manzanita-sisters

Trolls

Sun, 19 Jan 2025 17:36:55 GMT

Trolls

No longer hiding under bridges

or lurking, threateningly, online, but

suddenly friendly. Now we encounter

trolls lumbering in forests and meadows,

beside our still-living lakes and streams.

Sturdy as oak trees, they smile down,

handing on their message of enough,

of simple abundance piled up everywhere.

by Leslie Schultz

1.18.2025

Long Leif and Alexa's Elixir

Detroit Mountain near Detroit Lakes, Minnesota

Long Leif Troll

Alexa's Elixir Troll

From the sculptor artist Thomas Dambo...

Alexa's brewing up the elixir to help the little people

The elixir consist of five different ingredients:

A handful of chirps from some happy birds!
A tree planted.
The laughter from a stranger.
A mile walked with bare feet.
A story about someone you love.

Alexa knows how to get the happy chirps herself, but for the other ingredients the other trolls,

Jacob Everear, Barefoot Frida, Long Leif and Ronny Funny Face will help you collect them,

and if your lucky you might find enough to offer some to The Golden Rabbit!

two trolls sit waiting

gazing towards the west sky

tucked into the wild

by Lea Goode-Harris
12.27.2024

Erik Rock and Greta Granite,

of Ninigret Park, RI

Erik Rock Troll

Greta Granite Troll

These amazing trolls are being created around the world

by the sculptor artist Thomas Dambo .

Thomas says...

Trash is a treasure.

By sending people on a treasure hunt to find art made of garbage,

I hope to create a new appreciation for the things we throw away

and chip away at the ugly single-use mentality that floods our world with trash.

A synchronistic occurrence between two friends living and traveling in different parts of the USA,

discovered the Thomas Dambo Trolls very close together in time without knowing that this had happened until after the fact.

This post with our poems and photos is for Thomas

with all the gratitude our hearts can muster

for the magic, wonder, and beauty he is bringing to our world.

Visit Thomas's website "Troll Map" to see if there is a troll near you!

Leslie Schultz and Lea Goode-Harris

Day of Giving Thanks & Blessings

Fri, 29 Nov 2024 05:08:05 GMT

I give thanks for life
to walk this earth with beauty
this day and all days

I was visited and blessed by our local flock of turkeys,

about 30 of them in all their glory.

Ted Andrew says: Blessings.

Blessings and abundance are present.

Your efforts will soon be rewarded.

Rewards will be proportionate to your efforts.

The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.

Medicine Cards: Give-Away.

Turkey is actually thought to be the Giveaway Eagle or South Eagle of many native peoples.

The philosophy of giveaway was practiced by many tribes.

Simply stated, it is the deep and abiding recognition of the sacrifices of both self and others.

People in modern-day society, who have many times more than they need,

should study the Noble Turkey who sacrifices itself so that we may live.

In Turkey‘s death we have our life.

Honor Turkey.

Point Arena Lighthouse Labyrinth

Sat, 19 Oct 2024 04:02:14 GMT

In early August, we traveled from the hot and humid Minnesota prairie to the cool headland of Point Arena, California. It was the presence of the Point Arena Labyrinth that drew us there, and it did not disappoint.

After a sunset drive up the coast, all vertiginous plunges and hairpin curves along Highway 1, we passed through the tiny village of Point Arena to arrive at the locked gates of the lighthouse after dark. With fog rolling in and only the tall white pillar of the light visible, the lonely appearance of the park could not have been more gothic. Fortunately, the friendly and efficient staff had provided us with a code to unlock the gate and instructions on how to settle into our accommodations in the Lighthouse Keeper’s Room. Clean, comfortable, well-appointed, and affordable, we were glad to turn on the electric fire, sip a glass of the complementary local wine, and drift off to sleep with the sound of surf besieging the rock cliffs nearby.

The next morning, still on Minnesota time, we arose early. After making coffee in the little kitchen area, we ventured out to look for the labyrinth. We knew from our friends, the labyrinth’s designers, Marilyn Larson and Lea Goode-Harris, that it was within the precinct of the lighthouse grounds but we didn’t have a map yet, so we simply wandered. We knew that the choreography between human design, expressed in rock, and indigenous lush xeriscape plantings that have volunteered to frame the stone and dance above it in the constant winds have inspired many who have been here before us, so we went exploring.

We knew that Point Arena Lighthouse was built in 1908 and has been a dominating feature on the Mendocino coast for more than 100 years. It is now on the National Register of Historic Places, with an indoor museum. On the grounds, spectacular stone art installations wrought in the local Mendo Blue Shale and other local stones provide a powerful sign post that this is the western terminus of the Art Line, which runs coast to coast, like a transcontinental railroad, along the 39 ^th parallel, from Point Arena to Cape May, New Jersey. Point Arena may be the beginning of the Art Line, or it’s end, or simply a point on an imaginary line that encircles the globe.

From our lodging we were drawn to the tall Druid stones—blue, white, and grey—commanding as they rose out of the treeless but lush landscape. From there, we discovered the encountered the Shiprock sculpture that evokes the dangers of shipwreck and the safety of reaching dry land. Finally, just inside the exquisitely constructed fencing of evenly spaced stone menhir forms, we found the Point Arena labyrinth.

This labyrinth grounded us at the same time that it offered a sense of the infinite. Firmly attached to the flat paving stones that comprise the path on which we walked, we were simultaneously drawn outwards and upwards by the rhythmic crashing of the waves and by the enveloping mists and fogs that swirl off the Pacific. The native grasses and plants that form the walls outlining the seven-circuit path were heavy with moisture in the early morning, quickly soaking our jeans and shoes with a visible blessing from the Earth that lasts well into the afternoon. Less visible were our feelings of integration, peace, calm, exhilaration, vision and insight, and being at one with the natural surroundings—seasons, weather, geology, local botany, gratitude, joy, and healing, which last much longer. This labyrinth, which celebrates the polestar, Alpha Ursa Minoris, (Polaris) provided an unhurried journey, complex in its inner and outer turnings, but with no fear of losing our way.

Video by Timothy Braulick 2024

Still Images by Leslie Schultz 2024
First labyrinth & Lighthouse Image by Lea Goode-Harris 2021

Point Arena Lighthouse Labyrinth in Mendocino County, CA

Envisioned and funded by Laura Franklin
Labyrinth Consultation by Lea Goode-Harris & Marilyn Larson
North Star labyrinth design by Marilyn Larson
Built by Stone Masons Julian Carmellino, of France and Kevin Carman, of Riverside California
Westernmost installation on the 39th Latitude Art Line across the heart of America

Full Moon September 2024

Tue, 17 Sep 2024 22:58:59 GMT

The moon…

she gathers the light of the sun

into her arms

and gently bestows it to all

throughout the night…

Wrapping us in her

ever-changing blanket of soft light

weaving the stars

into her fabric,

into her face

where Hare scampers

and runs along the Milky Way

into the portal of the Galactic Center

back again and up and out of the Big Dipper

landing on the back of Ursa Major,

sliding onto Ursa Minor

singing

the entire way…

The moon,

she laughs and pulls the shades down,

so we can sleep

and slumber into dreamland

re-imagining the world and our wholeness,

our humanness

beneath her benevolent sight,

we pivot into possibilities

and settle into the dream-time

of becoming.

- - -

Full Moon in Pisces

with Partial Lunar Eclipse
September 17, 2024

Navarro River Ceremony Art Line

Sun, 18 Aug 2024 04:35:03 GMT

to the great above

and to all that is below

in all directions

In August of 2014, Marilyn Larson and I drove North to the mouth of Navarro River Redwoods State Park in Mendocino County. We went with the intention of returning stones, shells, feathers and sticks collected over the years to the Earth.

The mouth of the Navarro River is on the Art Line, the 39th north latitude. Our ceremony of return was also a blessing for the Art Line, and all involved, past, present, and future.

We created this beautiful alter and at one point, we were joined by a seagull! We walked a labyrinth in the sand, sang, shared our prayers with the Sky and the Earth, and marveled at the incredible beauty that held us.

The Art Line Home Page

Re-wilding & Haiku My Heart

Sat, 17 Jun 2023 03:58:24 GMT

wild beauty grows

in a city of concrete

wonder through it all

In the heart of the city of Santa Rosa, California

I've been learning to listen to the land and learning to re-wild myself

in how I think about gardening and what it means to be a "gardener."

Manzanita. Ceanothus. Sweetpeas. Poppies. Columbine.

Yarrow. Penstemon. California Redbud. Dandelions. Milkweed. Dogwood.

Persimmons. Quince. Gaura. Native Grasses.

Are my teachers.

What I am discovering...

is that I am a steward for this land that I am fortunate to live upon.

I have a responsibility to the bugs, birds, critters, and plants

that are doing their best to survive in a city of concrete

as I heal my beliefs that I have control over Nature...

I am grateful for the path of the Irish Mary Reynolds ,

the youngest contestant to win a gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show.

She has transformed her own life and now refers to herself as a "reformed garden designer."

Mary has inspired me to let go... little by little...

and to be curious as to what will grow in my garden if I let it have its own intelligence.

And to trust that intelligence.

I continue to be shown wonder, beauty, and abundance.

I made the above sign, with a link to Mary's encouragement that we can be " ARK s" for our communities.

A cts of R estorative K indness

No matter where you live.

Even if all you have is a window box...

Even if you live in a city of concrete...

Planting seeds of re-wilding...

A Few Words About Haiku

OKCIYAPI - Help Each Other

Sun, 28 May 2023 00:04:15 GMT

OKCIYAPI

(pronounced OH-key-YUP-ee)

Installation by Angela Two Stars

at the Walker Art Center

This installation weaves the language of the Dakota with sky, water and earth

for you to meander through

and find connections in all directions.

Resonance

Tue, 23 May 2023 15:24:28 GMT

Resonance

by Marilyn Larson

There were five of us… women

walking with drums… along a lake

shore. Near noon....

A cedar tree cluster called us to sit

among branches that looked like

roots… reaching for the sky.

While settling into the snug curve

of a trunk… a drum rim thumped

the tree… Sound resounded as drum-

beats mirrored heart-beats five

times ‘round….

Resonance in a nest

rising from the ground… sunlight

streamed through the green ancestral

crown….

Forever we sat…

bathed in beauty with sound.

Sunlight and star light mingled overhead

as we received their nourishment…

on a ceremonial day in May.

Haiku My Heart - Wonder

Fri, 07 Apr 2023 16:16:37 GMT

six points of wonder
mystery showing itself
rising from the earth

Wild White Lily.

For more Friday haiku my heart
please visit Rebecca and other poets
at recuerda mi corazon

A Few Words About Haiku

We Are Children Of The Earth

Wed, 29 Mar 2023 21:11:17 GMT

Photo: From The Sanctuary

Text ©Laure Knight Summerbird

Page Art in it all: Joan Aryafara

FB Page : Giovanna Photography

Instagram : @giovannaphotography

Website : giovannaphotography.com

The earth is you.

You are the earth.

When you realize there is no separation,

you fall completely in love with this beautiful planet.

At this very moment,

the earth is above you,

below you,

all around you,

and even inside you.

The earth is everywhere. ...

Thich Na Hanh's Love Letter To The Earth, 2013

For the full letter, CLICK HERE to visit the Lion's Roar, April 22, 2022

Spring Equinox & Turtle New Moon 2023

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 17:20:19 GMT

3.21..23- New Moon in Aries 10:23 AM PST Spring Equinox & Sun in Aries

sun and moon spring kiss

as edges are reached to cross

beauty flows to earth

Through The Drum

Tue, 14 Mar 2023 18:13:21 GMT

Through The Drum

by Marilyn Larson

Is drum a threshold

between realms....
Many doors open

from the inside

It is through our ear drum

that we incarnated

and where we lastly leave

When the cosmic membrane

reverberated with sound

....all things were born

When the placenta membrane

tore.... we swam into

earthly, human life

Wrapped in a silk shroud

we shall continue our

travels through the cosmos

Other thresholds await

our drumbeats and foot steps

led by our heart beat

As we continue to die

into being....

We dance.... sing

and make love

To know we can all die without fear

lets us fully live without fear.

Haiku My Heart - Seeing Each Other

Fri, 10 Mar 2023 16:57:37 GMT

we see each other
in the flash of a second
guide us through this night

For more Friday haiku my heart
please visit Rebecca and other poets
at recuerda mi corazon

A Few Words About Haiku

Haiku My Heart - Pink Waterfall

Fri, 24 Feb 2023 17:32:50 GMT

a pink waterfall

cascading beauty and bees

heart-music to share

For more Friday haiku my heart
please visit Rebecca and other poets
at recuerda mi corazon

A Few Words About Haiku

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 21:14:58 GMT

Springtime Manzanita on Mount Diablo, CA- Photo by Laurinda Liguori

manzanita sing
sweet bells chime for all to hear
beauty on your branch

I first began writing poetry as a teenager. I didn't realize then that I was searching for a way to find my voice to express the longing and yearning that I was experiencing as I began to make the transition from child to adult. And as an adult, I discovered that Imagery is my first language. No wonder that transition was so difficult for me! Poetry became the bridge between what I was experiencing and trying to articulate to the people in my world. Poetry allowed me then, and continues to allow me now, a way to communicate and interact with feelings and experiences that our modern culture doesn’t always have a language for. Poetry has given me a way to speak about the taboos we experience, especially as women. One of those taboos is the feelings and emotions around death and unspeakable loss.

I lost my husband to cancer in the Fall of 2010. At the same time, I lost the voice I had struggled so hard to find and my ability to write poetry. Everything dried up in me. There were no more first lines… no more sparks and urges to put my pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard… There was no way to speak to the unspeakable grief that I was experiencing. After Milt had been gone for a short time, I got an email from Rebecca Brooks of Recuerda Mi Corazon . She asked if I would like to join their online Friday, -Haiku My Heart- group.

Haiku? I knew of it… however, I had never tried to write it. I thought it had a lot of rules and do’s and don’ts. And those who know me, know that I don’t do well with a lot of rules and too much rigid structure. I found out that all I had to do was take a photo and write seventeen syllables about what I saw. I thought… I can do that. So, I dove in, which is something I do very well when I feel the call.

small words say a lot

images say even more

together a song

The formula is:

-5-

-7-

-5-

With these small words... and with this breathable structure... I began to be able to touch inside of me what was untouchable. I didn’t have to explain myself. I didn’t have to write more than those seventeen syllables. And… I began to hear first lines again… I would wake in the middle of the night and hear a first line. If I didn’t write them down, right then… they were gone in the morning, like the fragments of a dream… I began to count the syllables out on the fingers of my left hand… and thirteen years later… that drumming of my fingers still soothes my heart, slows my breathing, and awakens something creative in me.

By looking for photos to take in the world around me each week, I began to see the world in a new way. I looked for beauty where none seemed to be and found it… again, and again. Life after death. The world inside me, and around me, came alive again. Expression came when there was none. Small words expanded into more words... and I found that the bridge had opened once again to the other side.

Listen for that first line, and then follow the thread....

A single thread is all we need…

One golden thread

taking us to the center

of our being

where we wind around

to the flower-lotus,

the sacred honey

spilling from the well

where time begins and ends

as we simultaneously wind

our way back out

to greet the mornings of our evenings.

You can find more of Lea’s poetry here on the Manzanita Website by doing a N.E.W.S. search under the Category of Poetry and on our Creative Labyrinth website , where her haiku posts from 2010 to 2023 also live.

Haiku My Heart - Garden Surprises

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 18:39:13 GMT

a garden surprise
when days are short and nights long
promises of spring

For more Friday haiku my heart
please visit Rebecca and other poets
at recuerda mi corazon

A Few Words About Haiku

Hinda's Garden

Fri, 27 Jan 2023 20:43:59 GMT

Hinda’s Garden

A Story of Survival

Correction – Connection – Remembrance

By Rachel Owa, written July 2022

Published on January 27, 2023- International Holocaust Remembrance Day

I brushed the yellow pollen of the Tiger Lilies off my ceremonial skirt and looked again at the lifeless grey mound of soil outlining a garden plot that was put to rest twenty years prior. It was my Grandmother Hinda’s garden, which was so carefully tended in Melville, Saskatchewan, Canada.

What was I doing there? I came to ask forgiveness for the whole family. Hinda’s voice kept ringing in my ear. “Just let me go back to my garden,” she pleaded. “I don’t belong in a rest home. I’ll be alright. Just let me go back.”

I never understood the full story of why she ran away, got on a Grey Hound Bus, and was found by the police and brought back to the rest home. Shortly after her leg was removed and she passed.

What was the full story? It wasn’t until 2022 that I received a call from a cousin asking if I was interested in the history of Hinda and Benjamin’s (my grandfather) life in present day Ukraine.

The seventeen-page story arrived through email, dictated some years back by Louie, Hinda and Benjamin’s eldest son. It was for me a full circle moment of discovery.

Louie wrote:

We lived in Horpin, or Horpyn, a small town of 540 people. Horpin is sometimes described as being in Austria, sometimes in Poland.” It was always close to warring parties which involved, Russia, Poland, and Austria. In 1914 when war broke out after the assassination of the Austrian prince, Austria declared war on Russia. My dad, Benjamin, enlisted in the Russian army. We were left alone. Hinda and five young children were now left with no renumeration. We had to live on our own resources.

Before the war broke out, we had a large yard with a house and a deep well. We were able to grow our own vegetables, our own potatoes, carrots, peas, and corn. We had apple and plum trees. We also had a cow and used to have our own milk, cream, butter, and even used to trade a little bit.

As the war progressed, it became more difficult. Things became short. Food and clothing became scarce. Schools were closed. We used to make clothes from paper.

The garden was our life saver all those years.

In 1918 the Austrian Empire collapsed. Everyday hundreds of people starved. My dad came home from the army.

The Russians, the Communists, moved into our part of Austria. They wanted us to be part of the Russian Empire. The Poles also claimed our territory and thus, the Poles and Communists were fighting over that part of the former Austrian Empire.

The Poles recruited men in our area. Many men fled to the forests. My dad’s life was spared, and we were together again after five years. My dad served in the Army from 1914 to 1919.

I remember after the war, an epidemic of Cholera spread to our town. We had about 40 or 50 deaths. I took sick, Dad took sick, my brother and sister also took sick. We had no medicine, no doctor.

The Polish government had to do something to stop the epidemic, so we were taken to hospital for three months. I was in hospital for three months with Dad and contracted Typhus.

I came home in the Spring. I couldn’t walk. I was shaky. Dad was sick too. He wasn’t strong. I remember when I walked out from the house things were just in bloom. The potatoes were just in bloom and the apple trees were flowering. Things looked so green. It was so beautiful that this picture has always remained in my mind and my heart. It was the most beautiful thing in my life. I recognized that this world had beautiful things.

Despite all the hardship, my mother endured. She wasn’t sick a day. She made medicine in the garden and prayed over us. We decided to migrate to Canada. We left our home and everything we had. Everything was sold for very little money as in those days, after the war, people had no money. We came in 1919 to Melville, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Louie’s letter reminded me of the sacrifices and perils of war. The civilian population also suffers yet endures.

Hinda grew Cascara and other medicinal plants. The garden kept her and her family alive. I can only imagine that her garden gave her spiritual nourishment and strength. It is no wonder that she tried to make her way back to it at the age of 80!

When I meditate, I’m standing beside Hinda’s garden holding an offering in my hand, eyes brimming with tears, saying, “forgive us Grandma Hinda, we didn’t understand then. Now we know.

Please roll over the photos for their titles.

Interview with MorningStar Black- Artist

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 23:05:58 GMT

Original Artwork by MorningStar Black

January 25, 2023
Interviewer: Rachel Owa
Interviewee: MorningStar Black of New Mexico, USA
Art work Image: Metatron Cube & Bee & Flower of Life yellow image

R- When did you start looking into sacred geometry?

MS- Back in the early 90’s in Austin, TX, I got the book, A Beginners Guide to Constructing the Universe, the Mathematical Archetypes of nature, art and science. A voyage from 1 to 10 by Michael S. Schneider. For instance, on page 81 there are images of the 5-platonic solids. Plato identified 5 elements: heaven, fire, air, water, earth and determined volume, shape of the faces, number of faces, edges and corners. I loved this stuff. I went on to explore, color, sound, and frequency as well as form.

Many years later (2019) a voice woke me saying, "Golden Mean Ratio." That full term is not used today so I determined the voice came from long ago. Thus started a new exploration into an old fascination. I got more information and began drawing these many forms and seeing how these forms are found in all of nature. Wonderful. Math. Science. Biology. Plants, Animals, and Humans, all life, Everything. Plus, there is a note and frequency with each form. There is also color.

R- Where did this take place?

MS- About that time I was working in a Gem & Mineral shop that had quartz crystals in the 5-platonic solids. This allowed me to feel the energy of each shape and frequency. I would handle them, meditate with them. I put them on various points on my body and head like acupuncture or chakra points to feel the energy. My motive was to investigate the different frequencies using these crystals.

I started drawing these sacred geometry forms, figuring out the frequency and patterns. For me it began with 2-circles overlapping in the form of the Vesica Piscis. The most feminine beginning of form, but first, dimensionally there was the dot, the line (one dimension), second was perpendicular line, then space three, then four and on and on.

R- What was your process next?

MS- I started looking at what could be born from the Vesica Piscis, and found the Seed of Life and the Flower of Life. On and on, multifaceted geometry the building blocks of the universe.

As I was creating the Merkaba and Metatron's cube, I looked at the Matrix and felt the bees' energy and centered it in the middle of the Flower of Life (see above image).

R- Please continue to share your process.

MS- As the patterns got more complex I saw the hive. It does seem perfect that the bee's energy would be in the center. I was following my intuition and because the bee is so important to Mother Earth, I felt like it was Queen Bee’s home, a place of honor.

On the back of the image I wrote: personal embodied power, right to control our own world. The sweetness of life.

On the yellow image, the blue lines form Metatron’s cube outline from the yellow spheres. The seed of life form is in red and yellow in the center. Lines as masculine and circles are feminine.

R- Thank you for sharing so freely.

Original Artwork by MorningStar Black

What's In A Serving

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 10:32:38 GMT

After listening to the news,
little mouse asked Mother Mouse, “Mama? What is arrogance?

Mother Mouse, replied, “Arrogance is when you forget that everyone is your kin.

And you think you are better than someone else.

Or that you are always right.

Arrogance happens when you forget to listen to others.”

Little mouse thought about this.
And then asked, “Mama? How do you fix arrogance?

Especially when it is inside of you?”

Mother Mouse replied, “Humble Pie my dear! We can each have a piece of humble pie.

I will bake one for us right now.

Would you like to help?”

“Yes,” replied little mouse.

Little mouse then asked, “Mama? What goes into humble pie?”

Mother Mouse replied, “Little mouse, it can be a bit different each time, but the basic ingredients are:

1 Cup of mercy
1 tsp of pity
2 Tbls of remembering
1 Cup of prayer
1⁄4 Cup of trust
1 Cup of belly laughs
1 generous sprinkle of jo y”

“Mama,” little mouse asked, “may I put in an apple?”

Mother Mouse replied, of course my dear!
"And, little mouse, when the humble pie is all eaten

the pie tin becomes a mirror for you to look in to see who you really are.”

“I love you Mama,” said little mouse.

Mother Mouse replied, “I love you too little mouse.

Now!

Let’s bake and eat some humble pie!”

What’s In A Serving? by The Manzanita Sisters- July 7, 2022

Wee Forest Folk Mice from the collection of Nydia Goode

manzanita-sisters

Trolls

Trolls

No longer hiding under bridges

or lurking, threateningly, online, but

suddenly friendly. Now we encounter

trolls lumbering in forests and meadows,

beside our still-living lakes and streams.

Sturdy as oak trees, they smile down,

handing on their message of enough,

of simple abundance piled up everywhere.

Long Leif Troll

Alexa's Elixir Troll

two trolls sit waiting

gazing towards the west sky

tucked into the wild

Erik Rock Troll

Greta Granite Troll

Day of Giving Thanks & Blessings

I give thanks for life to walk this earth with beauty this day and all days

Point Arena Lighthouse Labyrinth

In early August, we traveled from the hot and humid Minnesota prairie to the cool headland of Point Arena, California. It was the presence of the Point Arena Labyrinth that drew us there, and it did not disappoint.

Full Moon September 2024

Navarro River Ceremony Art Line

to the great above

and to all that is below

in all directions

Re-wilding & Haiku My Heart

wild beauty grows

in a city of concrete

wonder through it all

OKCIYAPI - Help Each Other

Resonance

Haiku My Heart - Wonder

six points of wonder mystery showing itself rising from the earth

We Are Children Of The Earth

The earth is you.

You are the earth.

When you realize there is no separation,

you fall completely in love with this beautiful planet.

At this very moment,

the earth is above you,

below you,

﻿ all around you,

and even inside you.

The earth is everywhere. ...

Thich Na Hanh's Love Letter To The Earth, 2013

For the full letter, CLICK HERE to visit the Lion's Roar, April 22, 2022

Spring Equinox & Turtle New Moon 2023

sun and moon spring kiss

as edges are reached to cross

beauty flows to earth

Through The Drum

Haiku My Heart - Seeing Each Other

we see each other in the flash of a second guide us through this night

Haiku My Heart - Pink Waterfall

a pink waterfall

cascading beauty and bees

heart-music to share

A Few Words About Haiku

manzanita sing sweet bells chime for all to hear beauty on your branch

Haiku My Heart - Garden Surprises

a garden surprise when days are short and nights long promises of spring

Hinda's Garden

Hinda’s Garden

A Story of Survival

Correction – Connection – Remembrance

By Rachel Owa, written July 2022

Published on January 27, 2023- International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Interview with MorningStar Black- Artist

What's In A Serving

I give thanks for life
to walk this earth with beauty
this day and all days

six points of wonder
mystery showing itself
rising from the earth

all around you,

we see each other
in the flash of a second
guide us through this night

manzanita sing
sweet bells chime for all to hear
beauty on your branch

a garden surprise
when days are short and nights long
promises of spring