In this issue:
1) Welcome Letter by Sibyl McLendon
2) The Hanged Man Tarot Card by Eagle Dancing
3) Aloe Vera by Kim Newman
4) Happiness Is Within You by Theresa King
5) Editorial by Sibyl McLendon
6) The Power Of Music
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Welcome Letter
by Sibyl McLendon
Yah'ah'teh' and greetings. Another interesting and challenging week has gone by for me, I hope that yours has been a good one. I am told that Mercury is retrograde again. I am not terribly into astrology, but I have seen that when this occurs, things do tend to mess up! It is a challenge to me to find the harmony with Mercury retrograde, because it seems so annoying. The Navajo way is harmony with everything, so I am working on this one!
I told you all last week that we had gotten our car back after a 2 1/2 month challenge with the transmission. Well, the happiness of having wheels again lasted all of 5 days. Then, the new transmission quit shifting. The car had to go back to the mechanic for a new one! Luckily, this time, we were only without for 4 days. When Bobby went and picked the car up again, he did not make it half-way home before the second transmission developed a problem. This was only a minor adjustment, and we are back on the road again! I have spent a lot of time looking for the harmony in this, and what it all may mean. We all have to make transitions in our lives, every day. Whether it is effortless or a hardship depends solely on how we react to it. Do I shift easily, or do I get hung up? Patience is one of my bigger lessons to be learned in this lifetime. So, I am working on the harmonious shifting from one moment to the next. I want to be able to go forward without causing myself a problem!
I have some news about MousePages. I have finally decided to put this newsletter up as a web site. People have been encouraging me to do this for awhile. It is a large undertaking, because I have so many back issues to put up, just to get current. But, when I am done, you will be able to go to the site, read all the back issues, and get expanded articles and information about each current newsletter. I think that it will be quite nice, and useful when I am done. Keep looking for
updates!
Now, on to the next challenge. I am going to have to abandon Pages With Spirit, my greetings site. Bizland, where it is hosted, is eliminating all their free sites as of the 26th of March. I have lost 2 days trying to move the site to a new free hosting site, but it is just too much work. I have lost about 25 pages, and would have to completely remake them. I had chosen a new site, put up a bunch of the greetings, and then gone back to find that the new hosting site deleted everything! I have decided that it is a sign to let it go. So, as of March 26, it will cease to exist.
I have written an editorial (for lack of a better word) this week, about children and violence. I am totally open to feed-back on this! Also, the song I chose for The Power Of Music this week was chosen especially because of how it went with the editorial.
Well, that is all my news. Enjoy the articles this week.
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"When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don't blame the lettuce. You look into the reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce.
Yet if we have problems with our friends or our family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and arguments. That is my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change."
Thich Nhat Hanh
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The Hanged Man XIIby Eagle Dancing
This card depicts a man hanging upside down from a tree, tied by one leg. His legs form the figure 4. There is a yellow illumination around his head. The tree looks like a letter "T".
Meaning
You have reached a point in your life where things neither seem to be moving forward or backward. This is a temporary pause in you life when you can not make any sensible decisions. Patience is a virtue, so try to cultivate it. You will not be here forever. The hanged man also suggests sacrifice. Something must be given up so that something else will be gained. This can be a comfortable job or a stale relationship. If your question involves making a decision, now is not the time to make it.
Reversed
Upside down, the hanged man is warning against selfishness and materialism. There may be disastrous results if you do not think things through. Look out for bad investments, loss and reversal of fortune. Is someone trying to manipulate you, or are you attempting to manipulate someone? Stop what you are doing!
Eagle Dancing is Bobby McLendon
www.eagledancing.com
eagledancing1@mailcity.com
Get a free phone reading today by going to keen.com
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Aloe Vera
by Kim Newman
This succulent plant looks like a spineless cactus. It is reputed to have been used by Cleopatra as a skin cleanser. Native American Indians have known of the magnificent properties and used the plant for centuries. Very gentle and calm people by nature, as is Aloe Vera !!! It is a member of the Lily family and has fat, rubbery green leaves which produce a thick, clear, semi-solid gel when cut. Aloe Vera juice/gel has been analyzed as being 99.5% water. However, the remaining 0.5% contains over 20 different amino acids and carbohydrates, and many magical properties are credited to the plant's unusual juice. It contains a number of therapeutically active compounds including glycosides (a sugar derivative), polysaccharides (complex carbohydrate molecules) and volatile beneficial oils.
Aloe Vera gel soothes and calms the skin as well as softening it. It can help to heal severe burns. Cream containing Aloe Vera can be found in many First Aid boxes. Also in many shampoo's and natural skincare products. I personally love adding it to preparations myself, as I own two plants !! Just snip off a small piece of a leaf and squeeze out the gel. Studies have found that this plant gel can actually be more effective at healing radiation burns than other known products. It is for this reason that the US Army has stock piled significant quantities to be used on troops in the event of a nuclear disaster. How greedy of them!!! (Share and share alike !!!)
Aloe Vera Gel and Juice are available from Health Stores in bottles and jars. You can add this to your homemade skincare preparations if you don't own a plant (lucky me !!) A friend actually brought me mine from Mexico after a holiday !!!! (Very naughty of her !!!)
The best quality gel or juice contains 96-100% pure Aloe. Beware............don't purchase any from a store that has alcohol added to it. Read the listed ingredients please ! Alcohol diminishes the magical properties of this gift from Mother Nature, apart from the fact that as far as skincare is concerned, alcohol is detrimental to your skin. It dries out natural oils and is extremely harsh. Any alcohol added will also harm any area that is being healed by the Aloe Vera gel, so, there is no point whatsoever in using a preparation containing it.......it won't work and can harm rather than help.
Now, how to keep a plant !!! (Are you reading this Betty !!??) As it is a part of the Cactus family too, it must never be over watered, you will rot the roots and Murder the plant (Bully!) Once a week is ample. A treat once a week of cold tea (I asked my plants and they do not like milk or sugar !!!). So, just cold tea, black please !!! Always water from the bottom, never from the top directly onto the compost. Allow the top compost to a depth of about 1” to be literally bone dry. The plant will 'drink' what it needs from the base of the pot. Unless the roots are cramped keep in a small pot, so that the leaves are spread wider than the diameter of the pot itself. The plant can stay in the container in which you bought it for quite some time. I do however prefer a Terracotta one (so do my plants, they told me !!!). Yes folks, I am mad !!! So, if it was a plastic pot, transfer by 'potting on'. As the plant grows allow it to grow so that the leaves (fronds) appear to overpower the plant pot. The best compost to use is actually Cactus Compost. However, until you do re-pot, simply feed once a month with Cactus food (available from all good Garden Centres or some Florists). Tomato plant feed is excellent too. These plants do not like a draft, if you have a sunny warm windowsill they will be in 'Heaven' there. If not then keep anywhere that is draft free, with plenty of light, direct sunlight they love.
If you live in a warm climate, they love to be outside; do bring them indoors for the winter though. If it rains bring them inside so that they don't get too wet.
The gel can be applied directly to the skin to sooth, moisturize and heal. It is ideal for all skin types. I have applied it to burns obtained by 'stupidity in the kitchen' whilst removing things from the oven !!! Applied to sunburn it is marvellous. Use as after sun treatment too.
Well, that's all for this week folks !!! If you have any questions please e-mail me. Regarding care of the Aloe Vera plant or, requests for articles you would like me to write for you. I have a website too, go have a look and a laugh !!! At the contents, not the actual site itself as Sibyl 'built' the site for me..........a very talented lady and a wonderful person. I wish that the whole World could be filled with 'Sibyls' !!!!
Have a good week, best wishes to all, take care.
Love from,
Kim Newman
Get skincare help from Kim at keen.com
Kim's site: www.geocities.com/naturesskincare2001
snowpaw@graffiti.net
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"If you put an end to oppression, to every gesture of contempt, and to every evil word; if you give food to the hungry and satisfy those who are in need, then the darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon."
--Isaiah 58: 9-10
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Happiness is Within You
By Teresa King
Have you ever wondered why some people wake up in the morning as chirpy as the busy birds outside the window? While others wake up grumpy. Ever wonder why some people seem happy most the time, while others are withdrawn, sad, depressed or bitter? Well, I have. And, since I pondered I went to find out why.
It is all in attitude. Changing the way you think about things. Is the glass half full, or is it half empty? Is the sun bright and beautiful or is it hot and miserable? Does the rain falling day after day drag yours spirits down, or do you ever look at the beauty of the rain?
Every situation in life has two sides as we have good we also have to have evil, for without evil we would not recognize good. Without cold, there would not be any warm. Without noise, we could not recognize the beauty of silence. When Einstein failed, he didn't think failure, he basically thought, oh I have found one more way that my idea won't work. When Lincoln tried for president countless times, he didn't think failure, he thought about how he could improve his campaign so he could win an election.
Attitude, and how you perceive things are the key to your own happiness. If you are feeling overwhelmed in a situation in life, rather than sitting there feeling sorry for yourself, think positive. Find something that you can learn and gain from the situation.
A death in the family is a tragic thing. But, look around, did the death not bring the rest of the family together for grieving and emotional support and closer to each other as they talked about memories of their loved ones? Did not death bring into mind the frailty of life, and the knowing that you could leave this world any minute and that tomorrow could be your last day? Did you do all you wanted to do in this life time yet? Or, have you sat back making excuses for each day of why you have not reached for dreams?
Attitude: wake up in the morning, smile in the mirror, welcome each day with the love you would give your precious child and savor the day. When things are down, turn them around. When things are happy, pile that happy time, into your mind, where you can pull it out anytime you need a bit of cheering up. Embrace life and be grateful for things in life.
Attitude. Have you ever noticed how happy it feels to give? Giving of ourselves is wondrous thing. To see the smile of gratitude upon someone's radiant face. Or hear the small thank you for your help, is a great way to start on an attitude change.
Attitude, don't fixate on small things. Look at the larger scale. It is amazing that in a true crisis, you can rise up to the challenge, but it is always the last little small thing that throws people off into an angry fit.
Remember, many people are born blessed with good health and money are not happy. And, many people who have suffered and struggled are the happiest of all. It is all on how you look at it. So, keep your chin up, and try to find the bright side to every situation that life throws you, for inside yourself lies true happiness.
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Copyright Teresa King
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It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get.
--Morarji Desai
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Editorial
By Sibyl McLendon
You have never seen me include an editorial in MousePages before, but I feel compelled to speak out concerning 2 events that occurred here in the U.S. this past week. They are the latest school shooting in San Diego, and the conviction of the 15-year-old boy to life in prison, without parole, for the killing of a girl when he was 12.
First I would like to address school shootings. As we all know, this is a new and frightening trend in today's society. The media bombards us with every new act of school violence. Days are spent interviewing the shooter's friends, the friends and families of the victims, endless debates of why this has happened, and what can be done. With each new incident, I have become increasingly agitated by what I hear on the news.
Without fail, the teens that take guns to school and start shooting are the outcasts. They are described as not fitting in, as having been bullied and tormented by the other students at school. “Troubled”, they always say, “What can be done?”
Well, hello, folks, wake up and smell the coffee! If these kids were not being tormented, bullied and treated like lepers, do you think they would feel so hopeless, so lost, as to need to shoot people and, a lot of the time, then kill themselves? The boy who did the shooting in San Diego this week was described by former schoolmates that he knew before moving to San Diego as a delightful boy, happy and full of love. Everyone liked him. He fit in. So, the difference between that boy and the one in San Diego who shot and killed 2 people was what he was treated like in the new
school.
I was a total outcast growing up. I was taller than everyone else, fat, shy and troubled. I was bullied and called names. I never fit in, from elementary school right on through high school. So I know exactly what that feels like. True, I did not get a gun and shoot anyone. But it was a different world then, no one had guns, shooting people as a way of getting rid of pain was not even thought about. Were I a teen in today's society, being treated the same way that I was treated then, I do not know what I would do. And that is the honest truth. I would like to think that I would not end up on national TV as a murderer, but I can't really say for sure. Because I know full well how it feels. And it hurts.
So, what is the solution? It begins in each and every home. If you have not taught your children to respect everyone, no matter if they look or act just like them or not, then you are a big part of the problem! Peace, harmony and respect begin at home, folks! There are far too many children out there whose parents do not have a clue how they act, what they are doing or whom they are doing it with! If your child is an intolerant bully, then you had better watch out, because some child may want to kill them, too.
What has this to do with the boy who is going to spend the rest of his life in prison at the ripe old age of 15? A lot. As a society, we have somehow decided that the answer to our problems is punishment instead of family values. We fail our children at every turn, we do not teach them to live in peace and harmony in this world, and then when things go wrong, we react by stronger laws to try and solve the problems that we have created for ourselves, by ourselves. Think back to when you were 12 years old. Were you capable of making adult decisions? Of acting and reacting in a responsible, adult manner? Did you always think the consequences of your actions out, slowly, rationally and before you acted? I really doubt it. Even at 14 or 15, did you never do anything that now seems incredibly stupid? Maybe, that you were just very lucky not to have been caught
doing?
To me, the idea of putting any child under the age of 16 in prison for life without the chance of parole is unbelievable. To say that this child is hopelessly lost, can never be changed, or taught or rehabilitated? To put them in the worst, most horrific place that man ever conceived? What have we become here? What does it say for us as a people that we fail children every hour of every day, let pedophiles walk the street after spending just a few years in prison for hurting a child, allow parents to beat, torture and kill their children every day, ignore it when other children torment a misfit to the point of murder and suicide… and our solution to it all is to throw a child into hell on earth for the rest of his life when he makes a terrible mistake.
Please, let us all look into our own hearts, our own families and our own belief systems for the solutions here. If each and every one of us cleans our own house, this problem can be solved.
I can be reached at turquoise_woman@graffiti.net
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Deeds of violence in our society are performed largely by those trying to establish their self-esteem, to defend their self-image, and to demonstrate that they, too, are significant.
--Rollo May
Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.
--Henry Miller
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The Power Of Music
AT SEVENTEEN
(Janis Ian)
I learned the truth at seventeen
That love was meant for beauty queens
And high school girls with clear skinned smiles
Who married young and then retired.
The valentines I never knew
The Friday night charades of youth
Were spent on one more beautiful
At seventeen I learned the truth.
And those of us with ravaged faces
Lacking in the social graces
Desperately remained at home
Inventing lovers on the phone
Who called to say come dance with me
and murmured vague obscenities
It isn't all it seems
At seventeen.
A brown eyed girl in hand me downs
Whose name I never could pronounce
said, Pity please the ones who serve
They only get what they deserve.
The rich relationed hometown queen
Married into what she needs
A guarantee of company
And haven for the elderly.
Remember those who win the game
Lose the love they sought to gain
Indebentures of quality
And dubious integrity.
Their small town eyes will gape at you
in dull surprise when payment due
Exceeds accounts received
At seventeen.
To those of us who know the pain
Of valentines that never came,
And those whose names were never called
When choosing sides for basketball.
It was long ago and far away
The world was younger than today
And dreams were all they gave for free
To ugly duckling girls like me.
We all play the game and when we dare
To cheat ourselves at solitaire
Inventing lovers on the phone
Repenting other lives unknown
That call and say, come dance with me
and murmur vague obscenities
At ugly girls like me
At seventeen.
© Rude Girl Publishing, All Rights Reserved
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Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.
He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.
--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
