Bald Eagle Medicine: No Muslim Ban
February 9, 2017 in Country Matters, Spirit Matters
I saw a bald eagle for the very first time when I was in Maine last weekend. I rarely use the word awesome but it was awesome: strong, self-possessed, appropriately peremptory. Because I believe birds channel energies from the other side, I asked this spirit guide of the United States to protect what was good about our country. Today, in the first rousing defeat of the Trump Oligarchy, the Ninth Circuit of Appeals unanimously refused to reinstate the Muslim Ban. The decision even name-checked Ex parte Mitsuye Endo, in which the Supreme Court ruled the U.S. government could not detain a “concededly loyal” U.S. citizen in response to the incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II. And as I write this, GOP town hall meetings all across the land are erupting with justified anger. Today the checks and balances of these allegedly United States worked, and I feel certain that eagle is proud. Maybe we lost so many beloveds last year so they could better serve in avian form. That Prince bird’s gonna be something else.
Hall of Praxis
February 8, 2017 in Book Matters, Country Matters, Spirit Matters
More bad news today, really terrible news. A shut-down Elizabeth Warren; Jeff Sessions confirmed as attorney general. In my distress I find myself turning to literature: memoir, novels, and, above all, poetry. I need its slow, steady heartbeat; I thrive on its small and great pleasures. Donald Hall in particular is speaking to me though I’m still figuring out why. This is the magic of poetry: that scavenger hunt of self-discovery. Continue Reading →
Use Your Words
February 1, 2017 in Country Matters, Language Matters, Spirit Matters