Gaian Tarot Artist's Journal

Share Your Vision with Obama's Team

I just posted a badge on the left hand column with a direct link to "Change.gov", the new site set up by the office of President-Elect Obama.   How cool is this?  Not only do we have immediate access to the plans and agenda of the new administration, but they are also asking for our stories and visions!  Now, as Ketzirah Carly says, I don't know how they will possibly read all these, but I sure appreciate the opportunity to have my voice be heard.  I have to ponder what I want to write.  There is so much.  But I sure do love Carly's suggestion of turning the White House lawn into an organic garden!  And why not?

Yes we can!

Make History

"Spiritual Leaders for Obama"

Hey, we have "Artists for Obama" and "Plumbers for Obama" and "Garden Gnomes for Obama" — so why not "Spiritual Leaders for Obama" too?  (In spite of the fact that the list of leaders is sorely lacking in names from the Goddess, Pagan, Tarot and Earth-Centered Spirituality communities, there are still many names on the list whose work I admire.)   Thanks Lynn for the link.

Humanity is at a crossroads. We can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines. We are asking you to get engaged. The 2000 presidential election was decided by just 500 votes and this November appears to be just as close. 

Every vote matters. Your vote and the votes in your community could make the difference. 

Please make a heart-felt inquiry and look at the candidates: 

Ask yourself who best reflects the values you want to live by – those of spirituality in action.  Who do you believe will lead this country and the world in the direction you would like to see it move? 

"Top 5 Reasons Obama Supporters Shouldn't Rest Easy"

(I'm passing this on from Moveon.org. Blessed be!)

1. The polls may be wrong. This is an unprecedented election. No one knows how racism may affect what voters tell pollsters—or what they do in the voting booth. And the polls are narrowing anyway. In the last few days, John McCain has gained ground in most national polls, as his campaign has gone even more negative.

2. Dirty tricks. Republicans are already illegally purging voters from the rolls in some states. They're whipping up hysteria over ACORN to justify more challenges to new voters. Misleading flyers about the voting process have started appearing in black neighborhoods. And of course, many counties still use unsecure voting machines.

3. October surprise. In politics, 15 days is a long time. The next McCain smear could dominate the news for a week. There could be a crisis with Iran, or Bin Laden could release another tape, or worse.

4. Those who forget history... In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote after trailing by seven points in the final days of the race. In 1980, Reagan was eight points down in the polls in late October and came back to win. Races can shift—fast!

5. Landslide. Even with Barack Obama in the White House, passing universal health care and a new clean-energy policy is going to be hard. Insurance, drug and oil companies will fight us every step of the way. We need the kind of landslide that will give Barack a huge mandate.

If you agree that we shouldn't rest easy, please sign up to volunteer at your local Obama office by clicking here:

http://pol.moveon.org/obama/office.html?source=blog&id=14534-582775-NtqhThx&t=1 

In Which I Get Political

And so it begins.

The emails, the blogs, the tweets, the RSS feeds.  Each of us convinced We are right and They are wrong.

I'm not very political on this blog, partly because I try to keep the content focused on spirituality and creativity, and partly because I truly believe in building bridges with people who don't share my spiritual or political beliefs.  I choose to focus on what we have in common rather than the things that drive us apart.

But it can't be a surprise to any of my blog readers that I am pro-choice, pro-environment, pro-gay rights, pro-universal health care and stand definitely to the blue, left side of the stage. 

Scorpio New Moon Action-as-Devotion

The day after the election, we talked about making a daily devotional practice of taking some kind of political action. Some days we'll do more, some days we'll do less. Today there is an email in my inbox from EarthJustice urging us to make our voices heard -- please follow the link, if you're so inclined:

"Last week, the Bush administration -- the most anti-environmental administration in American history -- secured a second term. The coming years will hold many challenges for the environmental community, but here's the first one: Stopping the administration's reckless plan to scrap the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. . .

"This is your FIRST chance since the election to speak up and declare that last Tuesday was not a mandate to despoil our wild forests -- and it's your LAST chance to speak up and tell the Bush administration and its friends in the timber, mining, and energy industries that you support the Roadless Rule. The deadline is MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15. Make your first action since the election count. Click here . . . "

Meanwhile, check out Mooncircles for thoughtful articles on the Scorpio New Moon and the season of Scorpio too.

And on another topic entirely, Bonnie Cehovet has just published an interview with me about the Gaian Tarot in her newsletter, The Crystal Gate. Bonnie asked great questions. Hope you enjoy it.

May the Scorpio New Moon lead you deep into the season of the Crone . . .

Rain and Yoga

It's been raining for two days straight now. Lovely, silver, earth-renewing rain. Many folks I know are in a post-election grip of depression, others are doing the post-mortem and wondering what to do next. Craig wrote a song called "Wednesday Morning" and can barely sing it without crying; I can barely listen to it without crying too.

I went to yoga class this morning. It's held in a studio with great vaulted windows and skylights that let the forest inside (except that we are warm and cozy instead of wet and cold). It felt right to spend this Sunday morning challenging my body and centering my spirit. This is "Yoga for Beginners" but I feel like I should be in yoga pre-school. Some of the poses come easily to me, but others are quite difficult.

This morning, during one of the standing poses, I was looking out through the window at the forest. Most of the trees are Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar in shades of grey, brown and dark green. But there are many Big Leaf Maples too, with their huge gold & yellow leaves. The contrast of gold against the dark green & brown is quite striking. So there I was, attempting to stay balanced on one leg while remembering to breathe and release the tension in my body, when I saw a bright golden maple leaf slowly glide down to the forest floor. Ahhh . . . I saw my own Tarot card, the Tree (the Hanged One) in my mind's eye. I've drawn that very leaf, I thought, and here I am attempting that very same pose. Many of my paintings are inspired by everyday events, but here's a case where an everyday event was inspired by one of my paintings.

Namaste.

Justice, the Morning After

"Blue" America is in a state of shock right now. In our household here, and via emails from friends in faraway places, we are stunned and shocked and grieving. The atmosphere is not unlike the aftermath of the unexpected death of a loved one.

I have really just begun to use my own Gaian Tarot majors for readings. A little while ago, I sat on the couch with my friend Cedarwind and asked: "What can progressives and Democrats and cultural creatives do to heal? What is our next step?" I shuffled and felt the energy move through the cards. I cut with my left hand. I turned up: Justice.

Zing. Wow. The same card Diane Wilkes wrote about in her Tarot Passages review of my deck (see yesterday's entry).

Here's part of the commentary I wrote in the booklet (it's not on the website):

When you get Justice in a reading, it is time to deal with the consequences of your past actions . . . You may be coming to an understanding of your place in the web of life, and of how far-reaching the consequences of your actions can be. It may be time to take a stand for social or environmental justice in your own neighborhood or on a global level. Each of us has a responsibility to leave the world in better shape than the way we found it.

I think we need to start preparing for 2008 now. And I think we -- all of us, half the country! -- needs to start making activism more of a priority in our daily lives. As Cedarwind says, we need to make standing up for Justice an act of daily devotion.

Let it be so.

The most important thing you can do today . . .

is VOTE (if you live in the U.S.).

But you knew that already!

Here's an article on the Top Ten Ways to Make Sure Your Vote Counts"!

Blessed be.

Heron House says: Give Bush the Boot!

Craig downloaded this sign from MoveOn.Org, printed it out and put it up in the window of his studio. The four houses that are clustered together at our end of the road all have Kerry signs out. Wish I could get a photo but our houses are too far apart. I think I've only seen one Bush sign on the whole island and a couple of dozen for Kerry. That's heartening!

I've been watching this independent Electoral Vote website for the past couple of months. It's a personal project created by an American professor of computer science living in the Netherlands. Very interesting guy. He updates the site daily based on the most current polls. This morning he has Kerry winning, with 298 electoral votes to Bush's 231, using the data from 50 new polls. But he goes on to say: "The reality is that everything depends on turnout, how many voting machines fail, and how much monkey business happens."

Jeez. Are you as anxious as I am?

We are heading over to the peninsula tomorrow after we vote to watch the election returns with close friends. Definitely not something any of us should be doing alone!