Moving to Las Vegas Tomorrow

All my possessions are in 6 suitcases and cardboard boxes and we're flying out of Philadelphia early tomorrow morning. So dear friends, next time you'll hear from me will be from Nevada in a few days!

Super kisses and hugs and xoxoxoox to all my darling peeps in Philly. I'll miss you.

Walk in a Sacred Manner :: Oglala wisdom and photos

Every step you take 

should be a prayer.

And if every step

you take is a prayer,

then you will always

be walking in a 

sacred manner.

-Oglala Lakota holyman

A very great vision is needed and 

the man who has it must follow it 

as the eagle seeks 

the deepest blue of the sky.

-Crazy Horse

The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood.

-Black Elk

True Peace

The first peace, which is the most important, 

is that which comes within the souls of people 

when they realize their relationship, 

their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, 

and when they realize that at the center 

of the universe dwells Wakan-Taka (the Great Spirit), 

and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. 

This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. 

The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, 

and the third is that which is made between two nations. 

But above all you should understand that there can never 

be peace between nations until there is known that true peace, 

which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men. 

-Black Elk (1863-1950)

…when you are at that center within you and 

I am at that place within me, 

we shall be one. 

-Crazy Horse

It is the mothers, not the warriors, who create a people and guide their destiny.

-Chief Luther Standing Bear

Like the grasses showing tender faces to each other, thus should we do, 

for this was the wish of the Grandfathers of the World. 

-Black Elk

The world is a library and its books are 

the stones, leaves, grass, brooks, birds, and animals. 

-Chief Luther Standing Bear

Dream About a Tribe

I found a tribe

in the bottom of the ocean.

Tattoos were alive 

on their bodies and 

sober faces.

They spoke a miraculous language.

I led them out of the ocean.

No one understood 

what my people said.

They were prosecuted.

words: me

pics: Lilly's blog

The Crop Circle Alphabet Amethyst Cookie Party

It's my birthday! This particular body of mine has been circling the sun for 28 years now! It's been interesting! Guess of which one I just gobbled down the half off - the cookie or the amethyst? Yum!! Daniel has been spoiling me today, starting with foot massage at midnight when my birthday technically started. Yum!! This morning we went shoe shopping and he got me shoesies :)

And now he just brought me homemade hummus sandwich. I feel like such a princess. It's fabulous to have your own personal Royal Spoiler! :)

Above is the crazy and mystical black and white crop circle magnificence I got for myself. And tonight we're going to Mi Lah for dinner, it's a really nice little vegan restaurant downtown. I hiiighhhly recommend their Apple Wood Smoked Butternut Squash and Coconut Soup but I do not recommend their 90s website that has dreadful jingly background music.

These would make excellent tattoos btw.

Lilly Mooncat Cosmic Tribal Alien Jewelry

I'm moving to Vegas in a week and a half. !! Casinos aside, I think Nevada is equally famous for its alien activity - Roswell, Area 51... 
.

Lilly Mooncat

So yesterday when I noticed that Lilly Mooncat from the Andromeda galaxy is having a huge sale in her nebulous fabulous splendiferous  Etsy shop until the 19th, I jumped on it! What better jewelry to wear to get to the real spirit of Nevada than unique handmade cosmic tribal bio-mechanical alien jewelry? One of my infatuations and acquisitions is this alien ring:
.

and this psychedelic necklace:

These are some of my other favorites:

"I am not of this Earth. I came here from a blue and purple planet deep in the universe. I merged with this Earth. She gave birth to me through her rivers. I grew strong and remembered my shamanic past. I share the magic and the knowledge of my alien tribe through my artwork." Lilly Mooncat

Lately I've Been Grateful

Lately I've had many moments in my daily life when images of hungry or sick African children and families quickly flash through my mind. I also think of the horrible suffering that's going on in Syria, in other countries with war - or here in the USA. People that are abused, sick, poor, or starving. Did you know, every hour of every day 300 children die of malnutrition?

There are so many of us humans who live in constant fear and terror. Nothing is for granted. Life is about survival from one day to the next. Sometimes while I'm jogging or working on my computer an image of a little girl with braids, dark teary eyes and dirt on her face flashes through my mind. Or an image of an emaciated mother with her head-injured baby that I saw in India.

Just how lucky am I to have painkillers handy to take now as much as I need for my mouth pain (I just got a molar pulled). How fortunate am I to have so much healthy, organic foods available to me next door in the grocery store for money which I'm privileged to have because as a young white woman it's not hard to get a job. (I'm not going to talk about white privilege now but it's a concept that's related and good to be aware of…)

None of this makes me depressed but just more grateful. I feel more aware. I try to do what I can to live in a smart, ecological and compassionate way, consciously increasing good habits bit by bit. I try not to take the luxury I live in for granted: I'm grateful I have clean water to drink and wash, ample food, my fingers are not hurting for having to carry heavy loads… or having to carry my daily drinking water from a well three miles away. Instead my worries include a wifi that goes off once or twice a week for a couple of minutes. 

Humanity has so much potential to make things work. I think the first step for positive change to happen more and more on this planet is to change our consciousness - the rest will follow. From quantum physics to ancient scriptures to common sense, that's pretty much it. 

“As irrigators lead water where they want, as archers make their arrows straight, as carpenters carve wood, the wise shape their minds.” Buddha

“Our thoughts create our reality -- where we put our focus is the direction we tend to go.” Peter McWilliams

Yeah, every time I write a post about my thoughts it ends in trying to save the world :)

Bhagavad-gita Quotes :: Shabby Chic Krishna Shrine Wallpaper

Today is Janmastami, the appearance or 'birthday' of Krishna 5000 years ago. His teachings are recorded in the book Bhagavad-gita which I love and will share a few of my favorite mantras from it:

yo 'ntah-sukho 'ntar-aramas 

tathantar-jyotir eva yah 

sa yogi brahma-nirvanam 

brahma-bhuto 'dhigacchati

One whose happiness is within, who is active within, who rejoices within and is illumined within, is actually the perfect mystic. He is liberated in the Supreme, and ultimately he attains the Supreme. (Chapter 5, mantra 2)

yathakasa-sthito nityam 

vayuh sarvatra-go mahan 

tatha sarvani bhutani 

mat-sthanity upadharaya

As the mighty wind, blowing everywhere, always rests in ethereal space know that in the same manner all beings rest in Me. (Chapter 9, mantra 6)

suhrn-mitrary-udasina- 

madhyastha-dvesya-bandhusu 

sadhusv api ca papesu 

sama-buddhir visisyate

A person is said to be still further advanced when he regards all--the honest well-wisher, friends and enemies, the envious, the pious, the sinner and those who are indifferent and impartial--with an equal mind. (Chapter 6, mantra 9)

tesam evanukampartham 

aham ajnana-jam tamah 

nasayamy atma-bhavastho 

jnana-dipena bhasvata

Out of compassion for them, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance. (Chapter 10, mantra 11)

My sister Kaisu has a beautiful Krishna corner in her room and I've had a photo of it as my desktop wallpaper for a while now. It makes my laptop look like a magical portal into a sweet spiritual dimension dwelling :) If you double-click on the photo and open it in another tab or window, you'll get the full size version which makes a great wallpaper.

Wishing you lots of love and sweetness!

Hare Krishna!

Children of Eternity :: We Are In It Now

"We do not realize that we are children of eternity. If we did, then success would be no success, and failure would be no failure to us." Joseph Barber Lightfoot

"You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment." Henry David Thoreau

"Every action in our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity." Edwin Hubbel Chapin

"Eternity is not something that begins after you're dead. It is going on all the time. We are in it now." C. Perkins Gilman

A couple of weeks ago, in Finland, I styled my sister Kaisu and my other sister Minna took photos of her (here!). Afterwards I wanted to dress up too because what's more fun that dressing up?! Kaisu styled me, pearled my turban up, we put some feathers in Daniel's beard and a pirate knife on his belt and so we had another shoot! At one point he pulled out the knife and we got some hilarious shots but then Minna stopped the knife action, she said it was "too kinky". LOL! Or should I say, YARRRR!

And finally, onward to new adventures! That way!

"If time is not real, then the dividing line between this world and eternity, between suffering and bliss, between good and evil, is also an illusion." Herman Hesse