hand of healing

Just a little taste of what's been swirling around...

I've been planning on doing a very large post about all of the recent connections that have been coming together for me, blossoming from attention to Chiron - the astronomical comet/asteroid, the mythological wise, healing centaur, and the astrological wounded healer and unconventional force. But as the connections keep growing it has been quite the task! I hope to give a full update sometime soon, but for now will post another teaser collage. For a little bit o' background, I have written bits and pieces about this subject in these posts over at the MOG:
a new earth.
22's Day



Chiro- means "hand" and the Hebrew letter Yod means "hand" as well.

About 2 weeks ago at the book store I opened a book on symbolism and randomly happened to open to the page directly to the symbolism of the "hand". Then I noticed that the book was on the same shelf as the collection of PALMistry books and while paying for my goods at the register I noticed a book with the last name of PALMer. Then later that evening my husband read me this news story about a guy named Jonathan PALMer:

Way to face your fears, Palmer!

 So I got to thinking about Palms - and remembered that there is a Hebrew Letter that means "palm" or "grasping hand", the letter KAPH. This letter is associated with the Wheel of Fortune Card in the Tarot.

"The Egyptians made this letter like a bowl, and the palm of the hand, when cupped, likewise holds something. In the days when the Hebrew alphabet was formed, a bowl was made on a wheel, by the turning of the wheel. It was shaped by the palm of the hand, cupping itself as the wheel spun the clay. The letter has the same idea of spinning, or rotation, and the Law this letter stands for is ROTATION. Number 1 is the beginning of the whirling, and whirling is the basis of all physical manifestation. All forms are something which are spun and number 1 is the first stage of form." ~ The Rabbi's Tarot, Daphna Moore

In April, around the time that we first began to hear of a rise in tornadoes, I was having multiple synchronicities with words, all coming from the root vertere "to turn". I mentioned this in the comments of Alan's awesome big post at Look at All the Happy Creatures:

"..I was particularly blown away with the Taurus/Torus vortex connection as today I was analyzing another recent dream of mine from which I woke up thinking "The Fall of Man was a divorce." Not really that cryptic or anything considering the material we're used to diving into, but I decided to dig into the etymology of the words a bit this morning. "Divorce" being related to "diVERT" which has it's roots in the word vertere = to turn. Versus also comes from that word, or other words meaning "to beFALL", "what befalls one", fate/destiny. And actually just turn comes from tornos which is a lathe, tool for drawing circles. This was all significant to me because of some other things that have been leading me to turning and twisting lately (which, silly me, i hadn't even thought about in relation to the recent tornadoes). Later this afternoon I was talking with someone about the difference between introvert/extrovert and she started talking about the "vert" part and how it meant to turn, which was hilarious considering how i had spent my morning researching that very word! And now your post brings up vortex..." 

*I have written a little more about these connections in my part of the forthcoming Sync Book, due to be released this Fall. I am thrilled to be 1 of the 22 bloggers, writers and artists that are contributing thoughts on the mysterious and beautiful universe in The Sync Book. For more information, photos and updates, please visit and "like" the Facebook page!

open sesame

This past week I went camping in the rain forest. Although I am fortunate to live in an apartment in the city that is near many trees, it had been years since I had spent continual days in nature - eating, sleeping, laughing, thinking, urinating, being. After my first night's sleep, I awoke with a stirring of energy that I hadn't felt in some time. My dreams were colorful and vivid. And insights rushed in, just from observing the life around me. In particular, on one of our day hikes, I remember looking down at the ground littered with pine cones. I instantly thought about fertility, and how a tree grows and eventually drops thousands of cones, but very few actually result in a new tree. However, the mathematical perfection and beauty of the cone is creativity all its own. I thought to myself, I want to allow myself to BE, like a tree, create my "cones" and let them go - proud of them whether they grow into something else or not. Or perhaps they will grow into something unexpected, like a holiday wreath.

Not knowing much about pine cones, I immediately started researching them when I returned home to my computer. I had no idea that trees had both male and female cones. I must have missed that somewhere along the line in elementary school. The male cones are the small, compact little nubbets (yang) that you may notice everywhere amongst the pine needles on the forest floor, and they contain and release pollen. The female cones are the quintessential larger cones that are so familiar (yin), with their open scales splayed out. These female cones contain ovules, which wait to be penetrated by the wind with the pollen of the male cone. Once fertilized, a seed is created which is then released by the female cone - and provided that conditions in the earth are fertile - a new tree is born. Beautiful. I now understand why the pine cone has been depicted as a symbol of fertility throughout the ages. It is a symbol of how we may cultivate our creativity, simply by being open to receiving the pollen (the messages of the universe). Taoism is about celebrating our inner spaciousness. In Dr. Randine Lewis' book "The Way of the Fertile Soul", she gives this quote from Lao Tzu:

"We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move. We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we desire. We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable. We work with being, but nonbeing is what we use."

During that same week after camping, I spent some time with my mom. We were discussing life, as we often do. I can't remember her exact phrasing, but she used the beautiful example of a closed fist - in which nothing can  get in, but by unclenching and opening your hand, you have the ability to receive something new. Such powerful examples of how to be are all around us.

A new understanding is brewing in me about how sacred space is. I am seeing the real error in our attempts to fill the void and hold onto that feeling of fullness. For this spaciousness is where creativity thrives, and whatever we are using to try to fill it up, be it food, drugs, shopping, another person's affection, etc., is creating such a clutter that we can't access our vitality. Clear the memory card, make room for inspiration. Inspire is literally to breath, to receive and then to let go, and repeat.