Xmas

Xmas is a strange tradition in the southern hemisphere, especially in Australia: an ancient land, travelled  by ancient peoples and only newly discovered by Northerners bringing their Yuletide Winter traditions: the Solstice celebrating the shortest day of the year, (in the blazing Australian heat), Christ-mas trees in a land where there is no December snow, hot meals and heavy wines in sweltering temperatures and other traditions that have nothing to do with this ancient land.

No wonder it is a strange time for many. Europeans transported to the Great South Land, clinging to what they know. And their children's children, desperately trying to replicate traditions that belong to the Northern Hemisphere.

And yet we gather, in Christ's name, at the Malls and at the butchers, in the hope of finding it, the allusive Xmas spirit.

What then of the loneliness, the feelings of separation, the drastic contrivances to come together to celebrate? in the face of a land that once held people throughout the millennia, without a mention of a boy born in Bethlehem.

And yet we gather, at the family tables, in our clans, to taste the joy that still belongs to us.  Miracle that it is. Xmas brings us together, in the way that tribes, long before the Christ, once did.  ALLELUIA!! 

END OF THE WORLD

As the song says: it's the end of the world as we know it. But is it? How many wake up calls do we humans need to change our ways? How many wars must be fought? How many women and children killed in the name of what, exactly? How many discussions about the right to bear arms?

Maybe that's why so many people believed, or wanted to believe the world would end the other day, because they feel so disempowered by the decisions that are being made by governments and corporations, despite the protests on the ground.

And then there are those who live in childish hope that things are going to change, without their participation. Suddenly the Mayans have the answer, not too many of them around to argue with.

Manipulated by the media and various other authorities, people now imagine that PEACE is just going to appear, without their efforts. Magically, because someone says so.

But the truth is until we find PEACE in our hearts, with our brothers and sisters and our neighbours, conflict will continue. And the way the world is armed, the only thing that may remain is PEACE, with no-one left  to enjoy it!

Where do the children play?

A child plays freely in the sand, (her parents  out of frame)...

On the other side of the world, schools are locked down, guns are freely accessed and mass shootings of innocent children take place where children should play.

How many more children have to die at the hands of gun toting, out of control, disturbed Americans before the country begins to ask the serious questions:

Why do Americans feel the need to be armed in so called peace time?

Why are young people trained to shoot? ( apparently this current assassin belonged to a rifle club)

Has America's  continuous involvement in war since and including Vietnam, brought war-like attitudes into its own back yard?

And should the country re-define the word "terrorism," to include the horror which occurs in American schools at the hands of its own?

SNEAK PEEK: Finding Artemisia-- Prologue

Purchase Finding Artemisia at Balboa Press, Amazon or Barnes & Noble

Love is everywhere

In my book, Finding Artemisia, Artemisia struggles with alienation and isolation in her daily struggle with eating and body image. She writes about it in her Oracle
Here's what she says is the way out: LOVE
  

LOVE
Love on Earth can often hide, And we can be fooled by its disguise. 
No definitions of it we can command;
It is not supplied on-demand.
It gives freely without conditions;
It sings sweetly of soft renditions.
It blossoms in flowers and exudes rich perfume.
It sings from a bird’s throat in the morning
And at noon.
It shines in the night sky of unfathomable depth.
And it lives in the eyes of all who have wept.
To taste it, you just need to be awake;
It’s in the smile of your mate.
It’s in a lover’s perfume,
And it’s in the solitude of your room.
Do not despair when you think you can’t find it,
For ‘tis EVERYWHERE.

--From The Oracle

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An Ode to Marilyn

In my book Finding Artemisia, Artemisia is a 14 year old girl with anorexia. She calls her collection of thoughts, drawings and poetry The Oracle. One of the most touching poems in The Oracle is her ODE TO MARILYN

If I were Marilyn Monroe, the famous beauty queen,

And you, the wise professor, with thoughts and words to preen,

I’d prance about and whimper and wait impatiently

For your wise and golden knowledge to graciously encompass me.

And when you finally would appear, with thoughts and words in hand,

I’d toss my hair and bare my breasts and bleat of the love you’d fanned.

You’d smile perhaps a little, but seriousness soon would grow,

As you carefully consider how I fit with what you know.

“The pleasures of the flesh I have chosen to ignore,

I seek the greater things in life, the sea, not just the shore.”

And I would smile as teardrops fell on beauty spots that cried,

“I’ll know that all too soon, my friend, for I’m about to die.

You’ve failed to see my beauty; you’ve been blinded by your eye.

Your mind is crammed with things you know,

And your heart’s afraid to fly.”

So now the world does mourn me, and all the ghosts do sigh.

But you once had your chance, and you sooner had me die.

Finding Artemisia: a journey into ancient women's business. p36 www.findingartemisia.com

After the election.. the anxiety continues

The American elections took up a lot of air space in Australia as well other countries concerned about  the effects on Wall St and the international monetary systems. Anxiety about money seems to be the order of the day. And anxiety belongs to situations that are out of one's control. (I know, I see a lot of anxious people. Im a psychologist.) Sometimes such anxious people are known as the worried well, because they're not really unwell, they just don't feel safe about the future or even the present.  Even after the election they still have the jitters as does Wall St. And why wouldn't they? Their money, their future is the hands of people who are proving themselves to be incompetent, amoral and driven by self interest. So what about taking our power back. One country has shed its national debt. Iceland. But maybe America/ Europe/Australia are more complicated. So what can we do as individuals?
1 stop repeating the same mistakes
2 stop investing in systems that rob the poor to pay the rich
3 stop expecting governments to bail out failing systems
4 start acting locally in our community
5 rely less on money, begin to trade, exchange and recycle
6 build community networks that are supportive and sustainable
7 get creative about ways to obtain income

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY STOP EXPECTING GOVERNMENTS TO SAVE US. THEY CAN'T. THEY KNOW IT. AND IT'S ABOUT TIME WE DID TOO