When I left the studio tonight, I looked up and saw bright, shining, orangish Jupiter, sitting smack dab in the middle of Cancer. I’ve only recognized Cancer in the sky a handful of times, but tonight it was unmistakeable.
UPDATE: well, it turns out Jupiter is actually in Virgo. That’s what I saw and mistook for Cancer. Shows you how much I know my own constellation…. *rolls eyes*
OK, so if I understand the way karma works, we are supposed to repeat our actions until we get them right, culminating in a state of Enlightenment, Boddhisatva, or even Nirvana. Makes sense.
But if that’s the case, then aren’t we obligated to seize every opportunity we have to repeat a past pattern, but with more skill? If we have a chance to do something right — something that we’ve failed at in the past — aren’t we obligated from a soul work perspective to do it right? Doesn’t that move us one step closer to these goals? Isn’t some old karmic debt repaid?
I’m beginning to think so. Skillful means, indeed.
Alright, OK. Once again I am demonstrating my depths of insensitivity by singing a song when a man beloved by millions dies.
Cough, cough.
Witch, Pope, what’s the difference? It’s a stupid song. Doesn’t even matter.
But what gets me about the news of the depopification of the catholic church by natural causes is that the man is being celebrated because he “took on the Soviet regime and emboldened eastern Europeans to bring down the communist system.”
Um, yeah. Because you know the Roman Catholic church is all about freeing the common man from the oppressor.
Why so bitter? Well, I grew up Catholic. Oh, and I’ve spent a lot of time cultivating the ability to think for myself and to question authority. A combination of those two will bring about bitterness every time.
I can hear people now: “but JPII was a good soul, he was a great man.” Perhaps. I wouldn’t know, I’ve never met him, I’ve never felt his soul energy. What I do know is that while he was in office, he upheld ridiculous, atavistic policies that don’t make any sense at all. The Catholic Church is still against birth control, when things like AIDS are floating around. The Catholic Church is still anti-choice, when the issue is far too complicated for any sort of systematic policy to address. The Catholic Church remains one of the largest political structures that systematically oppresses women. He ignored and suppressed a horrific epidemic of pedophelia in the US, a cancer that festered within the organization he is responsible for. All of these policies were upheld under JPII’s watch.
So yeah. Maybe he was a great man. What do I know.
May he rest in peace, and may the next pope be more forward-thinking. The Roman Catholic church is becoming increasingly irrelevant, and JPII presided over much of that trend.
Well, last night (on April Fools’ Day no less), something happened that hasn’t happened in a very long time.
Freakwitch performed with a drummer.
He was a very skilled, experienced drummer who hasn’t played in a while. But it’s clear to me that were he to choose to do so, he could easily learn the tunes and become part of a very tight band, something that Freakwitch hasn’t experienced in a while. Sadly, I’m not yet convinced his reality is such that he can dive in to a project like this; Freakwitch at this point would be a 2-night per week commitment at the very least.
On another note, he was a little taken aback by my drum programming, saying that it sounded like a “real drummer.” Maybe he was just saying that, but he seemed sincere. So it was good to hear. My work at learning this is apparently paying off. He also got a kick out of performing the “drums” on the keyboard.
So those of you so inclined, send energy to Freakwitch finding the right drummer soon. Given the energies in my life lately, it would not surprise me at all to find one on our doorstep very soon. And if the right drummer were to appear, I think we’d sound a lot more interesting in a live context. And given the burgeoning music scene in Portland, there should be many opportunities to play in front of us.
The month of April typically conjures two things in my mind. First, and foremost (said the trickster), is April Fool’s Day. Second, is the trite phrase pounded in to my elementary-school consciousness: “April showers bring May flowers.”
While bewaring sudden manifestations of pilgrim boats, it is indeed a rainy April day, gray, wet, and gorgeous. It’s supposed to keep raining for the next 36 hours or so. Don’t get me wrong, at this stage I prefer it to snow. Spring is here, and although there are the skeletal remnants of snow — which unlike bleached bones get dirtier as they decay — the air is warmer, and the lingering snowbanks know their time is running out.
But when the last drop of water melts and is reabsorbed into the mother, new stirrings are evident. Sprouts of green poke up and demand to be seen by attentive souls. New beginnings, another pass on the spiral of birth, growth, death, and rebirth, leave their energy imprints all around them; they touch everything that looks upon them, leaving a sweet taste of possibility and hope upon the palate.
Today, I feel life rejuvenated.
And all these stirrings land in my lap on April Fool’s Day. Could it be one giant cosmic joke? Could the ineffable trickster be toying with me? Possibly. I’ve never quite discounted the notion of the Cartesian “evil genius” whose sole purpose is to mess with our reality, obscuring the division between reality and fantasy. But the evidence for this is less and less, as the Brezsnian notion of pronoia — the irrational belief that all of creation is conspiring to shower you with blessings — seems more and more real to me as time goes on.
Spring is here. Blessings are real. Just sayin.’