Thursday Thirteen #19: 13 Things on my Altar

Thirteen Things on my Altar

1. Candles - I burn them when I pray for something or someone.

2. A bit of my best friend, Deanna's, ashes.


3. The birthing bracelet made at my baby shower by the women there, that I wore during my last birth


4. The bracelet I made at my friend, Kyrai's, Discovering Woman Together workshop

5. A birthing statue


6. A rune with the symbol "Open" on it

7. A butterfly pin my daughter gave me


8. A dolphin charm a girlfriend from graduate school gave me


9. A Petosky stone I picked up on my honeymoon


10. A charm I got from the Renaissance Faire with the symbol "Om" (the first sound) on it


11. A butterfly charm Michael gave me

12. A black stone I use to hold my anger

13. A white stone I use to hold my hopes


How's that for woo-woo? *grin* Bet I'm freakier than you are!

SEE MORE THURSDAY THIRTEENS HERE

Canvassing the Country

We used to get Jehovah's Witnesses all the time when we lived in the suburbs. The houses were very close together, and it was easy to canvas a whole neighborhood without too much effort, I'm sure. They never bothered me (aside from having to get up and answer the door!) and I would just smile, take their literature, and thank them. We just had lots of Watchtowers in the recycling bin.

The only time they really bothered me was when they accosted the twelve-year-old. They had apparently done so on the street, while he was riding his bike, and I hadn't heard about it. Until they showed up at my door the following week, saying, "We talked to your son, Blake, and we'd like to follow up with him..."

That was the only time I've handed their literature back to them, saying, "My son is a minor and you have no right to speak to him on any subject or occasion. Please don't ever do so again." I don't mind anyone's enthusiasm or passion for their religion and I don't even begrudge them wanting to "spread the word"--but if you're going to do it, you'd better target adults, not children.

This isn't Jesus Camp.

I hadn't really thought about it, but I assumed we wouldn't get too many canvassers out this way. Today, I received my first Watchtower in my new house. I was sitting at the kitchen table, reading a book and eating toast when the dogs started barking. Now, this isn't unusual. We have neurotic dogs who are used to barking when the wind blows. I just peeked out the window to make sure--but to my surprise, there was a car coming up the driveway!

Two well-dressed young women with clipboards got out, and I had visions of CPS flashing in my head. (Some of you will know why!) So I was actually relieved when they presented me, all smiles, with a Watchtower. I just smiled and thanked them and shut the door.

The only difference here is, now the Watchtower went into the bonfire pile instead of the recycling bin.

Welcome to the neighborhood!

The Secret?

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard of The Secret...

Not that, you know, it really is a big secret or anything. The idea of The Law of Attraction has been around since... well, probably since before there were humans. I mean, that's kind of what those "Law" things are. They exist, apriori, and we discover and name them. Usually after the egoic scientists who discover them. Like Newton's Laws, or Boyle's Law or Occam's Razor (which is the only one I think is really cool, just because of the way it sounds.)

Now, granted, those are scientific laws/theories. The Secret, or The Law of Attraction, is more a new-age kind of philosophy than a "law" exactly. Although, on some level, I really do think it works.

The Law of Attraction basically says that you get what you think about--your thoughts determine your experience.

It's an interesting concept. Yes, I know it has no basis whatsoever in scientific thought. In spite of the supposed roots in quantum physics (i.e. thoughts have energy that attracts like energy) it's definitely not a quantifiable thing. But, since you already know I'm incredibly gullible, I fall into the "it can't hurt, and it might help" school of thought. So why not?

You're supposed to do four things:

1. Know what you want and ask for it. Meaning, ask God, or the "universe." However you qualify that thing that moves the world, that's greater than we are.

2. Be grateful for what you have, and be enthusiastic/grateful for what you want.

3. Imagine and act as if you already have what you want.

4. Be open to receiving what you want.

And the last part... don't think about what you DON'T have or DON'T want. Think about not having only perpetuates not having. Scarcity breeds scarcity. Prosperity breeds prosperity.

Does it work?

Well... anecdotally, yes. For example, when we wanted this house, I made this:

We put it on our computer backgrounds and we printed several copies and hung them all over. We began to "act as if." As if it was already our home. It felt like our home, it really did. And it quickly became our home.

Now, we're looking to sell our old house. In a really bad housing market. And we haven't done anything, so far, "secret-like," in order to try to manifest that. We've just listed it and hoped. It's been months, and I still feel like I'm holding my breath, and I realized... doh! Wrong attitude! That isn't gonna get the house sold...

So today, I made this:

I put it on my computer background, Michael put it on his (home and work) and I printed out several copies to hang around the house.

Now it's time to start acting "as if." So send some "SOLD!" house vibes our way, will ya? The more energy in that direction, the better...

Can't hurt, and it could help... right?

Field of Dreams: If You Build It...

We have three free months of HBO and Cinemax with our satellite TV package, so I'm stocking up on movie watching while I can. In the midst of all the "new" movies they play (which, of course, are only new the first time you watch them, and then decidedly not-so-new the next 300 times they run them during the month) are a bunch of old ones. Some old-old ones (like Marlene Dietrich old) and some just old-er ones.

Today, I watched Field of Dreams. Remember that one? Kevin Coster still couldn't act, even back then... Guy buys a farm, starts to hear voices, and plows under his corn field to build a baseball diamond, with floodlights and everything. You know: If you build it, they will come... and, of course, they do... and everyone lives happily ever after. Taa daa!

It was actually kind of fun to re-watch. I don't think I've seen it since it came out in 1989! Even if Kevin Costner is a horrible actor... (at least he wasn't trying to do a British accent, like in that awful 80's version of Robin Hood... *shudder*) Amy Madigan and James Earl Jones were awesome. And that guy that was in Thirtysomething plays a great villian. And the concept appeals... because, frankly, it's a pretty crazy thing to do, plowing under your cash crop to make a place for people to play some silly game. That someone could do something THAT nuts... and come out on top? I mean, what are the odds?

Most people spend their whole lives playing things pretty safe. When do we ever make decisions without a net? We go to school, we get good grades, we get good jobs, we plan for our retirement... that's the "good" life, isn't it? How often do we listen to that little voice? The one that tells us to take a major risk? To jump without a net?

What does it take for us to listen to that voice? If you build it, they will come... When it goes against every ounce of logic, when it puts your livelihood at risk, when it might make you look like a complete and total idiot... would you still listen to that voice?

Life isn't a movie, of course... we don't always get the happy ending. Sometimes we build it, and darnit, they just don't show up. They get stuck in traffic, or they just don't get the message. And we're stuck with no cash crop and an empty baseball diamond.

Take our moving here... it certainly wasn't the logical decision, considering the housing market. Our other house still hasn't sold, and it's only had a few showings. But we didn't wait for our house to sell... we followed that little voice. Move. Now. We found this place, and that's what we did...

I still don't know what's going to happen, of course. We could end up in foreclosure after all. It's a risk. But isn't everything? Isn't safety really the illusion? And sometimes...sometimes that voice really does know what it's talking about, when we listen to it.

So, maybe, sometimes: if we build it, they will come...

But there's no maybe about this: if we don't build it, they can never come...