Winter Solstice Launch

This past Monday the 21^st, I drove down to Las Vegas to meet my friend Sabrina and her husband Jason for a few days of fun and R & R since none of us celebrate Christmas.  All in all, the whole week was quite an adventure!  We stayed at the Luxor Hotel and Casino.  When we got there, it was not busy at all, but as the 25^th approached, more and more people checked in. 

We had a quick lunch and then headed over to the Jewelry and Mineral of Las Vegas store.  What a place!  It was chocked full of gem and mineral specimens, carvings, jewelry, and of course, crystal skulls.  Sabrina and I each bought one.  I have never seen so many amethyst geodes as I saw there.

This is the largest carved quartz crystal sphere in the world coming in at 12,000 pounds and 6 feet in diameter!

We got back to my room in the hotel in time for our Winter Solstice launch, which we had prearranged before the trip.  In addition to Sabrina and me in Las Vegas, we had Kathleen in Cortez, Kalika in Albuquerque, and Lindsay in Denver.  It was so nice for me to see the “girls” after all this time!  After catching up a bit, we ran the launch as if everyone was together in person with one person being the launchee, one being the shaman, and one the time keeper, then rotating places.  It went perfectly!  After each person was launched and brought back, we did some sharing of experiences before rotating and repeating.  I got pretty far out, and was a bit ungrounded for a while after coming back.  As an added bonus, my room faced the Luxor pyramid, which had just turned on its lights by the time we were finished.  Here is a somewhat fuzzy photo of that. 

As it was then time to get something to eat, Sabrina, Jason and I walked down the Las Vegas strip on our way to the restaurant.  Here are a few photos. 

To finish off our evening, on the way back from the restaurant, we walked past the Bellagio Hotel just in time to enjoy their fountain display set to music. 

More posts to come!

Winter Solstice

 

We are having an unusually warm weekend here in SW Utah leading up to the Winter Solstice which will occur early on Monday morning.  For this most important event, I always had a pot luck and shamanic fire ceremony at my home in Colorado.  As I write this, I am remembering one particularly cold Solstice where it was 13° when we went out back for the ceremony, and it was 11° by the time we finished.  In spite of that, I stayed outside an additional half hour after everyone left to enjoy the crisp, clear evening and the rising moon lighting up the snowy scene.  No such luck this year!  I will be doing a balmy bowl burning tomorrow night in my yard. 

So take this opportunity to be grateful for all of the blessings you experienced this past year.  Remember that even life’s difficulties can be a blessing if you look for the silver lining.  It is always there!  Sunday or Monday would be good days for contemplation and recapitulation.  Plant your seeds of intent during this darkest time of the year so they will sprout and grow.   You are in charge of your life. 

In the mean time, I send great gratitude and blessings to each of you reading this.  I am finishing up my 8^th year of writing this blog, and all of you have been an energetic part of it all along! 

Below are photos from today’s hike down near St George with the Rusty Iron Trekkers, a local Cedar City group.  We hiked the Yellow Knolls Trail.  Enjoy!  

After climbing through an area of volcanic boulders, we dropped down into a shallow valley and were greeted by a series of checker-boarded sandstone hills.  We lingered there a while as the sight was mesmerizing.  I have no explanation for the geometric shapes that we saw.

On the other side of the valley we saw a different style of checker-boarding in the sandstone hills.  A later volcanic eruption had spilled the lava rocks over the sandstone creating quite a contrast.

Utah agave, a desert plant.

On the road back to the trail head, we saw a huge lava flow with mountains in the background. 

Looking Back

 

It has been a little over a year since I made my big move to Utah.  This past year has drifted by as if I were in a dream.  Time seemed to be warping.  I am sure that part of my feeling this way can be attributed to the move and the anchoring into a new place.   By the time I was starting to feel comfortable here, COVID and the shutdowns and cancellation of so many events occurred.  All of the outdoor hiking activities were happening, which was great, but, looking back, I really missed the many opportunities to meet and network with the people who were involved in the canceled activities.  Interacting on the internet just doesn’t do it for me.  Certainly, you do get the information that is presented in the various webinars, but the interpersonal interaction just isn’t there. 

So the upcoming week leading up to the Winter Solstice is very important.  It is a time for introspection and review of the past year.  What worked for you, and what didn’t?  What would you like to do differently next year?  For me, I take the shamanic viewpoint, as the Solstice is the end of my previous year and the start of the next.  You may choose to do your reflection and recapitulation leading up to New Year’s Eve instead. 

I do not celebrate Christmas, so the hustle and bustle and expectations and drama are not a part of this time of year for me.  I prefer the quiet of the shortest days and the deepening of the long nights in which to do my introspection and intending.  That is actually very easy to do where I am living now, as it is very quiet here. 

As I was reflecting back into the past today, I was remembering how difficult the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas was during my married days.  The social and family obligations were just too much for me.  This was also a time before I seriously embarked on my true spiritual path.  Shortly after my divorce, I discovered the book by Elaine Aron entitled “The Highly Sensitive Person”.  That explained everything!  The hallmark of the highly sensitive person is that they get over stimulated by what others experience as every day events.  Since that time, I have given myself permission to bow out, say no, or not engage if the situation is not harmonious to my temperament.  Life has been much happier. 

This will be the second year where I have not had my Winter Solstice pot luck and Shamanic fire ceremony.  I do miss that.  Perhaps in the future, when more personal interactions are possible, I may round up a group here that would like to partake in that event.  I do encourage all of you to do at least a bowl burning around the 21^st, or perhaps for New Year’s Eve.  There is always a 5 day window around the solstices, so the day or 2 before or after will work just fine.  I will probably do mine on Sunday night. 

On a positive note, I will be meeting my friend and student Sabrina and her husband Jason in Las Vegas for a fun 5 days starting on the 21^st.  We also have a remote launching planned with some of my other students, which should be a wonderful event.  All of you are welcome to tune in at 4 PM Pacific time on Monday the 21^st when we will be meeting on line.  The launch will take place within an hour after that.  Feel free to report any interesting happenings that you experience!  I am hoping to post again at least once before I leave, too, and of course after I get back with photos.    

On the Beach

 

Late on Tuesday, I returned from a fabulous Thanksgiving vacation with relatives in Florida.  We were at a beach resort on Sanibel Island, which is on the gulf side near Ft Meyers.  It is also known as Shell Island, as the beaches there are covered with sea shells.  So much so that many people walk the beaches with their shoes on. 

Travel was fairly easy.  I went through 5 different airports and 5 flights all together, and had an empty seat next to me on all flights.  Everything was clean, and people wore masks as soon as they entered the airports.  I had no fear about catching anything! 

I met up with family on my father’s side.  Except for the same deal 2 years ago, I hadn’t had much interaction with them since 1995, so it was really nice to get reacquainted.  So we did a lot of walking on the beach, beach combing and bird watching.  Very laid back.  And of course, we had a 20 pound turkey that provided leftovers for days.  I did do something different.  We took a 12 mile bike ride on rental bikes the day after I arrived.  I hadn’t been on a bike since my Jr. High days, so that was an adventure.  We saw alligators in 2 different places on that ride, too. 

I hope all of you had a really nice Thanksgiving holiday.  In spite of the difficulties many are experiencing now, it is important to remember that there is always something to be thankful for.  Below are some photos of the trip.

Lots of shore birds.

An osprey with the nearly full moon.

A young man catching fish in a net to feed a hungry egret.

Our resort in the evening.

The beach covered with shells.

Lovely sunsets.

And finally, the new exhibit at the Shell Museum featuring a pretty big octopus!