Lumberjacks?

Good morning Clare,

I feel as if I cleared my mind this morning. I think having a day of silliness and light hearted laughter did me good. I actually felt soreness in my face and jaw last night and realized that I hadn't really smiled in a very long time. That I need to work on...

Trust the abundance.
I try to hold on to the fact that there really is enough for everyone.
We (especially americans) hoard out of fear of not having enough.
I just wrote a heated email to an old friend who sent a forward degrading food stamps recipients.
The logic was that we don't feed the animals in national parks to avoid their becoming lazy and dependent...so we should not help those humans in need...to make them tougher.
I pointed out that in that vein of logic he would have been lion chow because he has suffered 2 Achilles tendon tears and had surgical repair.
If he was an animal he would no longer have been the fittest who survive, but simply one of the prey.
Human compassion and altruism are innate, inherent gifts.
Sociopaths lack these.
If they cannot feel, then no one else can feel so it doesn't matter what you do to others.
Sorry I digress...

So poverty of the soul.
Didn't Jesus say in the beatitudes "blessed are they who are poor in spirit the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs"?
Poverty was tied to spirituality... the poor suffered on earth but had an easier time getting inot heaven... I think it still is tied in a more sterile way. Helping the poor was one way in Catholicism to make yourself a better person.
As a young person I was taught to help those who are more unfortunate. Unfortunately it was tied to "earning" your way into heaven...having to stamp down original sin that we were all burdened with. As an adult the only helping of the poor I saw in my catholic church was putting money into extra envelopes to help the missions. It was sterile and once removed. We didn't have to confront the ugliness of pain and suffering, just give and earn a few more points towards heaven.
This is one of the reasons that I was drawn to Quakerism.
Perhaps your thought process is correct; poverty of the soul leads to poverty of the heart which leads to poverty in life. The thought receiving what you believe that you deserve...a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts. But I would counter that many people in third world countries are happy despite subsistence living. They didn't realize they were poor until some other larger, more advanced and wealthy nation came in and showed them how miserable they really are.
I am thinking it is wrapped up in our expectations. I am not sure. I will have to ruminate about that one.

I laughed out loud when you used the opossum as your analogy. Yes, they roll over and play dead, but my image is of the female carrying all of her young everywhere she goes to nurture, nourish, protect and teach them how to make their way in the world.
That is you, at least from my perspective.

I am still reading the Women Who Run with Wolves book, (it is really good) she was discussing the symbolic nature of trees as I was reading last night and I thought I would share some of the images with you. (all quoted and paraphrased, thanks Dr. Estes)...

The flowering tree symbolizes a beauteous aspect of women...with roots sunk deep into the world of the wild mother where it is nurtured fro below.
The tree is an archetypal symbol of individuation.
It is considered immortal...the seeds live on forever...roots revivify...resurrects itself every spring
It is the home of entire food chains of life.
It cycles through its seasons...
It yields and shares its fruit...after it has had time for maturation
It symbolizes a "densely sensual creative urge and ripening of ideas"
It spans the inner world and the outer world simultaneously
Chopping at trees and wood can symbolize doing inner work and one's deep psychic resources
Pruning of the dead wood is about inner and outer work.

Does any of that hit home with you and ring true with your dreams and experiences?

So, I see us as two woodcutters, working diligently to prune and chop the dead wood; to give healthy, new life to our trees and to harvest the energy and wisdom that is stored in that wood.
So sharpen your ax...this might be a alot of wood!

I am going to go out and enjoy the first cool(er) morning in 2 weeks.
Love and Light,
Maggie

PS- maybe we can go to that psychic village together sometime...how did they define or describe the Delana Slime? just curious