Monthly Archives: September 2016

Report From The Back 40

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The rain and fog rolled in and gave us their great autumnal embrace. Soothing rains, plenty to fill the streams, rivers, and reservoirs, but not so much as to cause soil erosion or flooding. That’s my kind of rain. We had enough, but not too much. A Goldilocks rain, you might say. I saw a few late summer funkia flowers in a nearby garden, along with several quite sizable spider webs with their fill of rain, too. We are experiencing just the right temperatures to spur the lichens and algae into lush growth. Tree trunks around here are turning a shade of green almost as bright as the grass.

I just love the lessons of the trees. They know how to adapt their roots to the changing landscape, they stand tall, yet bend as needed, and they show us all about how to deal with the seasons with such ease in shifting from one to another. They can allow room for community, as witnessed by the communities of lichen (algae and fungus) and various critters with whom they share their space. Model citizens, the trees. What’s up in your neck of the woods?

#ReportFromTheBack40 #SquirrelRun #TreeBeings #September #kippinitreal

#ReportFromTheBack40

Sparkler for the Day

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We began in the center of the stars themselves, the result of an electro-magnetic-chemical reaction. We, each of us, is made up of atoms that arose within this giant nuclear reactor. It took millions of years for those atoms to reach the surface of the star and then more time yet to travel through the vastness of space and rest on Earth. Over more eons those atoms were ingested, excreted, and recirculated amongst so many life systems – that great interlocking web of life to which each of us is inextricably bound. You are alive – here. Now. Rejoice in all that you are!

#GetYourSparkOn #FeelTheRapture #WaheGuru #kippinitreal

With gratitude to rassouli.blogspot.com.au for the inspired artwork

#GetYourSparkOn

Report From The Back 40

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We had pretty brisk warm winds here from the south. The tall grasses were just so beautifully waving in the breeze. Clear skies, so blue – the kind I don’t often see here. A rare fair day. It felt like a perfect summery day – not too hot, not too cool, just the right amount of moisture in the air. Sweet and lovely. Birds, bees, crickets and all sorts of other critters were out in force today. The Great Blue Heron tribe and their neighbors the turkey vultures were all out about their business, along with the deer, wild turkeys, red-tailed hawks, Cooper’s hawks, and of course the Bald Eagles that grace this area. We live in this land of such rich wildlife…especially considering how much of the land is tilled or developed. I am always amazed, really amazed at the ability of life finding a way to persist – no matter what. To wit: the tardigrade…they live everywhere and anywhere, including space(!) and have been through all of the five mass extinctions that we know Earth has endured. They go back over half a billion(!) years as far as we can tell in the fossil record. Who know how old they truly are? Wonders just never cease in nature. That includes us. What’s up in your neck of the woods?

#ReportFromTheBack40 #SquirrelRun #September #kippinitreal

#ReportFromTheBack40

Sparkler for the Day

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There are many ‘gurus’ out there. I have met a number of them over the years and listened quietly and deeply to each one of them. I’ve even questioned them – respectfully but rigorously. Truly the most helpful and powerful teachers have pointed me right back into myself, where love prevails. I need only open myself to it.

#GetYourSparkOn #FeelTheRapture #WaheGuru #kippinitreal

#GetYourSparkOn

Forgiveness Prayer for Autumn, Harvest, and Change

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Oh Divine Spirit, Source, Creator of All That Is – all that You are, whatever that is – thank You for the many bountiful blessings You have bestowed upon us and our lineages. We come to You, knowing You are always here with us in all of Your vast and infinite nature.

For all of us and all of our ancestors, throughout all time, space, dimension, and all realms:

For the times of plentiful harvests, when resources were rich, and our larders and bellies were filled, replete, and nourished, and for the times we felt safe and knew the sweetness of peace and love flowing between us, and all of us felt it deeply and indelibly – we thank You.

For the times of flood, drought, fire, pestilence, plague, and times when the fruits of our labor were stolen, destroyed, or rendered useless in any other way – please help us all to forgive anyone involved in this, and help us all to forgive ourselves. Please and thank You. For any time we had a hand of any kind in rendering the fruits of others’ labor useless – please help those we harmed to forgive us and help us to forgive ourselves. Please and thank You.

For the times our source of water was fouled or dried up, for the times when our harvest was damaged to the point that we couldn’t store any for the coming winter, for the times of mold infestations in our food supplies, and for the times our harvest was ruined in any other way by anyone or any other force, and all that arose from this in our lineages – please help us all to forgive anyone involved, including any part we thought You played in it, Divine Spirit – please help us all to forgive each other and ourselves. Please forgive us for any time we turned a deaf ear, a blind eye, and our backs to You. Please and thank You.

For the times we took too much from each other or the land, stole, or took without paying respects and expressing our gratitude, and for the times we went to the land or each other for provisions, sustenance or help of any kind and didn’t find it, or wouldn’t give it, for whatever reason, and for all that resulted because of it – please help us all to forgive each other and ourselves. Please and Thank You.

For the times we found ourselves at odds with Mother Nature, especially the animals, for times when the animals took our crops – grains, fruits, nuts, or our grown domestic animals – and left us with nothing, and for the times we did this to them, knowingly or unknowingly – please help us all to forgive and release each other, forgive and release ourselves. Please and thank You. For all of the times the boundaries between us and the animals wasn’t honored and respected; for any hardship suffered or discord felt by the animals as a result of our actions, or by the same felt by us as a result of their actions – please help us to all forgive each other and forgive ourselves. For any time our actions caused crop damage or failure to anyone, and for the times the actions of others caused this to happen to us – please help us to all forgive each other and forgive ourselves. Please and thank You.

For the times when we listened to our elders and any other leaders – political, civic, religious, health care workers, any of them to whom we looked for direction – and were misled, not told the truth, or denied knowledge that we had every right to be given – please help us all to forgive each other and forgive ourselves, no matter what. Please and thank You.

For the times we felt we fell short of fulfilling our potential, of our ability to complete our mission on this earthly plane, and for the times we projected our sense of incompleteness and ‘not enough-ness’ onto others as a result, knowingly or unknowingly – please help us all to forgive each other and forgive ourselves, for all of it, and for once and for all time. Please and thank You.

For the times we were resistant to inevitable change, especially as it pertains to summer’s end, the coming of autumn, for the times we felt deep foreboding about the coming winter, for our times of doubt and worry, and for the times we held any resentments or had any jealousy around what others had as compared to what we had – and all that resonated down into our families, relations, and lineage as a result this – please help us all to forgive each other and forgive ourselves. Please forgive us for any time we doubted Your wisdom and guidance.

Please help us to honor and feel the intimate connection to the earth and all beings: feathered, furred, leaved, petaled, winged, creepy-crawly, scaled, and otherwise. Help us find such joy that we rise and raise our voices with passion for life itself. Help us expand outward and plumb the depths of our very being to push beyond the scope and limitations of the restricted, tamed, and so strongly harnessed nature of humanity’s current culture. Help us feel our blood stirring as we witness the beauty of a morning dew drop glisten on the tall grass, the light of a full summer moon, the vibrant beating of the hummingbird as it drinks in sweet nectar. Help us remember our roots, our beginnings, our wild essential nature. Help us break free of whatever barriers contain us, to feel that we have the space to breathe fully and deeply down into our toes. Help us rise into and express at last the pure potential born within us and just awaiting the springboard of release. Please and thank You.

Please help us to live in the awareness of Your unconditional love and constant guiding hand for us. Help us to grow beyond fear, doubt, worry, and distrust into love and compassion for one another and ourselves, no matter what happened, now and forever. Please and thank You. Please and thank You. Please and thank You.

Amen.

#AncestralClearing #Forgiveness #ComplementaryHealing #kippinitreal

#AncestralClearing

Sparkler for the Day

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For so long I lived on the sidelines, trading who I was for imagined safety. I quieted my voice, my desires, my hopes, and my dreams, thinking that if I was liked and approved of by others, this would finally make me feel safe. And then I wondered why I had anxiety, chronic pain, addictions, etc. It seems to me that being the most expressed version of yourself is the fastest, albeit scariest and most exciting path to healing…I came here to live out loud.

#GetYourSparkOn #FeelTheRapture #kippinitreal

#GetYourSparkOn

Report From The Back 40

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More on the creepy, crawlies….it’s just what’s up. (This is a report after all.) We had a lovely thunderstorm very early this morning and awoke to a warm, soft day. The trees, grasses, and everything else has had a washing. The streams and rivers are running a bit faster, though the Kansas River last Monday looked to us to be nearly topping its banks. I imagine it has swelled almost to the overflow point by now. After so many years of dry weather, these last two have brought such relief. By far the most persistent and loudest critter in our neck of the woods is the Dog-day Cicada. I hear them all the time, but they tend to be everywhere around me except where I am, so I do not get to see them. I walked outside this morning to take in the day. The air was so warm and moist. For a moment, I thought I had stepped out the door and entered Maui! I looked down on the front stoop and there in front of me was a singular Dog-day Cicada. He/she looked to be warming up for the day. What an interesting, beautiful creature this is! I saw ‘prehistoric’ as I studied its features. What wings, too! This tiny beast is a little over 2 inches long and is not only an expert flyer, but an expert caller/singer. They have incredibly strong ovipositors that can pierce the wood of trees, where they lay their eggs. The hatchlings drop onto the ground and burrow into the soil. They then find their way to a tree root and latch onto it as a food source. They stay there until they grow and metamorphose, find their way up to the surface to fly, call to one another, mate, and begin the cycle all over again. Life in all of its variety and wonder never ceases to amaze me! What’s up in your neck of the woods?

#ReportFromTheBack40 #SquirrelRun #kippinitreal

Dog-day Cicada 090816

Sparkler for the Day

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“May we all learn that pain is not the end of the journey, and neither is delight. We can hold them both – indeed hold it all – at the same time, remembering that everything in these quixotic, unpredictable, unsettled and unsettling, exhilarating, and heart-stirring times is a doorway to awakening in sacred world.” – Pema Chodron

#Infinity #GetYourSparkOn #FeelTheRapture #kippinitreal

#GetYourSparkOn

Report From The Back 40

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A lot of people find spiders to be creepy, scary, and to be avoided at all costs. In many cases this is probably a really good idea: some spiders have a nasty bite, some are poisonous, and then there’s how they tickle us if and when they happen to crawl on us…Also, they are so much smaller than us, it is better for them to steer clear of us, as we tend to be heavy of foot and quick to judge the appearance of any spider at all as a dire threat. Our feet move faster than our sense of compassion…I am here to say that spiders are pretty amazing creatures. They have to make a living after all, just like everyone else. They are THE expert weavers and spinners in the world. Spider silk is one of the strongest natural threads known. Spiders inhabit all sorts of nooks and crannies — please don’t’ get creeped out. They have nothing against you. Seriously. I was walking by a nearby building yesterday and happen to look down into the inside corner of the building below a downspout. There, nestled compactly in the corner, was the web of what I believe is a type of funnel web-building spider. This tiny creature had woven tiny bits of grass, pieces of leaves and whole leaves into quite the spectacular funnel-shaped home. I have seen quite a few spider webs in my time, but this one is one of the most intricate and beautiful that I have ever seen in these parts of the world. I do not think my picture truly does its likeness justice as it just doesn’t show the detailed and marked three dimensionality of this web. I leave you with it anyway. We have issues with spiders. I get it. I say we make peace with the spiders and live in harmony the best we can. (And P.S. We have that notorious brown recluse spider all over the place here. I’ve had my fair share of run-ins with them! I still say, “Make peace with the spiders.” They just need to live out in nature, not in my house, thank you. I do my best to safely capture them when I find them in the house and release them back into the outdoors…where they actually belong.) What’s up in your neck of the woods?

#ReportFromTheBack40 #SquirrelRun #EveryoneHasToMakeALiving #kippinitreal

#ReportFromTheBack40

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