Dear Friends,

I've been watching the ant hills come alive here in the high desert mesas. The ants have re-opened the doorways to their underground homes, called out by the warming earth and shining sun. They move in a steady flow of focused intent, diligently carrying pebbles one by one from the unseen world below and piling them up outside. Building from the inside out. According to their own ancient knowing. A creative and purposeful design. The ants' homes are expanding, like temples in the sand.

Manaole U Manaole, from my heart to the heart of the mother earth to your heart,
JoAnne Dodgson

Most of you won't know that I recently had an infection that shut down systems throughout my body and almost killed me. As dramatic as that is, it is the subtle, less exciting, aftermath that is more serious for me. I don't know what happened, no one does, but my brain has changed the way it works. Words, organization, numbers... enthusiasm is different and I find myself having to push in places I didn't need to push before and to change the way I approach my writing. All of these symptoms are ones I share with other people, some who have had similar experiences, some who have had very different experiences or just are that way. It is a different kind of enlightenment, having to see myself in a new context. The answer I am coming to see is exactly what I have been telling people for years: Poetry.

Poetry is about seeing, about defining, about organizing--not just pretty pictures but life, your own life and the life you observe. Poetry is the one exercise (and I am doing others for the physical aftermath) that will reshape me, the me inside that is the one I value most. So, I am going to take this moment today to remind all of you of the value of poetry, especially a daily challenge to yourself, to improve your life in every aspect. Go out and write something. Sign up for "Poetry for All Your Senses" to get the tools you need to make this happen. Whatever you are doing poetry will make it better.

Georgia Jones
Poetry Mentor

Good Afternoon My Friends,

Ah...spring is here. I just love it and seem to be able to be more present in spring and fall. Maybe that is because I know summer is lurking and here in NC that means windows shut and AC on....not the best case scenario for me. I love air, cool circulating air. I sleep with a fan on no matter what the temp is.

The pollen seaon this year was cough, choke, gasp...bad! I thought (silly me) I could out smart the pines that line the forest's edge this year. The apt. windows are probably less than six yards away (we're three floors up in Treeville). I was watching the pines and noticing the time was nearing when all hell breaks loose. But when the winds kicked up and the temps dropped every window was thrown open. I had time to spare. But the pines laughed at me all night. I woke to everything covered with a thin, yellow  dusting of pollen and a throat raw and sore. Lol, silly me!

I was genuinely surprised at what the pollen covered...everything in its wake...like ash from fire or volcanoes...nothing is spared. And, to further shame me I had just done my annual spring cleaning inside and out. No small feat! The little patio glistened with all my crystals and shells glowing from their bath and smudge.

Not the lace table cloth is yellow. I would go back out now and clean again but I discovered a wren has built a nest under the table! How odd I thought. I will not disturb her. She has built her nest in a pot I had resting on top of a large Rubber Maid container I store my gourds in under the table. Of course I worry about 'things' but hope that everything works out for the little babies. It's such a tease not to be able to see them. My invisible wonders!

I do feel that I have been initiated into pollen world and pine tree heaven. I have weathered the storm. I love my friends that border the wood's edge. Many a night I hang my head at the window and watch as the trees dance and sway with the winds. There is a pole lamp neaby that illuminates everything with a stage like aura. These are my buddies, my pals, my commandants!

Nora Beeman's Mentor Page

Good Morning,

I hope you're having as a nice a morning as I am. It's cool and sunny here in North Carolina. The birds and squirrels have come for breakfast and I am planning my day.

I've been thinking a lot about healing since I signed on with Michael Mohoric and his month of free long D healings in late March. He states this on his web-

" The focus is on spiritual healing that helps to heal the mind, body and spiritual connection. The practitioner transmits the healing energy and is only a conduit for the energy healing and a catalyst in one's healing process. When you raise the energetic vibration of the body then it can heal itself. Everyone does their own healing and is the healer.. "

This is true of Reiki as well.....perhaps healing in general. You are at the helm. Isn't that empowering!

Nora Beeman's Mentor Page

Beltane, the cross-quarter day between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, arrives soon. On May 1, we live half-way between spring's green-growing wood season and summer's full-blown red fire.

Beltane derives, as I understand it, from words meaning "fire." But can't you just hear the "belly" in Beltane as well?

May 1 is a time to celebrate the fire in our bellies, the impulse for growth into fruition, the manifestation of our dreams and determination, what we will harvest abundantly in days to come.

Beltane is a fine time to begin Initiation 2012: Awakening Your Sacred Center. Come join me in this inspiring study!

Blessed be,
Lisa

Wild winds blow, celebrating the shifting of the seasons. Tumbleweeds are tumbling around the mesas, gathering in the arroyos, crossing roads. I like to help the Tumbleweeds roll over the fence and onto the wilderness lands - free to dance with the winds and continue on their way. Here are some of my ponderings on the medicines of these intriguing nomadic plants:

I spent hours yesterday looking through old poetry of mine, mostly because I found some I suspect belong to someone else. After years, it can be hard to tell. Writers, poets in particular, keep these things, bits and pieces of poetry that may not have gone where you wanted to go, but you can't throw it away. It is, after all, a part of you. The future problem comes in how it is organized. I was looking for a specific poem...Can't recall the title; I think it was in my second book...All I know is that it uses confetti as an image. Instead, I found poems I had forgotten, that took me back to the moment they were conceived. Poetry is really pieces of life. It goes deeper than a journal; in fact, a good journal is poetry or poetic at least. BTW, I didn't find that poem and now I have an image of the images in a poem to recreate in a new poem...An interesting challenge.

Georgia Jones, poetry mentor

Nothing can hold us back now. We are Women of the Shadows, free to know, intuit and dream the darkness - to heal, empower and blaze our trails, phosphorescence and moonlight guide the way. Chiron, Medusa, Hekate, Pythias, and Lilith we accept and allow Her wisdom to light our way.

Into the shadows we grow, our fear night-blooming, making us strong, powerful, magical. We are women at one with the void, the wolves at our heels, we lead the way.

"For no special reason
I am leaving you for awhile tonight
I'm flying far above you
Still love you
You made things right."

From the song "Candlebright" by Stevie Nicks

My Waning Moon Collage consists of a plexiglass etching for the background with an image of my teeth on the right and two rulers mixed in. I am exploring the measurement of time, as controlled by the cold, hard, demanding, icy-ness of perfection, a Capricornian process. She is the Black Ice Queen in my astrological chart, always demanding more, more. My etching is titled "I Am You" and I have scratched that into it's surface as an acknowledgment of the darkness and shadow side within human nature for it is as much a part of me as it is of you - we are the same - you are me, and I am you.

This collage is part of Week 4 of my new eCourse, Awaken the Divine Feminine. We are exploring the the Waning Moon and the dark side of our nature, the part that has been reviled by our culture and stuffed into the basement and the broom closet resulting in psychological defense mechanisms such as:
repression
denial
sublimation
projection
over compensation

If you are interested in Moon Collaging along with a supportive group of Moon Sisters then please join me in Term 2 of Awaken the Divine Feminine.

Kathy Crabbe ~ Soul Reader
Kathy is a soul reader, psychic-medium and artist based
in Southern California. She employs the ancient feminine craft of
psychic visioning, hearing and sensing to help guide, heal and connect a
client with their soul's strength, beauty and inner knowing. You can
find Kathy online at her blogs, Soul Reader and Art Mystic or at her shop LuLu Design.

This is for the the Divine Female within all of us – she is Goddess unbound, unfettered, free. She knows the blood mysteries, worships the moon and calls upon no man to complete her. She stands alone yet united with women everywhere, strong and capable of earning her way in the world, healing her sorrows, tasting her joys, and feeling one-ness with the All.

I celebrate this Full Moon in Libra with simplicity and simple pleasures. My Full Moon Collage is a manifestation of all I believe in and am present to at this moment in time.

She is full tonight, the moon and I worship her beauty as I worship my own. Together we celebrate, as together we share our stories, our creations and our inner knowing.

Join with me, Divine Goddesses of the Moon as we come together to make magick, make merry and make our dreams and hopes manifest.

My collage consists of my recent painting Fire Bird, a Libran symbol (for me) of Cardinal fire and air. I have also incorporated the astrological symbol for Venus and within her circle have placed an Isis Goddess Crystal, then in the blood red ink of passion have scrawled out the script, and to finish things off have included a clipping from a recently planted native plant species called Ribes indecorum (great name!) which is a White Flowering Chaparral Currant.

If you wish to join in the fun, I am starting Session 2 of my Moon Guided eCourse – Awaken the Divine Feminine on April 14th (the Aries New Moon!) You can sign up at the Wise Woman University.

You can check out more Divine Moon Musing Collages here.

Kathy Crabbe's Mentor Page

Happy Mother's Day, magic mamas!!

Mother's Day is quickly approaching and the spring is showing us new signs of life with the earth in full bloom. April and May are very fertile months- time to respect and honor our fertility.

They say Mother's Day is a commercial holiday, but I love a holiday that celebrates motherhood and love that the public gives thanks for a day to all the hard work we moms do- whether it's birthing a baby, wiping a tear, laughing at a first joke, carrying a bruised knee, holding back a sick lil one's hair, rubbing a tummy, telling a story or singing a lullaby... we are always in motion!!

HUGS to ALL MOMMIES XOOXO

)*( 
Mother Blessings,
Jill Diana

childbearing year wise woman mentor

	Perinatal Loss Workshop
	Magic of Motherhood Birthing Education
	Perinatal Mood Issues
	Prebirth Bonding
	Relaxations and Visualizations for Birth