Moon-Struck Crow Love

I always enjoy playing in the Scattered Life Collective’s peek-into-my-week. But some weeks feel like it’s almost essential – that I NEED this time of reflection to help put things in order and understand more clearly what’s been going on. This is one of those weeks. For those of us highly sensitive people who feel energy so profoundly, this eclipse week probably felt intense for you as well. For me there were some wobbles including an upsetting phone call, appliance breakdowns, and the one that hurt my heart most – the death of a beloved neighborhood crow. While I know crows don’t hold an honored place in everyone’s heart, they are a beloved totem of mine and each one is held with love and respect. In the early years of 2000 when Chicago was hit by the West Nile Virus it decimated our crow population and recovery has been slow. When our neighborhood population recovered to seven birds it was cause of great celebration for me. And losing one is a sadness.

out the window: With lots of kids on our block, come October our neighborhood tends to get heavily decorated. Today I put out my pumpkin table. I’ll snap a picture and share another time, but I have to say I have the most fabulous creepy looking pumpkin ever. I suspect it’s actually a gourd and not a pumpkin, but it matters not – I think it’s perfect. What do you think?

on the menu:  Simple Garlic Butter Mushroom & Provolone Melts

good things:

• Watching the total lunar eclipse and steeping in all that powerful magic.   Eclipses bring all kinds of energy and invite all kinds of reflection, but I particularly like to think of lunar eclipses as a chance for emotional body re-sets.
• This week I bought myself an armload of Peruvian lilies and made bunches of bouquets, some small, some larger, to put around the house. My heart is abundantly happy each time I set eyes on them.
• The magic of virtual hugs from friends. It’s so amazing how love can be transmitted across the airwaves with no difficulty at all, making everything so much better and a lot more sparkly.
• Getting internet and phone service back after a 24 hour disruption.
• Anne Choi creates fabulous metal beads and I’ve collected a number of them over the years. Here’s one of my favorites of a crow with a string of beads. When I don’t have it strung as a necklace I keep it on one of my altars.

reading:

Tibet Through the Red Box by Peter Sis. I like the work of Peter Sis and this children’s book is no exception. It is an account of his father’s diary which he kept when he was lost in Tibet.

The Art of Greg Spalenka: Visions from the Mind’s Eye by Greg Spalenka. I discovered Greg’s art through his wife’s work as a natural perfumer. Roxana Villa creates fabulous perfumes as Roxana Illuminated Perfumes and her husband often creates art for them. Or perhaps it works both ways, he creates art and she creates a perfume to embody it. In any case, he recently released a book which is a retrospective of his work. What a delight. And I love the inscription he wrote in the book: “may you always live your amazing art spirit!” Can’t you imagine what a wonderful world this would be if we all accepted that invitation?

watching:

I think Jane Goodall is amazing and I like this little video clip of her talking about recognizing all species as Beings.

listening: Rise by Eddie Vedder. I want to find my direction magnetically.

favorite word of the week: Out of respect for my feathered friends, this week I’m choosing the word crow. As a verb. It very often is defined as “to exult gloatingly especially over the distress of another; or  to brag exultantly or blatantly.” But what I’m delighting in is the definition which is “to utter a sound expressive of pleasure.”   Yes, more of that please!

out and about:

• Want to learn a bit about crow and raven calls?

• You know I love books, and I love cake. So tell me, how fabulous is this library cake?

• Ever been curious about how neon signs are created? I’ve always thought having one of a steaming cup of java in my kitchen might be pretty cool.

• Scott Partridge is a wonderful artist. Take a peek at his bird illustrations here and then head over to his website if you’d like to look at his other things as well. I’m always curious when someone’s name kind of reflects what they do – as in Partridge doing bird illustrations.

• Another fabulous artist who I find utterly inspiring: Aitch.

• Some simple ideas of how to work with intentions during the full-and-beyond lunar phases.

So that’s a peek at my week. Now tell me about yours. What’s your favorite bird? Did you get a chance to see the eclipse?  Had a guiding word this week?  Do tell – you know I love to hear.