 Minutes before 9/11 Crash. I live 80 miles from Shanksville PA where flight 93 went down.


I've watched many documentaries both pro and con of what happened on 9 11. We might never know the truth or who was really behind 911. I only have questions; Why the Patriot Act; The Memo Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US; PNAC letter to Clinton; The Lies of WMDS; ECT.

I do not know who was behind 9 11 but I can tell you this, It didn't happen the way the official reports say it did. There are too many unanswered questions.

Jim Marrs: 9/11 Truth in 10 Minutes

The Sunshine Makers (1935)



The Sunshine Makers was one of my favorite cartoons when I was young. Enjoy!

Thursday, January 4, 2007

Fairys from Froud - Music by Blackmore's Night



A Pagan's Journey

When friends or strangers ask me about my religious belief, I will come right out and say, "I am a Faerie Shaman/Witch". I have been out of the broom closet a long time. The Faerie and Witch part usually gets them every time. They always ask, "Are You Gay" and "Why do you believe in Satan?" My usual answer depending on my mood is "No, I am not gay, although some folks that follow the Faerie path are and NO, I do NOT believe in Satan." Some folks will follow up with "So you can cast spells and hexes to harm people and what do you mean There is NO DEVIL!!" Look, I softly reply, "I follow a Law that states, Do What You Will and Harm None and if I break that law what ever I do will come back to me three times." "Well what about the Devil then?" as a worried look comes upon their faces. "Look my friend," I answer quietly, "this might hard for you to take but the old church took one of our old Gods who had horns and cloven hoofs and made him in to a devil to scare people away from the old religion." "You know Pan, Cernunnnos and The Green Man are real cool dudes once you get to know them." "Gods!" They exclaim. That's what I said, Gods and Goddesses too. "Wait a second you just said Goddesses?" That's right, ever hear of Danu, Hecate, and Brigit?

By now they are listening real intently or walking away shaking their heads. If they happen to be a fundamentalist Christian, I usually get the rap that Jesus died for me and he is the only one who ever came back from the dead. "Wait a second here, I mean Jesus was a cool dude and all that but he wasn't the only one who came back." What!! "You heard me friend, Osiris and Mithras came back, to name a few." If you're a Christian and reading this please don't get mad, I respect you and your beliefs, please respect mine.

I was born into a Jewish family this life. Although I studied hard and did all that Jewish stuff, I could not for the life of me believe in a vengeful God. Being a child of abuse I had enough to deal with and at times I'd think that God was punishing me. I spent lots of time mediating in my quiet spot away from everyone. My spot was old water logged oak tree stump that jutted out onto Jamaica Bay behind my house. As I sat there Dragonflies and Fairies would come around. Wait second Wolf, you said, Faeries. That I did, it seems to me that everyone can see them if they try, sad to say that enough people don't try. Another way I'd escape from all the garbage that was going on around me would be to leave my body at night and travel around in the astral.

When I was 13 years old, Fred came into my mothers and my life. I soon found out that Fred was initiated into The Brotherhood of Light and had studied with Crowley. It was wonderful for someone like him to be around and he never hesitated to answer questions. "Do you see the Fae, Fred? "No Son" he would reply," "But I am sure if you see them they are there." " I know of other people who see them." It wasn't long before he was inviting me into his circles and teaching me lots of things. Fred left this plane 1983, at the night of his passing I was 500 miles away but he managed to walk into one of my dreams, smiling and waving good bye as he said, "call home."

The years went by, during the 60's after 3 years in the army I moved to Greenwich Village. Then traveled around this great country of ours. I spent a lot of time in Height Asbury and a commune called Morningstar Ranch. I'd make a little money doing I Ching readings or with the BOL Egyptian Tarot deck that Fred had given me.

So you see even though I never called myself a pagan at the time, I really was one. I didn't find out about the so-called neo-pagan movement till 25 years ago when I was invited to a Beltane ritual. It was there that I first dedicated myself to the Lord and the Lady. Finding peace and Magick everywhere. I always try to explain to a newcomer to the Craft of The Wise to learn all they can about The Deities first before they even try to cast a circle or a spell.

For myself being a Shaman means being able to heal myself as well as others. The self-healing has been hard but I think that Wounded Warriors make the best Shaman.

One of my teachers wrote: Many cultures and traditions conclude that physical and/or mental signs of abnormality mark out true Shaman. Dwarfism, or physical deformity. Missing digits or extra bones. Having eyes of two different colors. Being homosexual or transgender or a slight mental instability that allows a person to be so gifted (touched by the hand of the Gods) to more readily to enter the spirit realms. Blindness or deafness. Many anthropologists and psychologists feel that that it is often because of the physical adversity that shaman develop their non-physical gifts.

Neville Drury Wrote: "We can define a Shaman as a person who is able to perceive the world of souls, spirits and gods, and who in a state of ecstatic trance is able to travel among them, gaining special knowledge of that supernatural realm. He or she is ever alert to the intrinsic perils of human existence, of magical forces, which give rise to disease, famine or misfortune. But the Shaman also takes the role of an active intermediary - a negotiator in both directions."

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Tales of the Hooded Man


The Hooded Man
walks upon the
Seagull Studded Shore

Syncrentistic Visions Flowing through his mind
Sand Crabs scurry as he slogs
through the sand

The Hooded Man
seeing past the sky
the moon, sun
The Stars
Alpha Omega
within his grasp
as he imagines
life beyond Infinity

His heart pumps faster
as he slices the air
with weather worn hands

Grasping at reality
as the visions grow faint
As light suddenly breaks
and creates a mist over the waves
throwing subliminal shadows across the sand
The Hooded Man
Sees
Smiles
then walks on

Cat Blogging

What did you put in that catnip, Dad??