Imbolc and the 78th Birthday Moon
Monday gratefuls: Shadow, my Shadow. My son and Seoah. In Minnesota. Mini-Splits. Oak logs. Snow. Physical. Roy. Ed. Dick. Bill. Sheepshead. Card games. College. Deep conversations. Philosophy. Anthropology. Two disciplines that have shaped me, my thought. Resistance is not futile. Trump does not equal Borg.
Sparks of Joy and Awe: Returning to a more usual day after Shadow immersion
Week Kavannah: Love Ahavah.
One brief shining: Shadow peeks out from the bedroom door, retreats, comes out again, retreats, rinse and repeat, still very shy, as if the world will fall on her if she ventures out too quickly.
Day 6 of the Shadow trial. I alternate between thinking I can’t handle this and knowing I can if I can find the right rhythm with her. Which won’t happen until she can calm, feel ok here. Which will take a while.
Occurred to me that she might be an introvert, worn out by too much time with me. Probably not. But I suppose it’s possible. Anyhow I intend to spend less time with her today. Give her some space.
Realized this three week trial is not about Shadow any more than it is about me. Will she take to me? Am I able to speak dog with a puppy? I know the language of dogs with adult dogs and feel confident with them. I’m learning that puppies are not just real young dogs, but their own universe of needs, wants, feelings. Harder for me due to lack of familiarity. Last puppies were Tor and Orion and they both died years ago.
The upside of this is that it’s an opportunity to learn about a new phase of doggy life, to reshape part of my life into a new pattern, new at least for the last four years, a pattern of mutuality at home.
No matter how it resolves this will have been, is being, a deep learning.
Just a moment in oligarchworld: Trump says the courts don’t have the right to remove Musk’s hand from the joystick of Federal Disbursements. I’m hearing an echo of JD’s quote of Andrew Jackson about the Supreme Court: “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it.” This also echoes Stalin’s quote: “How many divisions does the Pope have?”
These are tyrants testing the power of civil authority. Jackson went ahead with the shameful Indian Removal act, better known as the Trail of Tears. Stalin terrorized and murdered millions of his own citizens. Combine this with Musk’s snappy salute and a shiver of fear should run up your spine.
Here’s a resource about the New Apostolic Reformation that explains what it is. Why are they important? They are ride or die Trumpers, believing he will usher a world favorable to the Second Coming.
*Although Jackson is widely quoted as saying, “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it,” his actual words to Brigadier General John Coffee were: “The decision of the supreme court has fell still born, and they find that it cannot coerce Georgia to yield to its mandate.”