The Man with no Fingers

Good Evening Relatives

I know that this post finds you well, That even now as I am writing this note all of you are taking tobacco, cornmeal or just love and placing it out in the night sky for the Cheyenne People at Lame Deer, for all of us that pray as night follows day, for all of those who don't pray, for all of us who create the day that follows the night. Thank you for praying, for standing for the People and the Fire  at Lame Deer.

I am writing my last blog before going to the GMa retreat. We will be at a place with no internet so I will not be posting till I get back.  I wanted to give a time frame and let you know as I do my dogs that I will be back.

There will be ~52 GMa's that are gathering to create a circle to contemplate the thought : Looking in the Mirror, Remembering Who I AM.   We will be meeting and visiting, and praying, and meditating, and gathering together to take a look at this theme.  We also are rededicating the Arizona Grandmothers Council to the practice of Speaking to the Center of the Center.  We use Circle Practice to teach and facilitate good communication skills between us as well as with ourselves. Circle Practice helped prepare me for Keeping the Fire at Lame Deer. I encourage all of you to look it up (http://www.peerspirit.com).  It will be a good gathering I think.

One of my friends is working with me to present a workshop called: Grandmother as Predator; Using the Mirror to Check more than your Lipstick.   It should be fun!  We are looking forward to helping dispel fear about shadow, honest reflection on Self-predatory behaviors, and the unique position that a Grandmother has with the innocent with regards to predatory vs. enlightening behavior. We will be using storybook characters such as Snow White and the Evil Queen (disguised as a GMa), Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf (disguised as GMa), The GMa Hoarder mentality: Vulture vs. Phoenix ( the gossip monger) you get the picture.  So our goals are to identify the Self-Predatory actions and agendas of the Victims, and how we can identify the skill sets in the Predator and transform those skills into positive or enlightening gifts that recreate the world around her in a beauty way.  it should be fun.  Writing the blog is helping me to develop the practice of writing on a regular basis. Writing the syllabus for the workshop helped me to flesh out my ideas on GMa as predator so I think it may be worth trying to write a book about it this winter. I'll let you know how it goes.

yesterday I took the bike in for an oil change and a new rear tyre.  The old one was so smooth even the tire replacement indicator ridges were flat! When my adopted GPa was bringing me back to the house we passed a couple of places that caught my eye.  One was a Indian jewelry shop, and the other was called The Artists Work.  In the window of the Artist shop were many many stain glass hands with eyes in the palms.  Very intriguing.  Both places pulled at me.

Later in the day I caught a ride back to pick up the bike and on my way back to the house meandered into the jewelry shop. Right away I was approached by an older woman, she looked gypsy, and I wandered around just looking and chatting.  Before long we were discussing Lame Deer, the prayer for the Cheyenne, the importance of prayer across all nations, the importance of women coming into their medicine, and how it mattered to do our work, Keep the Fire, Carry the Pipe.  It was a good visit.  I didn't have to buy anything  just go in and visit, check in with her. Not sure how it mattered to her  but I am sure it did.  Krishnamurti (you can look him up) said that we do our work and leave it.  Don't look back to see how it is used, or what it does.  Just show up do it and go on let the Spirits take care of it.

Today when we were getting ready for the opening Circle one of the GMa's and I were talking about setting the intention, gathering the energy.  She was trying really hard to figure out how to "make" the energy do what the facilitators wanted.  I reminded her that we had been gathering since last year. Setting our intention and the patterns, we had been placing our prayer and thought before the Spirits for one or more years for this very time.  Our job was to gather the people together  and if we did then the Spirits would do the work.  They would take care of the energy and they would manage the flow.  We just had to set our pattern, lay the fire and hold it.  the prayer would come then we would deliver it as the Spirits gave it to us.

Cool

After I left the Jewelry store, I went to the Artists at Work.  cool name huh  Artists Work   The Work of the Artist.  Do you think you are an Artist with your Life?  I think we all can be.

I went in and there were stained glass hands hanging everywhere. hands of peace with eyes in the palms.   super cool.  then I noticed a mix of mexican, turkish, persian, and mystic items in a case and on the wall.  The gentleman came out from the back and we began to visit. I told him that I came in because of the stained glass hands, he told me he made all of them.  Very cool.  Very nice work. We had a very gentle soft visit.  Speaking back and forth about different items and their meaning.  He was from Jerusalem, I had a friend from Turkey, I liked the hands with the eye, He told me what they meant, he offered me skulls because of my motorcycle, and although I like bones, I would rather have a dragonfly.  We had a nice visit.  His people are nomads  travelers.  I bought one of the small stained glass hands for the Gma house.  it was when he was wrapping it up that I noticed that all of his fingers with the exception of both his thumbs were cut off at the first digit above the palm.  All 8 of them.  I didn't stare, or remark.  Just became aware of it.  he never mentioned it.  I also noticed he had a beautiful silver hand pendant around his neck.  He also is a silver smith it turned out and he sends these hand pendants all over the world.  Nice  he is still a traveler.

He put a paper in with the hand.  It says:

Thru this Gate no harm will pass
In this dwelling shall be no sorrow
From this door shall come no Terror
In these Quarters shall be no divisions
In this place shall be only Harmony and Peace

awesome huh.      Now   I am going to ask you not to copy this down from my web-post  but to send him $10.00 for a small stain glass hand and he will send the blessing wrapped with the hand to your home.   that way his prayer comes to you from him  and his work is supported.
his shop is found at http://www.artofarizona.com/artistsatwork.htm

Later that night in the dream time  he showed up!  He and I were in a place with guitars and he was playing his guitar.  There were lots of other stringed instruments and I was trying to work out which one was for me to play. some of his friends showed up to play as well. I finally found this broken old guitar and started reassembling it. He showed me how to reset the neck and how to re attach and string the strings. It was a nice place  I could tell that he knew that I was meeting him in the dream time at his place where he used to play.  He gave me a message for my adopted GPa.  It was, that we should not let what ever has happened to us in the past rob us of our day today.

he shows this every day with creating silver pieces and with doing stained glass work.  Perhaps it was what happened to his hands that taught him to see.  Anyhow  my adopted GPa like other folks had a long successful career where he was a great leader. He did many works and got lots of accolades for it. Later in his life he had to resign from that work.  He had two major heart attacks.  His wife is one of the GMa's and she is becoming a great leader in this group.  I had watched him struggling with her becoming for GMa's what he had been in his younger days.  He was really fighting his change of roles. It isn't pretty watching someone you care about struggle with their ego.  it was also hard for me to think of approaching him to talk about my observations and to give him the gift from the hands. but it had to be done.  It was My Work for the Day.

In the morning GPa came and sat with me. I was making a little medicine bag with and eye on it for the Man.  It was to give to him for the gift he gave to my GPa. As I worked I spoke of the man with no fingers and of my dreamtime adventures.  I told him the Man had a message to give to him.  "Don't let any losses rob you of your abilities, don't worry if you do other things now, do everything with love, with peace, do so that others can go out and do more than you."

my GPa said that he was having trouble with being in a supportive role.  He didn't see the value in it.  I told him to look at a bridge, what did it do. He said that the cars went back and forth across it.  I said yes, because of its support they could complete their journey and deliver what was needed back and forth.  But no one thanked the bridge, they were usually silent workers, doing their job with no accolades.  He cried and said he was afraid to let go of that. Afraid not to be recognized. I said that in all his life and all that he had done and been recognized for, hadn't he had enough?   That it was those who could see and encourage the value in others, give so that they could go and Become that was the work that lasted.  That was the fish that multiplied.  that was the giveaway that kept on giving.  Give without thought of reward. Work with no thought of riches. Teach so that others can soar.  Find the joy in supporting the work of others.

Perhaps he will be able to invite this Way into his heart and allow it to change his life and bring peace to his present.  Perhaps he will not be able to.  We will see

I know that the Man with no Fingers will continue his work,  I will continue mine and the world will continue to help us grow everyday.  When we all begin to truly and without reservation support each other in everyway that we can with no judgements, no looking for approval, no tax exemptions, no popular vote, no looking back to see if it was used the way we think it should be.  Just give, support, work and laugh  we will definitely have changed the world.

Im off to look in the Mirror and Remember who I AM

love and light shadow and song
mary