I have an affinity for ice, especially designs in ice. And within that category, I look for faces—profiles of human males and females. January is our longest, coldest month. While December is our longest, darkest month, January feels dark, too, because we’ve taken down the holiday lights and we’re left only with starlight, moonlight, firelight, and, if we’re lucky, cool sunlight. I took the picture of “the ice man” on the Arkansas River last January.
On a personal note, my own rhythms slow like a sluggish ice-laden river in January. I welcome in the new year with low-key celebration. Much of my incipient creativity forms beneath the ice. I see little evidence of it on the surface.
To break up the ice and get moving again, I am using three tools. The first addresses my body—stiff from sitting in front of the computer doing what I’m doing now instead of getting out there hiking in the bitter wind. The second tool, digs insight out of my subconscious and gives me pictures of possible trends. The third is a kind of home-grown psychotherapy, which I’ve been using on and off for almost twenty years.
Physical Therapy with Bob
I came back Friday morning from seeing Bob Holtby, my physical therapist. He starts with cranial sacral to decide how to proceed with my spine and core. He sits me in a chair and twists my spine to the right and the left. It felt as though he was going to twist me into a pretzel on Friday. But when he’s done, not only is my body loose, but he’s worked some kind of mental magic on me. My mind is happier, more flexible, less frozen. Here’s a picture of Bob. He’s the guy on the right with the beard.
The Cards
I like oracle cards. I choose a little angel card each day to mirror what I may be working on spiritually. This morning the card said “Simplicity.” Guess that’s because I’ve been working on taxes for eight hours. I just received a set of Crystal Ally cards that I had ordered during New Year’s (shown at left). Their messages resonate with me in an uncanny way. The author of this deck, Naisha Ahsian, says the cards “seem to create a shift within a person’s energetic field, allowing them to sense the gemstone energies more fully.” Stones have been used for centuries for healing by Native American, African and Asian tribes, according to the author. In some cultures, crystals and even everyday stones are considered to be conscious, living beings. Yesterday I pulled the Ruby card. It indicated that Ruby is the stone for stirring the Life Force–just what I need to break out of the ice. I’ve been meditating on a big cut ruby gemstone at the root of my spine, with ruby colored light running up my spinal column. This practice warms and energizes me.
The Calibration
I’ve been following the writings of Machelle Small Wright at Perelandra for years. Her nature study and books are guided by Nature itself. If you’ve heard of Findhorn, you will know what I mean. Nature has great intelligence. In fact it knows how to fix our planet and our bodies. Machelle explains all of this in her books. Her book called MAP: The Co-Creative White Brotherhood Medical Assistance Program includes a meditative process called a Calibration that takes about 30 minutes. It is specifically for balancing the mental/emotional bodies. It’s great for relieving stress. After just one calibration (yesterday), an ice jam in my brain came loose and I received some insights about my book business. I may need to purchase a new desktop computer and business software. I need to find someone who knows how to set up a system to track book inventory. These insights thawed my mood from gloom to sunshine. It’s like mental Feng Shui–bringing order to chaos.
I plan to continue the calibrations, the cards and the PT into February and as long as it takes for the sun to move north and the river to rise.
Hi, Maria, I very much enjoyed this post. First, I enlarged the ice-man pic and what I saw was a Native American male wearing a headdress.
I’ve never had cranio-sacral work but have been giving it some thought. There is no one anywhere near me (nothing is near me:) so perhaps I will find someone in MI.
I have Tarot cards but have never seen or used oracle cards. I may just give these a try. I know you’ve mentioned yours in the past.
Calibration: I do know Findhorn; at one time I considered going when I was single. That was a long time ago.
I am going to check on M.S. Wright’s books. The fact that you are thinking of setting up your own business system is exciting. Are you talking desk-top publishing or . . . ?
I love reading your words – hoping that someday we can meet in person.
Lindy
Hi Lindy, I don’t know if Colorado is special, but there are lots of people who do cranial sacral and other energy therapies. I hope you can find one in a town near you in MI. I’ll look for the headdress on the ice man
I was introduced to the Crystal Ally cards by a friend. As soon as I pulled the first one–and it was dead right–I knew I had to have the deck. Each one I’ve pulled since has been like going to a psychic reader. I think you would like them. As oracle cards go, these are ones I’ll use.
When you go to look at Machelle Small Wright’s books, I recommend the first one you read to be Believing that the God in All Things Matters. It tells the story of who she is and how she got there. It would resonate with you because you have this basic belief system–all life matters–we’re talking animals and plants…and inanimate objects. I recommend that EVERYBODY who is the least bit metaphysical has a copy of MAP. It works. And if you want your mind completely blown, get Dancing in the Shadow of the Moon. You’ll either disbelieve it flat out, or it will change the way you view the world. I also like her flower essence book and her gardening workbooks. The first two have made a difference in my life.
As for organizing the writing–not desktop publishing at this point, although I have run off a few copies of This Lively Dust: A Mother-Daughter Companion. Mainly I need (1) to figure out how far I want to take the book–I’ll Be There to Write the Story. (2) figure out how to track my books more easily–sales and inventory from my stash at home; sales and inventory from stores that have it on consignment; sales and inventory from stores that have bought it outright; sales from Amazon. Right now there are 2 stores that have it on consignment alongside our pottery. I have to separate the book sales from the pottery sales. I have to write myself checks out of our household account and place them in my pottery account whenever I sell a book from an art gallery. It’s a lot of shuffling. I may simply want a set of physical file folders to contain the necessary information. I want to know how many books I’ve given out; how many have sold, from where, and how many are left to sell. Sorry to run on about this! I’m looking for a self published author who has a handle on this!
I, too, hope we can meet in person!