If you ever lose heart and the earth seems as distant as stars fading into the noise of your busy mind, know this. That a tiny island exists in the blue hands of the ocean. That a tree grows upright into the salted clouds. That two eagles love each other enough to spend their lives greeting the morning sun together. That two eaglets stand in their nest, gazing at the heavens. Looking down to the forever ground. They eat and sleep and flap their wings. And one day in July, one by one, they will jump into the air. They will know the difference between existing and what is beyond. They will hold onto nothing. The hurricane will come, courage catching their pinions on fire, as they mount the wind, climbing ladders into realms of the invisible.


--T.L. Stokes






Thursday, December 30, 2010


from the book Being and Vibration
by Joseph Rael
page 82

How the Medicine Wheel Works

Imagine the medicine wheel as a big circle, and in the
middle of the circle is a stone which represents the heart.
The inner periphery of that circle is made up of the
unclarities that at this moment in time are there. The way
the medicine wheel-or the circle of light-works is that in
each given moment there is a flash from the center of the heart.
It wants to know something that it doesn't know yet. This flash
of light goes from the center to the inner walls of the circle.
And in that moment of contact, it pushes the limits of wisdom
outward and then swallows the new wisdom and returns it back
into the heart center.

The center of the medicine wheel is the top of the
mountain, and the mountain top is another metaphor for
the heart. Vision questers go to the top of the mountain
because walking the top of the mountain is synonymous
with walking in the center of the cosmic medicine wheel.
When a vision questor sits in the center of his circle
on the mountain top and sends out thought, that which comes
back to him from the periphery of that circle is the
energizing vibration that keeps the vibration of life.
In other words, the very nature of life is such that when the
unclarities of the self which have been sent out in thought
or deed return eventually back to the center of the circle
of life, they enliven the existence of life at the center
of the circle of light.

When the center of the medicine wheel sends an impulse,
or a flash of light out to the periphery, it does so
because it wants to know what it needs to be doing.
That flash continues to go out and spread until it can
no longer go and then it pulls from that dark void back
to itself the survival power that it needs to go on to
the next moment. All wisdom is stored at the periphery
and beyond it. The unclarities that are in existence in
the inner periphery are the ones that echo back meaning
to the center of the Circle. That meaning is what gives
life to the next moment, since each moment is a flash
of light.

It is important to understand that an attribute of this
light that comes from the heart of the medicine wheel is
abundance. If abundance calls abundance, there is going
to be more abundance. So when this flash goes out, it brings
everything from all around the circle back to itself. Because
it sends out abundance, it gets back abundance.

Another way of saying it would be to imagine a black
empty space. In the middle of that darkness there is this
flash of light like a tiny star that becomes larger and larger
as it begins to light up a space which only moments before
was blackness. As it lights up the darkness, this light,
which is the light of the heart, realizes that it is really
wisdom that is coming into conscious thought. But it
doesn't realize it until the light goes out as far as it can
and then hits the banks, similar to when you drop a pebble in
the water and concentric rings form, moving outward toward
the shore. These rings that go out are like this light
that goes out. Finally, it reaches the bank. It can't go any
farther because it has run out of steam. In coming back,
it carries life sustaining energy because when this flash of
light originates, it is asking for one thing, abundance of life.
That abundance is made up not only of an idea or
combination of ideas for that moment, for that heart
center, but also, the abundance includes the power to carry
through those ideas. That is how the circle of light
functions. The circle of light has been with us, is always
with us in each moment.

(and a few paragraphs later, as I was reading
in the quiet, cold morning)

(page 89)

So, through us, life becomes aware, because life wants
to experience itself through us, through our awareness.
Life experiences beauty through the way. The way means
being inside the purity of lifting, beyond time awareness,
so that what we see and work is the beauty around us. Life
is the ever-flowing presence here of ancient thoughts. Life
wants to hang out with us and play and enjoy this sense of
being lifted as we lift ourselves beyond ourselves, reaching
for the greater.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Annie In Seattle - My Blog Pick of the Week

Check out: Annie In Seattle, a unique blog
with a photo a day for a year.

http://annieinseattle.com/

Monday, December 13, 2010

Sarvey Wildlife



Photo shoot at the Sarvey Wildlife Center in Arlington.
See more photos at: Floodwaterphotography.zenfolio.com.

Happy Holidays! My gift to my father, younger daughter,
her friend, and M. was breakfast at Patty's Eggnest in
Bothell and a $50 gift donation to Sarvey which included
an hour tour inside and outside their facility. M.
provided transportation and Annah, the puppy came
along for the ride!

Treat the people you love to an experience. Make
a difference in the world. Care deeply.
Love strong.

blessings,
T.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

after thunder lightening and rain

After the thunder, lightning and rain
the sky split open. Her skin, under
her gray long coat was the color of ice,
so blue it almost hurts the eyes. Cool
moist blue, the skin of the sky.

As my heart danced with my eyes
someone illuminated the village
in warm yellows. The fir had on wet
earrings. The wisteria curled down to
mounds winter leaves, pile upon pile
of dead voices, neat-looking
in their wild arrangement.

A darting brown gold and orange coat,
small and tight-fitting on a lady bird
by the roots of the crooked tree. Chased
away by her mate, she disappeared
and in her place the boy in feathers
wearing a ruby scarf around his neck.

He lay by the roots and was silent
while I stole his image. He was soft
and full of pride but egoless.
They have flown into the yellow light
and the belly of the sky

and now all the branches are still,
breathing in unison,
even the stones which were silent
stir in their own time.