22.02.2022

Happy Twosday! February 22, 2022, i.e., 2-22-2022, is a mathematical rarity - special as well as rare.

The date boasts of being both a palindrome and an ambigram. A palindrome is a word, phrase, or sequence that reads the same backwards as forwards. An ambigram is a word that reads the same right-side-up and upside-down.

The number 2 is a portal into other realms — it is a divine number with varied meanings and portents. Angelic, biblical, spiritual, symbolic — what power does its energy hold and reveal?

self care

“And every day, the world will drag you by the hand, yelling, 'This is important! And this is important! And this is important! You need to worry about this! And this! And this!' And each day, it’s up to you to yank your hand back, put it on your heart and say, 'No. This is what’s important.'" ~ Iain Thomas #NoteToSelf

heart throb detail by David Michael Bowers

Setting boundaries is an essential step in mental health maintenance and gaining the safety, space, and respect we need. Creating our personal rules or defining limitations we prefer. Setting boundaries guide other people towards how to behave towards one another. 

We avoid harming our self-esteem when we start setting boundaries. By drawing the line, we can protect ourselves from being taken advantage of by others and ensure others meet our needs. 

Why should we be setting boundaries and how do we set them for other people - to ensure others respect our space, body, and being?

borderlands of dreams

The hypnagogic state of consciousness is the experience of the transitional state from wakefulness to 

sleep during the onset of sleep. Its opposite state - hypnopompic, is the transitional state from sleep into wakefulness. These are the borderlands of dreams - thresholds of consciousness with extreme potential and possibility.

Mental phenomena that may occur in this phase include hypnagogic hallucinations, lucid thought, lucid dreaming, and sleep paralysis. The latter two phenomena are themselves separate sleep conditions that are sometimes experienced during the hypnagogic state.

In this transitional time between the sleep self and awake self lies a precious void of self-regeneration. Threads between wakefulness and dreamtime weave into the tapestry of cognition and consciousness. 

Moth Moon © K.A.K. Lecky 2018 @arctic.selkie

Waking up, in that moment,⁠
coming from the dream world, ⁠
the real world, ⁠
to this one, ⁠
before rolling over, ⁠
before feet touch the floor,⁠
the feel of other places⁠
still swimming around me,⁠
I am in between time. ⁠
⁠
Sometimes lost, ⁠
sometimes found,⁠
leaping from one world⁠
to another,⁠
carrying in my rucksack⁠
more secrets⁠
in the hidden pouch inside,⁠
waiting⁠
for just the right moment to⁠
empty them onto the page. ⁠
⁠
~ excerpt © Elise Stuart 2018⁠

a return to our earth nature

There is a learning curve of how to tend to oneself and each other during this time of dismemberment and simultaneous rememberment. Mostly our minds are focused on what is broken and what is not working. 

We do need to take actions now and in the future but first we must have the energy to deal with what is coming. A period of growth is required to gather the energy for our continued journey that does not end until our soul decides it is time to go home.

When we move into a state of growth and take our place in this life, we must remember that we came here to be caretakers of the Earth.

art by Autumn Skye

We must step out of the dimension of division and constantly return to the divine spark that lives in all of us. That is connected to the creative forces of the universe which are always singing the song of dismemberment and dissolution as well as the song of rememberment and new creations.

When we step into the dimension of recognizing that there is only oneness, love, light, and lessons for our spiritual growth we can be held by a state of inner peace within.

But we must let go of fear, self-hate, division, and hyper vigilance. We need to ground to the land and feel the land supporting us for that is the real support we need. 

We need the support of all the elements who have been here for billions of years and have been through and contributed to the storms of change that we have been going through since life began on this Earth. 

You can read the full message of Sandra Ingerman on her website. 

covid coloniality

With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging around the world, people are still dying of other preventable diseases like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and Ebola. With the arrival of the latest mutation, Omicron - we're realizing that ignorance, entitlement, and hardheadedness can kill us just as easily too. 

Colonialism refers to the political and economic subordination of a nation or people to another nation. Distinct from colonialism, coloniality refers to the long-standing patterns of power that emerged as a result of colonialism. 

That's especially true in underdeveloped countries, places physician and anthropologist Eugene Richardson calls the global south. 

© AFP / Ed Jones - 'Fearless Girl'

The global public health system is broken because it perpetuates an imbalance of power rooted in colonialism. Reparations and economic investment are needed to improve public health and medical care in these countries.

awed & inspired

Throughout the ages, the Milky Way has hung above humanity in the sky, a beautiful marvel shining steadily each night. 

Nowadays, most city-bound folks rarely see the full splendor of our home galaxy stretching across the heavens. 

Luckily, there are photographers all over the world with the skills to show off what many sky watchers are missing. 

Take a look at the winners of the 2021 Milky Way Photographer of the Year competition from the travel and photography site Capture the Atlas. 

Pablo Ruiz - Riaño, Spain

this new year

Surrendering to spirit revelation
I gain the light of cosmic being;
The power of thinking, growing clearer,
Gains strength to give myself to me,
And quickening there frees itself
From thinker’s energy my sense of self.

(Rudolf Steiner, Verse 39 - translated from German by Ruth and Hans Pusch)

Originally published by East of the Sun | West of the Moon. 

The longer we spend apart, the harder it is to return. The harsher the rub on tender and exposed parts. The bigger the resistance to input. The sorer the spots of vulnerability. The thicker the amor required. The heavier its burden to bear. 

winter solstice 2021

The date of the winter solstice varies from year to year and can fall anywhere from December 20 to 23, but the 21st and 22nd are the most common dates. For 2021 here in the East Coast, it falls on Tuesday, December 21, at 10:59 am EST.

Getty Images

Today Yule also marks the winter solstice although this is far from how it originated. It is the shortest day and longest night of the year - as the Sun gets its lowest elevation in the sky. Apart from the marking of a new season, the winter solstice also holds a significant symbol for the Sun. 

Saint Nick & Santa

“The modern American Santa was born in the Mediterranean, evolved across northern Europe, and finally assumed his now-familiar form on the shores of the New World.” ~ National Geographic, 2013

This reference to Saint Nicholas of Myra (more popularly known as Santa Claus), other characters such as the Dutch SinterKlass (directly inspired by Nicholas), and the English Father Christmas as well as some Germanic and Scandinavian folklore. 

the many renditions of a holiday icon

conserve life in death

According to a study published in the Berkeley Planning Journal, funerals use enough wood to build 4.5 million houses each year. Two thousand seven hundred tons of copper and bronze are buried annually, along with 104,272 tons of steel and 1.6 million hectares of forest. Maintaining the manicured appearances of traditional cemeteries, with their perfectly tended lawns, requires gallons of fertilizer and hours of lawn mower use. ~ Garielle Anctil, A Death Full of Life

For as long as humans have lived, we have also died. As populations increase and cemeteries multiply - risks of death and disease spread quickly.

The world soon became overpopulated and polluted and causes of death have multiplied along with growing numbers. Famine, wars, disease, pandemics, genocide - countless natural and manmade causes for humanity's demise and disposal became a growing concern.

image by Ashim D. Silva in Unsplash

One thing is certain - cemeteries can play an essential role in hosting ecosystems. Although with good reason they also have a bad environmental rap.

City planners, in particular, can play a key role in promoting conservation burials by incorporating burial practice into the larger context of public infrastructure planning. Taking a role in the development of the next generation of cemeteries.