Hippie Christmas

For old time sake...
dedicated to any "old hippies" out there.

Beware of Maya

Music should never be listened to with the ears only. You have to feel it with your spirit and take it into your heart. Carlos Santana once said some songs are like tattoos. Once you hear them they're a part of you.

This is nice song. Nice music. Gentle and slow. The lyrics are good too. But do you know what they mean? That's the question.

Written by George Harrison. Also popularized by Leon Russell. Here's Clapton's version.



There's a line in the song "Beware of Maya"

Maya has multiple meanings and is believed by some to be good and necessary. By others Maya is believed to keep us bound to an illusion and to earth, keeping us from fully awakening to the universe. That it represents the purely physical and mental reality in which our conscious selves have become entangled.

Just some food for thought, if you're so inclined.

Juxtapositions

There are so many things to say, yet I lack the ability (or perhaps it's the fortitude) to express them. Somewhere along the line, it seems the confidence to communicate the assorted thoughts and dispositions has all been diminished. A considerably afflicting state in which and with which to exist. One for which I have yet to find clear recourse or remedy.

To grant the freedom to speak as one will is a simple matter when one does not directly experience the resulting dejection, rejection or vacant response, nor suffers from the same affective vulnerabilities.

Against all that, there is the question of what thoughts to make known - which sentiments to reveal? Lamentations and jubilation, indignation and appeals all abound. They collide and mix in a swirling pools, as one has spilling liquid color in meandering stream. Red into yellow, blue into green, spinning themselves into shades of gold and aqua and purple. How can one distinguish the point at which one begins and the other ends? A mingling of emotions. The breaking apart and piecing together of heart and mind, body and soul.

Hope and despondency, expectancy and cold reality. It's an issue of juxtaposition. It creates a disarray that, as a result, produces and induces yet more to be spoken that, in turn, cannot be spoken. But I digress, so it seems the very matter which I strive to approach will have to wait for another day.

By Rachelle LeCount
Written some time ago

Other entries you might like: March 2009

The Wizard

Wow. I hadn't listened to this song in a long time. Reminds me of those years a long long time ago. Good stuff. I saw them live once, by the way. Great times.

Uriah Heep
The Wizard



He was the wizard
Of a thousand kings
And I chanced to meet him
One night wandering
He told me tales
And he drank my wine
Me and my magic man
Kinda feeling fine

He had a cloak of gold
And eyes of fire
And as he spoke
I felt a deep desire
To free the world
Of its fear and pain
And help the people
To feel free again

Why don't we listen to
The voices in our hearts
‘Cause then I know we'd find
We're not so far apart
Everybody's got to be happy
Everyone should sing
For we know the joy of life
The peace that love can bring

So spoke the wizard
In his mountain home
The vision of his wisdom
Means we'll never be alone
And I will dream of my magic night
And a million silver stars
That guide me with their light

Septarian Nodule

I never got around to posting a picture of this back during the summer. It's a pretty piece I purchased at Zuzu's Petals Rock Shop, in Helen GA. I keep thinking I should make a day trip up there soon. It's off season but that doesn't matter I don't think.

This one is roughly 7 inches by 8 inches.





Septarian's formed between 50 to 70 million years ago. As a result of volcanic eruptions, dead sea life was chemically attracted to the sediment around them, forming mud balls. As the ocean receded, the balls dried and cracked. Due to their bentonite content they also shrank in size, creating the cracks inside. As decomposed shells seeped down into the cracks in the mud balls, calcite crystals formed. The outer thin walls of calcite then transformed into aragonite. The name Septarian comes from the Latin word "septem", meaning seven, because the mud balls had a tendency to crack in 7 points in every direction, thereby creating the distinctive pattern these nodules exhibit. Septarians are composed of Calcite (The Yellow Centers), Aragonite (The Brown Lines), and the outer grey rock is Limestone.

You can read more about them HERE and HERE.

Put Your Lights On

"Put Your Lights On"
Carlos Santana



Hey now, all you sinners
Put your lights on, put your lights on
Hey now, all you lovers
Put your lights on, put your lights on

Hey now, all you killers
Put your lights on, put your lights on
Hey now, all you children
Leave your lights on, you better leave your lights on

Cause there's a monster living under my bed
Whispering in my ear
There's an angel, with a hand on my head
She say I've got nothing to fear

There's a darkness living deep in my soul
I still got a purpose to serve
So let your light shine, deep into my home
God, don't let me lose my nerve
Don't let me lose my nerve

Hey now, hey now, hey now, hey now
Wo oh hey now, hey now, hey now, hey now

Hey now, all you sinners
Put your lights on, put your lights on
Hey now, all you children
Leave your lights on, you better leave your lights on

Because there's a monster living under my bed
Whispering in my ear
There's an angel, with a hand on my head
She say's I've got nothing to fear
She says: La illaha illa Allah
We all shine like stars
She says: La illaha illa Allah
We all shine like stars
Then we fade away

The works of Rumi have held special meaning for me since I first read some of his poetry many years ago. Of course there's always the question of whether he's speaking of romantic love or divine love and spiritual matters and our connection to God and the spiritual realm. I say it's both and fittingly so.

-------------------------------------------------------

When the sweet glance of my true love caught my eyes,

Like alchemy, it transformed my copper-like soul.

I searched for Him with a thousand hands,

He stretched out His arms and clutched my feet.

From Thief of Sleep

The minute I heard my first love story,

I started looking for you, not knowing

how blind that was.

Lovers don't finally meet somewhere,

they're in each other all along.

From Essential Rumi

Love is from the infinite, and will remain until eternity.

The seeker of love escapes the chains of birth and death.

Tomorrow, when resurrection comes,

The heart that is not in love will fail the test.

From Thief of Sleep

When you find yourself with the Beloved, embracing for one breath,

In that moment you will find your true destiny.

Alas, don't spoil this precious moment

Moments like this are very, very rare.

From Thief of Sleep


Return to main page

Or see other posts you might like

Roused Dreamers
Folds of Eternity

The Two

when i discovery the two
i could not help but feel the intensity
it was round a campfire
where songs were sung by which i was muted
in awe of these strangers singing my story
the ones who never knew me
yet with unequaled harmony recalled my life
my ears and heart hung on every breath
an awkward moment tossed in
mercy, they said, mercy
it was an unforgiving honesty

i heard behind the tune
i stared into the core of my self
fascinated and fixated i listened
losses and crosses and strange circles
queens and kings mounting stairs
leading to towers and trees by the roadside
on the way to revelations

do you see them
arms open like shutters flung
releasing what would otherwise suffocate
it is the motion that lifts
emotions that carry
burning and burying
reaping and keeping
bare feet touch not the ground
clouded and crowded
the internal fight and the flight
they bring it all into focus
yet no one else can see
no one else can hear the same words

i wish i had said it myself
but then i might have missed the point
year upon year
they are always with me
is it they that conform or only myself
or is it merely dictated circumstance
the chance of romance or simply self fulfilling
was it from before or what was to come

and still today i am fixed on the memory
around the fire where bare feet leave traces of light
and i remain mute even now
in wonderment of the ones who never knew me
yet with unequaled harmony could recall my secrets
my heart hung on their breath
mercy, they cried, mercy
it is an unforgiving honesty
that flings open the shutters with a force that shivers
to the depths of my understanding
and i ask, do you see my heart wide open

Rachelle LeCount
11-2011

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Entries from January '09

Bad

"Bad" by U2



If you twist and turn away
If you tear yourself in two again
If I could, yes I would
If I could, I would
Let it go
Surrender
Dislocate
If I could throw this
Lifeless lifeline to the wind
Leave this heart of clay
See you break, break away
Into the night
Through the rain
Into the half-light
Through the flame

If I could through myself
Set your spirit free
I'd lead your heart away
See you break, break away
Into the light
And to the day

Oooh oooh, oooh oooh, oooh oooh oooh...

To let it go! And so fade away
To let it go!
And so fade away
I'm wide awake
I'm wide awake
Wide awake
I'm not sleeping, oh no, no, no

If you should ask then maybe they'd
Tell you what I would say
True colors fly in blue and black
Blue silken sky and burning flag
Colors crash, collide in blood shot eyes

Oooh oooh, oooh oooh, oooh oooh oooh...

If I could, you know I would
If I could, I would
Let it go

This desparation
Dislocation
Separation
Condemnation
Revelation
In temptation
Isolation
Desolation
Isolation

Let it go
And so fade away
To let it go, oh yeah
And so fade away
To let it go, oh No
And so fade away
I'm wide awake
I'm wide awake
Wide awake
I'm not sleeping oh no no

The Week

We got a lot done this last week but it barely put a dent in things. Nonetheless, it was progress.

I had appointments and errands today and have more tomorrow. Thursday we'll go visit family for a Thanksgiving meal.

I've been rocking a lot of music lately. Well... not that I don't listen to music every day but at times I'm IN it more than other times.

I'm thinking this is a boring post. I think I'm better in the mornings.

Oh well....

Ain't Nothin' Like Losin'

i knew a little boy who drowned one day
way back in the eighties
out with his parents on the lake
at one of those quarries
and it dawned on me, the way they say
there just ain't nothin' like losin'
what you can't live without

so they built themselves a picket wall
but never cared to fill it
with anything worth much at all
i guess they up and quit
maybe they were scared of another fall
cause there ain't nothin' like choosin'
what you can't live without

how those losses
they toss us
and they bring us back home
but we build fences
dig trenches
too scared to roam
outside where losses
they toss us

i was thinkin' of the boy who drowned back then
years ago when i was young
and i started thinkin' how time and again
we're robbed and flung
down, and ain't nothin' like losin'
what you can't live without

it's those losses
that toss us
but they bring us back home
where we build fences
dig trenches
and stay scared to roam
where there are losses
that toss us

- Rachelle LeCount

[based on a true story]

Roses in Snow (Rewrite)

There are wrinkles in time that lay like roses in snow.
I turn them around in my mind and take in their fragrance.
They hold the secret of my deliverance.
Creases of pink and red on fluffed linen.
Each fold and crease is a hint - a promise.
If only I could crawl between the petals.
I'd in another time - some other dimension.

by Rachelle LeCount
(rewritten 11-19-2011)

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Know

did you know
if you speak the words
they may not be heard
and did you know
when you look too closely
your sight becomes blurred
and don't you know
if you let yourself love
you'll become like a bird
just so you'll know
what it means to be weightless
like promises stirred
and then you'll know

© Rachelle LeCount
November 2011

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Gestalt

As in Gestalt Theory, Gestalt Leap, Gestalt Psychology.

1. a configuration, pattern, or organized field having specific properties that cannot be derived from the summation of its component parts; a unified whole.

2. an instance or example of such a unified whole.

It's a rough sounding word, blunt and direct and almost cold seeming. Yet if one grabs hold of the actual concept it becomes itself. It's quite beautiful when you look beyond the individual dots and pieces and find the picture hidden behind them.

It's something I've lived with my entire life. It leaves me wondering about the differences and similarities between burdens and blessings.


"Dont Fade"
Toad the Wet Sprocket



Lyrics:
lead me well, don't clear my way
it's fascinating how the pallor can stay upon your face
when you are light like a little boy
flying kites and shouting to the world
you're shouting to the world your joy
don't fade, you're staying here with me
don't fade, i need to know that someone still believes

look around, see for yourself
he led us down and at the water's edge we knelt
petals in the lake and red upon my face
she's crying as we pray
and it all comes down to money, again
how could you forsake the love of god that way
don't fade, you're staying here with me
don't fade, i need to know that someone still believes
cause i still believe

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A List, Pink Floyd & Ardouizur

Happy Wednesday everybody. Looks like it might be a nice day. It's cloudy. We're expecting rain and mild temperatures. I like cloudy days.

So... I finally got around to updating my playlist again (right hand column). Currently there are 81 songs but that changes periodically as links go bad. But for anyone who cares to, enjoy!!

Thanksgiving will be upon us soon. I have decided that I won't be cooking the big mean I usually spend 2-3 days on. Instead we are accepting an invitation to join family and friends elsewhere. That suits me just fine as I feel I have so many irons in the fire right now. But I won't get into all that.

I have decided to do something I tend to resist and that is... MAKE A LIST.

I know. I know. I am surprised too and it's not without some apprehension. Still, I could end up surprised by the results. We'll see. The goal is to get some of those petty details out of my head by putting it on paper.

The problem is that my head gets full of details and things that need to be done and it hinders my productivity rather than helping. We managed to get the flooring down in the hobby room (ex bedroom) but the house has been in disarray since we began the remodeling about three years ago. I get too far ahead in my mind and energy gets spent on obsessing over what's not done rather than accepting the challenge to simply move forward with patience and trust that it will all get done sooner or later. So, it was suggested that a list might help provide some relief from the noise in my head.

Now... back to the topic of music and yesterday's mention of Zoroaster and Ardouizur, as I was spending some time floating through my own collection of music last night I ran across a live version of one of my favorite Pink Floyd tunes, Great Gig in the Sky (I say "favorite" but I have so many I am not sure the word is applicable). It struck me that the song connects to a couple of issues right now. One having to do with a study on speaking in tongues (a topic for another day). It also reminded me of that story of Ardouizur, as well as matters associated with the spirit of woman... the female spirit and related matters. As I was listening, I was take over by the depth and the meaning it has for me. There are no words to the song, but that's part of the beauty of it. Either you'll get it or you won't.

Ardouizur & Trower

Man alive, Trower gets to me something fierce at times. There's not much else to say about it. So I'll just hush while you listen. :)

In This Place
by Robin Trower




--------------------------------------------------

I was reminded today of the story of Zoroaster and Ardouizur and how profoundly beautiful it is. This is something I wrote a couple years back which was inspired by their story. Well, I'd have to say partly inspired by their story and partly inspired by other things.

Name Me

Name me thy immortal soul,
And I shall declare I am more than myself.
Be there any solid form to claim?
A word by which I am known?
It is you - The origin of my thoughts,
The drum and the flute
By which my heart keeps time
In this dancing mystery.
I shall resolve no more
To give meaning to myself.
'tis a futile endeavor.
If from you I was taken,
Only by you might I be defined.
If in you I am created,
Only by you am I named or given purpose.
Name me thy immortal soul,
That I may become more than myself.

© Rachelle

[Inspired by the story of Zoroaster and Ardouizur, as presented in "From Sphinx to Christ" by Edouard Schure'; Book IV; Manifestations of the Solar World]

From Sphinx to Christ is the engrossing story of the eternal search for knowledge of our origin, evolution, and destiny as spiritual beings. Edouard Schure lucidly and masterfully traces the course of this quest from the primordial wisdom expressed in the Riddle of the Sphinx; through the legends of antediluvian civilizations and the traditions of India, Persia, Babylon, Egypt, and classical Greece; to the pivotal figure of Christ, who renews ancient mysteries and embodies new ones for the continuing development of humanity.








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