Sunny Friday

Harry Potter camp came to a delightful finish yesterday. My daughter-in law Angie brot their kids back, & stayed to help us with the preschool group. Here they are with their big coz., climbing the tree in my daughter's front yard. Today they're back home, to the relief of their old dog, who wasn't sure what had 'happened' to his babes!

After HP Camp, my dau & I went for fabulous pedicures - ah :) I love the flowers on my big toenails! & today I receive a massage - so doubly blessed!

The camp ended with a BBQ & salads (many good n green!) yesterday, & a cake topped with 'crispy treat 'castle walls!' Friends who are in SCA brought an armload of capes, so I wore one as I 'signed' the songs.

My daughter sent of cell samples for gluten intollerance testing - & this week the results came back for her family, & all 4 of them have the gene - tho not necessarily active yet - good to know & begin making the shift! She said the test showed both her parents have the marker as well (oh-oh!)
So going gluten free! She already has to watch for egg yolks (no mayo or dressings w/ egg yoke, or pizza brushed with egg, or . . .) & peanuts. I've been trying to avoid soy.

As an adult, I've found I 'do better' & don't produce as much mucus (always had a stuffy nose as a kid) when I don't eat much wheat - rarely buy bread (usually choose sprouted), & don't prepare or eat much pasta. But I've still enjoyed the occcasional pizza, & always go for whole grains. Rice & quinoa are my grains of choice, & I've been enjoying the forays into using coconut & sorgham flour. So we'll be doing more of that! She's ordered some books, & another field trip to Bob's Red Mill will be fun.
I do better with yogurt than drinking milk - tho I love it raw, I think I'm better off not drinking it. Bring on the coconut :) I made coconut yogurt yesterday, using my 'Greek God' yogurt (delish!) as a starter, & it turned out well. I made some tapiocia to help it 'firm.'

Yesterday the Farmer's Market was in full swing, & I picked up some fruit & a few goodies my CSA share doesn't inc - artichokes from the coast, kohlrabi & fresh basil. I keep the basil at room temp., in a glass w/ a bit of water in the bottom. A couple of stems from last week's bunch grew roots, so I planted those with my tomatoes!

Our favorite edible pod pea is Grau Eaten or 'dwarf grey sugar'. With it's lovely lavender & purple blosssoms, it rivals sweet peas in the 'pretty' dept, plus produces the yummiest peas! Years ago, my friend Diana's 3 year old would casually walk around the house & start picking pea pods whenever they visited - usually joined by my two kids!

Well - time to do something with this lovely, sunshiny day! The sweet Mormon boys who came to my door this week asked if I needed help on anything - 'the garden?' Do all the weeds & overgrown grass - show?? Sigh. Love gardens, but fall down on upkeep . . .

Harry Potter Camp

My grandkids are all attending 'Harry Potter Camp' at our church this week (VBS). I'm helping out in the preschool room, & with the sign language for the songs.

Here are Kakay 'n Em eating breakfast (black beans for lots of protein!) on the stairs. Gregory was still getting dressed, with his big coz. helping.

For several years we had 'Suess Camp' - the gospel according to Doctor Suess, with examples for kind living coming from several of his stories.

I recently noticed someone calling her spiritual 'blend' the 'braided path' - Buddhist, nature focus pagan, & New Thought Christian; I like that, having often called myself 'buddhist/pagan/christian!' & I adore books about magic, elves, awakenings, & people struggling to make 'good choices' . . .

So I'm wrestling with some of the references to 'God is real, magic is make-believe!' well . . .

From the healer & "Mystic's" point of view, it would be nice to tone down the emphasis on 'what's real & what's not' The Harry Potter books are novels, for sure, with one author, but magic & magical thinking are part of chidhood's heritage, in my view.

A number of teachers I've studied healing with see auras, have seen or connected with fairies, 'know' when someone is ill etc, & were told by the dominant culture that wasn't real! I especially enjoy when I receive a 'dream teaching' that is later validated! It's often taken folks years to reclaim their gifts, & learn to express & utilize them.

When I was receiving Buddhist teachings & was given a name - Drugma Chodron Wong Mo, I had a hard time remembering what it meant - "dragon depository of the Dharma, powerful mother." Whew, what a mouthfull!
The week before, I'd had a reading from a mother & daughter, who called me a 'wisdom keeper.'
So I dreamed - dharma, wisdom teachings (wong); depository - keeper (or place something is kept)! OH!! In my dream, my buddhist teacher broke it down & explained it to me, word by word. Dragon was drugma, mother: mo. It's remained vivid ever since, tho I don't use it as my 'name,' it's part of my 'definition.'

Roselyn Bruyer (Wheels of LIght) re-learned to see energy fields (auras) when her sons (4 & 5) saw them. Her mother (who had been frightened by Ros's childhood abilities, & told her they weren't 'real') became a 'believer' the night her appendix burst, after the boys said "The fuzz around grandma's tummy is orange!" (she began asking 'how does my fuzz look?)

Eric Vormanns, brought up in Ghana, was a bit luckier, in that his gifts were recognized - he also sees auras, (he calls me 'the butterfly lady') & could see sickness & predict recovery or death - but his grandma would tell him not to tell folks what he saw! He calls his healing modality 'spiritual' or 'etheric' healing, it's done off the body, & especially effective in aiding recovery from burns or working with pets.
A teaching Eric offers parents - it's our job to help our children express & use their gifts for good, & to notice weaknesses & help children overcome them. A very gentle, good hearted man. I've taken 3 classes with him, & recall recieving a 'message' for one gal from her departed mother. Eric told the other students 'it's OK for her to recieve that message - she's working on sending energy with her harp - the rest of you, concentrate on physical information!'

Dora Van Gelder Kunz, who helped develop Therapeutic Touch grew up in a family that saw fairies & natures spirits, & many of us work with those energies to help rebalance our beautiful blue green planet. In her booklet on Christmas & angels: Dora wrote: "We must remember that the whole earth is thronged with hosts of superphysical beings, angels and archangels and all the Company of Heaven, who stand for the most part at a higher level of evolution than ourselves and who are responsible for the guidance and control of the maniforld processes of Nature. It is their thoughts and feelings and activities which play so important a part in the creation of that peculiar atmosphere of good will so noticeable at Christmas; and at this time of the year the whole earth thrills with the wonderful forces outpoured by the angels."
I've offered workshops in how to connect with & work with nature spirits in gardening, & certainly received messages from them. A friend who 'sees' once asked me if I 'saw' my entourage of 'little ones' -

A few years ago, a harpist friend I was visiting was concerned about her daughter's belief in Fairies - which had caused a ripple at school. Rosie was 5 or 6 at the time.
In the AM, the principal met with us (informally), & as they talked about the 'incident,' when she & another child argued about the 'reality' of fairies, he commented 'It's a belief, & no one can tell someone else what they do or should believe! Now, at school, it would be helpful not to try to convince each other one way is right & the other wrong!'
Rosie was particularly upset, as she had recently seen 'Peter Pan,' & felt each time her friend said 'fairies aren't real!' one died! Her child care provider called Reiki (hands on healing) 'fairy energy' & I'd once been asked to do 'fairy energy' on Rosie's knee, when she'd twisted it at a harp camp! She was running around in no time (as her mom said, 'she was really hurt & limping!')
I was so relieved by the principal's comment - what a lovely way to look at it! 'Belief' in magic, fairies, energy systems are just as valid as any other belief, & just as deserving of tolerance!

Since both the principal & my friend & her family happen to be Jewish (it was a Montessori school in a college town & multi cultural), they were well aware of the danger of dictating belief. & isn't God involved in everything - including these 'full sensory' abilities that most of us have supressed??

I tend to feel more than see, which is helpful in my work - sometimes feeling in my own body where the problem lies. Gifts can certainly be developed for good or ill - that's the message delivered by Rolling's books, & the message I think we want to get across :)

When Alyssa (now 9) was 5, I was working with Doreen Virtue's fairy cards, & asked Sis if she 'saw' fairies - she described little darting lights by the rosemary bush - much as Doreen described them! Later, when my daughter came to pick her up, Alyssa scolded: "Mom! You didn't let the fairies know you were going to walk on the grass!" (one of Doreen's sug) - to which my magical daughter responded: "They know I was going to - the fairies aren't stupid!"