Lammas 18

Time deceives. As we live it, it seems so clear and defined. Seconds into minutes. Minutes into hours. Hours into days. Pages of the calendar fall in dozens and those dozens pass in tens and the tens in ten times those tens. Compartmented. Measured. Tracked. Clearly defined in standards chosen and refined by man in all his glory.

Time is not ours to control and is not ours to limit. Think of things past and bring them to pure thoughts and you jump the calendar pages. Learn of how to move to what was and you will then understand what will be. As men defined time, they also build walls of disbelief between lives and that cut off most to the completeness of what they are. They began to see only this part of the journey.

Time deceives for man decided to measure it and define it. Time let him. In laughter as they sought to master by limiting. Mastery is not limiting. Mastery is understanding.

Lammas 17

See the changes all around and feel the shift of energy in those changes. Changes in Lammas are changes of preparation. Changes of seeds long planted and now harvested for the sweetest treats. Changes that prepare for winter when fruits of labor are savored and used as you rest and wait. The work of tribe is less intense in winter for the climate is honored and the land lies quiet beneath the snow and cold. Use this time to forge the change into foundation and prepare for the changes of seasons ahead and seasons after that and on.

See that tribe and herd as well as homes, cages, and pens are changed. All within each see the change as well as feel it. Change of external and internal. Change that moves to completion and is deeper and fuller. The harvest is sweet. The labors to plant and then nourish those seeds now harvested was long and hard. Enjoy the harvest for the labors of change will return in new forms and the harvest will nourish as well as prepare you and yours for the times to come.

Lammas 16

Send forth your travelers as prepared as you can for they are ready. Different trips than they have ever packed for and cannot pack for now. Places of the past and of set backs but places you know are right and needed. There will be heroes and heels, vessels and foot work, past, present, and future, roadblocks and setbacks, and all sorts of adventures on the way. You are the refuge and the strength and will know when to give shelter and when to dispatch.

Lammas 15

The energy of laughter is the purest fuel for connections. The special laughter of friends and kindred linking in the mirth and happiness. Feel the purity of this Power as the laughter of knowing encourages actions of linkage. You can know this special energy by what it is not. It is not at the expense of anyone and excludes no one there unless that one chooses to sit outside the circle of love. This laughter is pure and totally free of evil and that makes it even more Powerful. Watch as laughter touches needs and wants as it did in schoolyards, playpens, and bedrooms. It is the laughter of family that is more family than blood.

LeSabre

(One from an on-going series "Report from the Frontal Lobe")

A convertible, blue instead of brown, and felt more like a Caddy but I knew it right away. Learned to drive on it. It wasn’t mine then. It isn’t mine now. Down the road I went. Temptation dressed as pleasure in the front seat. She tried to call the shots. Ego in the back seat, just along for the ride. A face from long ago that I almost didn’t recognize. Let him know I did and that he always reminded me of my brother.

She rode low to the road. A bullet. The bridge went to who knows where. It was the horizon. It was a cliff. Didn’t matter. Urgency had the pedal to the medal. The storm in the distance slashed the sky and was exactly right for this trip and these travelers. Even in the parking space and perfectly centered, the long sleek sword blocked the way for another sword that parked instead of going around. They shouldn’t have commented. They shouldn’t have gotten out of the car. They shouldn’t have said they were appraisers. It was too easy for me and Ego. Two bald and briefcased out of shape stooges. Too easy to bash their heads on the hood of even another car and then get back on the road.

My only new Buick went up in flames just as a new year birthed itself back before I really started traveling. Now my drive way is bigger than I need and there is a bike in my carport that knows Red Rock City and looks like a lot like the one from the Sears Catalog that was the answer to all my prayers back when I was just a boy. Now, I am Word Man and folks thought they saw me and they saw my echo while I was quiet and playing with my MasterCard. Let the stories know I am ready for them. Hungry for them. I am here inside the words and that is where I belong. I will keep the words and letters coming, boys and girls.

Ladies, keep your legs crossed cause that muffles the siren song. I can name that tune with my eyes closed, my fingers crossed, and without buying a vowel from my crap shooting buddy in any gin joint in any town even when one-eyed Jacks are wild. I am Pogo and know all about Froggy and his Magic Twanger. Got that joke and all the lame ones that followed. Laughed when I should have be learning but learned more than I laughed. Learned to drive in a Buick. Learned to love in a Cadillac. Maybe it was a Plymouth Duster. Doesn’t matter, I learned to love really well…or so I have been told. That guy in the back seat remembers very well and hardly ever forgets a face

Lammas 14

The birth of anything is joyous and worth the pain. As you are birthed to what you should be, know that there will be pain but it will pass quickly. In childbirth, there is more pain than many would ever imagine and that feels far from joyous at the moment. Yet when the child lies in the arms of the one who suffered, the magic of love not only eases the pain but pushes it to a very special memory. A memory of endurance for having sustained such labor and earned such a reward. Birth is like that for good reason.

Life (For My Daughter, Kristen Van Wagner Wood--Happy Birthday)

From that first moment…….the sight of the crown of her head……she changed my life. August 19, 1976. My world was a lot different when Kristen Leigh Van Wagner arrived. Seems like a previous life now. In the military. A Buck Sergeant with high hopes, work to do, and promises to keep. Stationed in Germany. A man about the world and his high school sweetheart explored foreign lands and approached parenthood.

My mind’s eye documented that day well. A trip from K-Town to Frankfurt and back as one soon to be Grandmother arrived for a visit just in the nick of time. The Veteran Grandparents waited at One Maple for the news. Two first time parents moved through the day and the process as if they had a clue. Thirty-Five years ago…..naive felt like grown-up.

Off to the hospital soon after dropping Sally off at the apartment. Plans for natural childbirth, pleas for drugs, sunken Lamaze boats, lots of screaming, and then magic……a pretty typical birth. Kristen arrived and life took on new meaning.

So much has changed. The family bobbed and weaved across the globe with the ups and downs germane to living. Faces moved to other places. Friends made and left and made and kept. Hearts broke and healed as those once new parents replaced the Grandparents and the newborn became wife and parent. Life happened…and I am grateful.

Parents give children life….literally. Yet my daughter gave me life. Everything was better….richer…….sweeter. Walks in the parks. Holidays. Dinner. Bedtime stories. She brought out the kid in me as well as the adult. I became a better person because I loved deeper.

Kristen inspires me. She gets what family means as well as her Aunt Karen does. We need people that understand how important home is. Homemakers. Houses are a’plenty. Homes? We need more. Places where love is really unconditional. Safe houses where our best is expected, our worst is forgiven, and there are cheerleaders as well as coaches. Kristen’s home is like that and her love of family shines well beyond those walls.

Love grows. Love thrives. Loves survives. Love is strong. Thirty-five years ago I learned a whole new level of love when Kristen Leigh Van Wagner Wood was born. She teaches me things about life, love, family, and home even more so today. Thanks for being who you are, Kristen. I love you.

Happy Birthday, Krissy

Love Dad

Lammas 13

There are warriors and there are wounded. Treat each separately for the needs are not only different, the needs are opposite. The diet of the wounded would weaken the warrior and the diet of the warrior would further cripple the wounded. Pray not to the SOURCE for ways to slow the pace but pray for the Power to handle the pace since the pace is right. The warriors run to the pace while the weak wish all would slow so they can follow. Victories are won with joyous progress forward.

Lammas 12

The full moon in Lammas is a moon of change. Dramatic changes seen long ago that now move to completion. The fullness of the moon is the finality of the change and the beginning of the new. Look not back at the time and events that lead to the changes. Look at the changes and what can be done with them that will improve things for all. Lammas is that time. Grain long coming now ready to nourish and fuel.

Lammas 11

There is joy in the feel of the earth and the quiet of the night. Feel the cleansing nature of the rain as it cascades from above to below you and waters your thirst for peace. Sit on the mountain and see the expanse of the valley. Pause in the valley and savor the majesty of the mountain. Plant to grow. Smell the fragrance of the flowers and enjoy the zest of fruits and vegetables.

Find the inside of yourself outside. Be of and with the earth and there you will be grounded. When it is hot, there is shade. In the cold, there is fire. When adrift, plant yourself by a river and your path will be clear.

Lammas 10

Desires can drive and that is alright. Desires that inspire action drive success or at least push us on the path as we journey to perceived happiness and wants. Desires that fuel wanderlust and heat envy though are to be viewed with caution and even disdain.

Tap into your own desires. Run them around the taste buds of your mind and find if they are sweet or bittersweet. If bittersweet, let them not taint the feast of life. Spit them out and leave them on the path as you journey forth. If those desires are sweet, let them fill you for these are not empty calories but fuel for the engine of your soul.

Desires can be filled and that reward is sweetest when earned. Learn of the desires of those in your charge as well for this is powerful knowledge. Knowledge that can enhance your ability to forge their loyalty as you meet their desires.

Lammas 9

Each of the senses can offer comfort. Learn of these things so that you may ease the burden of others in tribe as well as those in herd when required. The ears are the ones that offer most comfort for listening is an art few master since many think listening requires speech. Speech can be of comfort though when the words open eyes to things not seen. Eyes can be of comfort by shining forth the beauty of inner peace to those that hunger for it. Taste can be of comfort for food touches places that need filling. Touch can be of comfort for the warm caress of a loving hand soothes even the deepest hurt.

Use your senses in ways to match the needs for those that seek comfort. Use your senses to also see who indeed those that seek comfort are for they may not speak of it in ways direct.

Lammas 8

Changes brew for that is the way of Lammas. The season is a time of change based on the moments until now but also a time to prepare for the effect of those changes and even more changes to come. The energy of change is felt all around during Lammas. Temperatures have peaked and ease downward like features of coming attractions. Outside work wraps up and inside projects become the focus of plans. Family shifts in things done as all settle in for the season ahead.

For the ones that changed the most, this is very exciting. Change of self and change of place that shapes each moment as if each second is a building block to the future. That is exactly the case. The Change is good and right and is as dramatic as suspected. The time ahead will be so very different than the past for that has come and Lammas is the time to grind the grains of change for the sweetest treats from a brand new crop.

Lammas 7

Tribe makes us stronger. The us that you form with kindred and kind. The us that eluded you for so long until you found tribe and tribe found you. Us is a sweet word. It includes and empowers. It forges unity with each usage if indeed the us is the true us. The place of belonging. The place where you give fully yet feel you get more than you give. That does not mean you do get more than you give but that is the feeling. As you feel that, tribe feels, the us feels, they get far more from you than you get from them.

That is what tribe is. That is what the true us is. Win-win.

Lammas 6

Strength is as beautiful as weakness is ugly. Strength makes all stronger, healthier, happier, and freer. Strength of Self. Strength of tribe. Strength of herd.

The strong thrive but also recover quicker. Strength feeds progress and joy and then feeds mending when challenges slow even the strongest. Strength is not invincible. Strength is resilient.

Lammas 5

Plan for abundance for it shall be yours. Move forward in full trust for forces work for the SOURCE and you as surely as the tribe works for the SOURCE. See what can be with dream and fancy and what will come it pass will be what is meant to be. Plan for abundance, move forward in trust, and reality will be beyond even the synergy of expectations and hopes.

As tribe links and herd works, realms around draw strength from the actions of tribe and herd. Your energy soars forth to prepare others to receive the message and move to place and purpose. Places in tribe will be earned as will harnesses for the herd. You will not have to seek out but you will have to weed out. Ensure place is earned for the truest that apply. Test the beast before the beast gets to test the harness.

Treasure Hunt

Once you found it, you can quit looking.

It ain’t on the shelf. Any shelf. Never was. Can’t make enough money to buy it. It ain’t for sale.

You’re born with it. Live for it. Die without it. Live forever with it.

Someone can hand it to you. You must be present to win.

Try and hide from it and you will succeed. Keep it for yourself and it dies. Worry about keeping it and it runs away. Won’t come when you call it. Can’t force it to stay.

Ache for it. Long for it. Pine for it. Wish for it. It is inside of you. On the other side of the pain you inflict on yourself by keeping it from others.

It was yours and can be again. When it is yours, it will stay as long as you share it. Feel everyone, it is all yours. Let others feel you and they will give you even more.

Hear it in the music and speak it in your words. Read of it then sing of it to all that hear you. Dance to it, for it, and in it. See it in the paintings. Paint it for the seeing.

Dressed to the nines or naked as the jaybird, flash it in your eyes as you smile and high step in the silliest celebrations.

Give it and have it. Have it and give it. Wait for it and wait alone. Hunt for it and hunt alone. Be it and feel it. Feel it and be it.

Have a bite of mine. Feast until you are full. Yum, Yum, eat ‘em up. There is a lot more. Plenty more. Good and Plenty more. More than enough to go around. All the way around. Round and round we go. Makes the world go around.

X marks the spot. XXX. OOO. Hugs and kisses.

Tag, you’re it.

Lammas 4

The name of SOURCE and self is important. Not in what it is for that is a mere word. It is important in what it represents. Any that use the name of SOURCE represent the SOURCE and the SOURCE is of them as sure of they are of SOURCE. It is the same as you being of your name and your name of you.

More than what we know as title or word to get our attention. A way for others to know us and of us. Let the name be true to the self and SOURCE as sure as the self and the SOURCE are true to place and purpose.

Do not underestimate the impact of this for the work progresses via word of mouth as sure as if sung from the mountaintops. Let the word of mouth be true to place and purpose and let all of SOURCE honor self and SOURCE in name and actions.

Lammas 3

A season of heat. The time to see the sun at zenith and a bit beyond. The time to celebrate harvest in ways that tribe and herd of old understood. They harvested of grain and seed. They linked in ceremony and welcomed the end of summer and beginning of winter and the cycles of the season that move year-to-year and moment-to-moment. The harvest of truth is of the SOURCE. The harvest of Tribe and herd that populates kindred and kind.

Lammas is of grain. It always has been. Lammas is of seed as well. Seed that is planted in fertile fields to further the harvest of years to come. Seed that is the grain of tomorrows. Lammas is more than the end of summer and the beginning of cooler times. Lammas is of grain and bread and the bread of life.

Lammas 2

The heat of the days lingers but cools not the progress of the tribe. The tribe handles the cycle of the seasons as natural flow of planetary things. Earthen things that are of import to the flesh but of little consequence to the spirit. The spirit is not of this realm. Spirits are of smells and sounds. Smells and sounds that guide the path on the journey to prior and later. Smells and sounds that light the way to other places too long dark to the spirit of the tribe.

Tribe has spirit as sure as each in tribe has spirit. Spirit of community. Spirit of kindred. Spirit of tribe as well as herd. Even the beasts are of the spirit. All things are of the spirit for the spirit is the energy of life at all levels. Tribe is alive with energy now and the spirit grows from infancy to prepare for the work ahead. Work of joy as connections grow. Work of joy as links forge chains that harness willing beasts for the sweet labor and journey of the SOURCE. Work of joy as kindred and family for this is the way of the SOURCE.

Along The Road

Sitting on a bench, waiting for a savior.

Eating from their box of chocolate covered pain.

They offer bites of sweetness gone bitter.

Conditioned loans disguised as loving gifts.

I sat with them and shared until queasy.

Then hit the road, tear waved upon the trip.

My home is on the road labeled as less traveled.

Went far to look and only had to see.

These hands will touch and further learn of healing.

Fairy dusted words will flow on Divine wind.

Paths to learn, the mountain peaks are calling.

Almost benched but now tasting life’s warm kiss.

Lammas 1

A new season begins. Tribe and herd in different places now. There is the message. Places are more distinct and power more cleanly understood as well as exercised. It is not a mistake that things have shifted so much from Beltane to Ostara and again shifted during Litha. Who each was in tribe and what each beast of the herd was as Litha began has progressed to the reality of what is now.

Place is not just a concept or perception any longer. Place is a physical reality that touches all chakras for all of tribe and all of herd. Look upon the dramatic nature of what transpired during Litha and know that Lammas will be even more dramatic. Move to place and feel the changes in self and all. Move to place and hear as well as see the reaction of all. This is the new reality. Power of the SOURCE. The Tribe and herd are happier and more complete.

Lammas

Give us now our daily bread. Lammas is of harvest. Wheat and Corn figure predominately in this celebration. It has a dark aspect as well since the corn and wheat must be killed so it may nourish many in the month ahead. Harvesting is the end for some life so that others can sustain thanks to their sacrifice.

Lammas is August and typically begins on the first of that month. A month where the sun wanes from its powerful summer rays. A month where we are “tween…halfway between the Equinoxes. Although one of the least known Sabbats, Lammas is understood at an instinctive level by most. The sweetness of the harvest feeds us long beyond Lammas. We live in appreciation of the abundance that carries us through times of need.