Guan Yin: Bodhisattva of Compassion

Guan Yin is the bodhisattva of compassion, revered by Buddhists as the Goddess of Mercy. Her name is short for Guan Shi Yin. Guan means to observe, watch, or monitor; Shi means the world; Yin means sounds, specifically sounds of those who suffer. Thus, Guan Yin is a compassionate being who watches for, and responds to the people in the world who cry out for help.

There is an awesome dance, called the Thousand-Hand Guanyin, which is making the rounds across the net. Considering the tight coordination required, their accomplishment is nothing short of amazing, even if they  ere not all deaf. Yes, you read correctly. All 21 of the dancers are deaf. Relying only on signals from trainers at the four corners of the stage, these extraordinary dancers deliver a visual spectacle that is at once intricate and stirring. Its first major international debut was in Athens last year at the closing ceremonies for the 2004 Para olympics.

Guan Yin Dance 

Thinking about the beach

Morning all,

We had a lovely beach trip to Topsail Island where one of my favorite Reclaiming Teachers, Sage, led us through an exploration of the Feri Tradition deities. We spent a day each on the divine twins, the goddesses, and the gods. Each day building on the other.

The most powerful day for me was the work with the divine twins. The day consisted of a trance to a star labyrinth somewhere in the cosmos. We walked the curves and came to the center to experience the birth of our divine twin. Much of the days work stems from the Feri Creation myth in which the Star Goddess sees her reflection, falls in love with it and gives birth to Miria. The evening ritual, however, was a moving trance to see our divine twin (companion self). I saw something I've never seen before in that moment. For the first time, I experienced my divine twin as not human. It was definitely part bird, but also part cat/dog/horse. I couldn't make it out. It was a powerful being. It was a being that I had to go through my wild self to connect with. It commanded respect. Only when I honored the being did it come through the mirror to slowly move with me and dance with me.

The bird part comes from the whole grackle experience in some ways, but more importantly, I've been noticing pairs of crows. Mostly while driving down the road. I'll see two crows together. Sometimes they are doing something, sometimes they are simply perched together.

The power of mystery.

Khadi: Spinning for Peace

Morgaine from Carolina Home Spun sent this link to you tube. It is about the making of Khadi.

It truely is about spinning for peace. Check it out.

 

My first sweater

Here it is. My first sweater. I had shown you the yarn being spun and here is the finished product. Woohoo. It was realitively easy in that I didn't have to sew any pieces together, I just picked up stitches for the neck and shoulders. Next time. I'm going to do some pieces that I have to sew together.

Headed to the Beach

I'll be headed to the beach on Wednesday. I'm going with several other folks to a workshop that focuses on the Feri Deities. It will be a lovely long weekend. I'm going to take my spinning wheel and another friend of mine is bringing hers. There are several knitters among the crowd and I suspect there will be a whole lot of fiber flying.

One of the things that I've been doing a lot of these past few weekends is making bread. I don't know what it is, but I've really felt the need to knead, let the bread rise,and let the yeasty aroma move through the air. Somehow this seems settling to me and it seems like part of the spell working for making the house I want to. I've been discouraged lately as the first contractors I talked with didn't really want the job because it was too small. I've found another one that I actually think I like and the good news is that he was a bit slow because he was concerned that he found out the electrical wiring in the house will probably have to all be redone. He was more concerned about the surprise costs. Not a surprise anymore. Oh well. 

The beach; a great escape from it all.