Indian actress Shriya Saran in black 2
Thursday, March 31, 2011
MANHOOD TEACHING: fire in the dark
PART 16
“Times come and go feeling no love returning after loving and building family, friendships, and community. Those are illusions, and shadows. Not feeling loved is an opportunity to retreat to a private place and pity yourself. Pity runs its course leaving nothing left save a chance to explore why you have been loved. That, in time, leaves you the chance to touch the divine flow of energies. That energy does not dissipate into the wind like sands in the open palm. No, it becomes child play.” - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories
Femi Boma Ibim's locks
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
MANHOOD TEACHING: dialogue between Elders
Femi Boma Ibim as art
PART 53Selu, Corn Mother
“It is the Mother's energy that generates the life forces dormant in the men of their lives. The story of Adam and Eve has done enough damage to the psyche of people, and killed enough women, and demonized enough life affirming rites of passages, ceremonies, rituals, and essential teachings into and from the higher mysteries of Life, and foiled the dreams of Life lived more abundantly. It is time for a Creation story that will enrich and inform life from a light source without the destructive elements that has killed the wombs of our Mothers, and our Mother, the Earth. This is alive at the core of my Medicine, my teachings. This is fundamental to the birth of man. This is the introduction into the manhood you, and many other women are praying to see.” - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories
"The shame of Man is not that He commits unclean acts upon Women. It is that the masculine energetics of this worlde are so readily dedicated to the destructive force against the Sacred Feminine of all Life. In doing so Man destroys all that makes Him sustainable as a Lifeform.” –Ngaronoa Mereana Taki
“Yes, it is true. We are also in a time of the Shaking of the Old Ways. It is a frightening time as those old paradigms are being unlearned one man at a time in one circle after another in various parts of the world we live in...” - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories
“I will not dance to war drums. I will pray.” – Adam Aba-Husain
“I will dance. I will pray. I will speak the truth, and to dark powers I will continue to speak the truth, and teach as best I can under the threat of death, and the promise of light.” - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories
“I think at our core, the core of our being creation stories are alive and directing our thoughts, and actions. If anything changes it starts from the deepest places within us. At the beginning is the truth of our story. At the beginning of our story is the truth.” – Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories
“We must first understand the separation, then the duality and Oneness. We separated from what was known and within that separation we loss the balance of self, true love of self and our connection to All things. I think we must first understand that story is a part of our DNA, or human record, and I too believe it is at the core. Now! I do think we must first find true love within in order to KNOW the balance. Once we have done that we can show then tell. Most of us have known so much despair that recognizing true love is hard. I am not using unconditional love because I do not think it walks far enough.” -Grandmother Dawn Sky Weaver
“You don't think unconditional love goes far enough?” – Dawn Wolf
“No. Because True Love is the All Unconditional only defines a part of human values. True love need no definition because it is TRUE.And we know true…True love KNOWS respect, compassion, service, peace, joy, etc.” – Grandmother Dawn Sky Weaver
Femi Boma Ibim as art
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
CONTRASTS: the American Dream
Miss Universe 2007 Dayana Mendoza unclothed
POVERTY
“I hear it in your voice: the breaking down of one's spirit. It occurs when we, as a People, or for ourselves, look out for the government's help in a pitiful way; our words tinged with righteous indignation. We might have been great people at one time, but we are no longer great people in full control of our destinies, or our sense of who we are. There is a system (you know this) we are being asked to be successful within that was not designed for us. Nor have we been taught how to maneuver in it to become financially successful.
It is very hard on your reservation. I have visited there, and it broke my heart. Coupled with the view held by the majority population, and the government’s view of Indian peoples, as Supreme Court Justice Scalia stated August 9, 2009; “United States policy is revolved around conquest… So, Indian nations are conquered nations, and the treaties have been upheld!”
Re-inventing one’s entire being, as an Indian, is a strategic nightmare. How do we feed our people? How do we feed ourselves? How do we? is a lead into numerous questions. I understand this as an African-Crow Indian man.” – Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories (Dawn Wolf)
AFRICAN WOMAN AS HEROINE
African women in the market by Quasu Assase Yaa
African woman ancient of days by Kefa Ab Menaughk Ma'at
Monday, March 28, 2011
the SARTORIALIST: woman in the streets of Angelika, Milan
Monday, March 28, 2011
"I saw this young lady in Milan several times this past season. She is one of the crop of new bloggers. I loved that she's a bigger, curvier girl than most of the other bloggers who you see in the the press and tend to represent the genre. The subtle thing she achieves so successfully in these two looks is to complement the sturdy but beautiful shape of her legs with an equally strong shoe. A daintier shoe would be overpowered but these shoes create a beautiful harmony for the lower half of her body.
Tomorrow I'll post an image of a different young lady I met in Paris with a similarly curvy body type but a different method of creating body harmony." ~ the Sartorialist
Cleo Johnson, founder of nation’s first black-owned modeling school, dies at 88
By Lauren Wiseman, Friday, March 18
Cleo Johnson, a Chicago model who founded the nation’s first black-owned modeling and charm school, which helped students gain self-confidence to improve their opportunities in life, died March 8 at her Chicago home. She was 88. Her death was reported by the Chicago Tribune, but the cause was not disclosed.
Mrs. Johnson taught modeling for 50 years and emphasized the three components of her signature motto, PPC: poise, personality and charm.
“If you try, if you believe in yourself, the color of your skin doesn’t mean a thing,” Mrs. Johnson told the Chicago Tribune in 1992. “Your knowledge, your abilities and what you feel about yourself — that’s what’s important. And that’s more important than any turn or walk I teach my models.”
Her definition of a model was not a man or woman strutting down a runway but rather someone worthy of being imitated or followed.
“Modeling and beauty are really my life,” she said. “But what I stress most is self-esteem. Self-motivation. I want [the models] to believe in themselves.”
In addition to aspiring fashion models, ministers, business owners and journalists took Mrs. Johnson’s classes. Some of her notable students included actress Sherri “Peaches” Brewer, who appeared in the movie “Shaft,” former U.S. representative Cardiss Collins (D-Ill.) and soul singer Minnie Riperton.
“Minnie Riperton was sent here by the record company,” Mrs. Johnson said in a 2005 interview with ABC News. “They said, ‘We have a girl we want to send to you for you to get together, because she’s just a hippie.’ ”
Cleo Johnson’s School of Charm and Modeling Agency opened in 1956 in the basement of her South Side Chicago home with a homemade six-foot ramp flanked by a six-foot mirror. Her first students were three of her neighbor’s children and two of her nieces.
Her popularity grew, and the school moved twice before closing in 2007.
Mrs. Johnson was born in Louin, Miss., to a poor family, and her interest in fashion began at age 4. Because she did not have any dolls, she draped used fabric around discarded soda cans. She moved to Chicago in the 1940s and in 1947 married Willie Johnson, who predeceased her.
Mrs. Johnson attended a dressmaking school, but after she had difficulty sewing a blouse, she turned to modeling. At the time, there was little interest in black models.
“I wanted to be so many things,” she said. “I wanted to be a designer, I wanted to be a nurse. And people kept saying to me, ‘You can’t do that because you’re black.’ I got tired of that. I got tired of those words: ‘because you’re black.’ ”
After attending modeling school, she was a runway model in the early 1950s for stores including Lane Bryant. She appeared in advertisements in Ebony and other national magazines and modeled for Lucky Heart Cosmetics.
In the early 1960s, the Merchandise Mart, a retail and wholesale shopping center in Chicago, proposed that Mrs. Johnson open a chain of beauty salons. She turned down the lucrative offer when she realized that she would have had to close her modeling school.
“If a little black child comes to my door, and wants charm, and needs charm and doesn’t have one cent, I am going to bring her in and give it to her,” she told the Chicago Tribune of her encounter with Merchandise Mart executives. “ ‘What you’re asking me to do is cater to the rich. But that’s not me,’ I said. ‘I have a goal in mind, and I am going to stick to it.’ ”
wisemanl@washpost.com
By Lauren Wiseman, Friday, March 18
Cleo Johnson, a Chicago model who founded the nation’s first black-owned modeling and charm school, which helped students gain self-confidence to improve their opportunities in life, died March 8 at her Chicago home. She was 88. Her death was reported by the Chicago Tribune, but the cause was not disclosed.
“If you try, if you believe in yourself, the color of your skin doesn’t mean a thing,” Mrs. Johnson told the Chicago Tribune in 1992. “Your knowledge, your abilities and what you feel about yourself — that’s what’s important. And that’s more important than any turn or walk I teach my models.”
Her definition of a model was not a man or woman strutting down a runway but rather someone worthy of being imitated or followed.
“Modeling and beauty are really my life,” she said. “But what I stress most is self-esteem. Self-motivation. I want [the models] to believe in themselves.”
In addition to aspiring fashion models, ministers, business owners and journalists took Mrs. Johnson’s classes. Some of her notable students included actress Sherri “Peaches” Brewer, who appeared in the movie “Shaft,” former U.S. representative Cardiss Collins (D-Ill.) and soul singer Minnie Riperton.
“Minnie Riperton was sent here by the record company,” Mrs. Johnson said in a 2005 interview with ABC News. “They said, ‘We have a girl we want to send to you for you to get together, because she’s just a hippie.’ ”
Cleo Johnson’s School of Charm and Modeling Agency opened in 1956 in the basement of her South Side Chicago home with a homemade six-foot ramp flanked by a six-foot mirror. Her first students were three of her neighbor’s children and two of her nieces.
Her popularity grew, and the school moved twice before closing in 2007.
Mrs. Johnson was born in Louin, Miss., to a poor family, and her interest in fashion began at age 4. Because she did not have any dolls, she draped used fabric around discarded soda cans. She moved to Chicago in the 1940s and in 1947 married Willie Johnson, who predeceased her.
Mrs. Johnson attended a dressmaking school, but after she had difficulty sewing a blouse, she turned to modeling. At the time, there was little interest in black models.
“I wanted to be so many things,” she said. “I wanted to be a designer, I wanted to be a nurse. And people kept saying to me, ‘You can’t do that because you’re black.’ I got tired of that. I got tired of those words: ‘because you’re black.’ ”
After attending modeling school, she was a runway model in the early 1950s for stores including Lane Bryant. She appeared in advertisements in Ebony and other national magazines and modeled for Lucky Heart Cosmetics.
In the early 1960s, the Merchandise Mart, a retail and wholesale shopping center in Chicago, proposed that Mrs. Johnson open a chain of beauty salons. She turned down the lucrative offer when she realized that she would have had to close her modeling school.
“If a little black child comes to my door, and wants charm, and needs charm and doesn’t have one cent, I am going to bring her in and give it to her,” she told the Chicago Tribune of her encounter with Merchandise Mart executives. “ ‘What you’re asking me to do is cater to the rich. But that’s not me,’ I said. ‘I have a goal in mind, and I am going to stick to it.’ ”
wisemanl@washpost.com
CLEO JOHNSON: a legacy of divinity
Cleo Johnson, founder of Cleo Johnson School of Charm & Modeling
Wendy Raquel Robinson arrives at the 2009 BET Awards
NEGRO SCIENCE: parent
"Many people laid down basic structure for their lives building upon the foundations established on the structures their predecessors laid. As they walked the paths their ancestors built they naturally created a legacy from their legacies. That is our history. Today, in the gap Black Americans are fond of falling into, our children are languishing. Without the Cleo Johnson's in our communities our legacy turns into shit storms. Adults cannot minimize the truth, or mince words to feel good about themselves and succumb to the numbness of conformity while the genius of their children, unable to grasp the boundaries their parents adhere to, and other authorities revere, boils in their souls, sizzles within their every thought, and murmurs under their breath resenting the form schools, homes, and churches are forcing upon them.
It is cruel what we do: sleeping on the job of guiding the spirits of children, giving our children to establishments who do not love children, care to train their minds to blossom, or allow their spirits to play. We, as a people, have assimilated so deeply into the paradigm of disbelief, of fear, and given ourselves to the image of not being ourselves in a way that keeps the tonic of slavery intoxicating.” - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Daisy Raisler's police story
Caught myself trying to put off some work and from the recess of my mind I remembered the night I responded to a call: gun shots fired in the area. Eleven years of police work in one of America's top crime stat cities will yield a story or two whether it be a high speed chase, a hostage, a suicide victim, a foot chase... you name it.
On this particular night I was assigned as a one-man unit (meaning I did not have a partner in the car with me). Normally one-man units get dispatched to standard incidents such as a burglary that took place hours before or an accident scene. Sometimes you may see two police cars at a location and that is most likely because the situation may have the potential of escalated danger.
Anyways, usually to "gun shots fired in the area" call requires a two man unit. This particular night the call had come in prior to my arrival on the shift. I was at that time working the midnight shift. It was my first assignment as I exited the police station; as I approached the area I asked the dispatcher to repeat the time that the call had been received, I made my notations that it had been over an hour and a half.
I arrived to the location where gunshots were heard. The streets were quiet and dark, I rolled down my windows and cruised my police car at the slow pace of 5 miles per hour. I reached over to my left to use my police spotlight to get a better look in between the houses so as to light up around the dark areas... the whole time, hoping not to find anything out of the ordinary.
It all appeared serene and nothing out of place, I paused at the end of the street and grabbed the police radio deciding to ask the dispatcher one more question: Does the caller want to be contacted? The dispatcher said: Negative, anonymous. Okay, too simple right? Anonymous caller, everything is quiet, the call almost two hours ago ...probably some bozo testing their gun, right?
But something nudged at me to be more thorough, to get the job done right. I went around the block one more time, parked my police car and walked up to the first house on the corner. It's almost 1:00 am, I ring the bell. I hear someone shuffling to the door... and a voice asking: Who is it? I respond: Metro-Police Open the Door. The homeowner opens the door... a bit ruffled but their dealing with it. I inform them that I am in the area investigating an incident and wanted to know if they heard any gunshots.
I knocked on about 3 homes, two said they had heard gunshots earlier and one had heard nothing at all. One of them had pointed at a neighbor’s house that had a school bus parked in the driveway, the mentioned that they had seen someone running from the bus and into the house right after they heard the gunshot.
I walked over to the house with the bus in the yard and noticed that the bus door was ajar, cautiously I opened the door and that is when things started to happen too fast for human comprehension. From the corner of my left eye I caught movement and to this day I still don't know how I was able to run to that door and single handedly apprehend the man coming out through it. But I did, I knew I could not ask questions or my own life would depend on it. Swiftly seizing the moment and maneuvering handcuffs in place, I quickly grabbed my police radio and called in for back: 1332 - send back up to my location, I have a dead person and one in custody.
This is the part where police officers must rely on the 'animal' instinct of being human. Sprawled on the stairs of the bus was a dead man... a bullet had been placed through his head. The rest is documented history.
Most times people look for short cuts in life, doing things half ass, yet expecting the world to yield to them. Be a person of integrity and do your best. No one can hold anything against you when you do your best.
Daisy Says: Do your best in all you do, your life does depend on it.. and believe it or not, the life of those around you too.
March 11, 2009
I was going through your pictures and fell upon you in uniform. I was surprised and not surprised. I was in law enforcement during the height of the crack epidemic in the late 1980's as a housing police officer in Maryland. I had numerous 'touches' of the spirit moving on my behalf, and that of my partners. One time, and I have never written this down, the local drug dealers placed a hit upon my head. They came en masse in four cars. Everyone in those cars was rendered blind to my presence by the Great Mystery that Created me. The entire neighborhood and my men stood witness to this!
I am impressed that you would share this story online. People need to hear the stories and insights of women officers. My first-born son is a Police Officer now. I didn't lead him in that direction. I gave him a lot of medicine teachings over the years and he is serving the DC metropolitan area with distinction at a level beyond mine. ~Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories
On this particular night I was assigned as a one-man unit (meaning I did not have a partner in the car with me). Normally one-man units get dispatched to standard incidents such as a burglary that took place hours before or an accident scene. Sometimes you may see two police cars at a location and that is most likely because the situation may have the potential of escalated danger.
Anyways, usually to "gun shots fired in the area" call requires a two man unit. This particular night the call had come in prior to my arrival on the shift. I was at that time working the midnight shift. It was my first assignment as I exited the police station; as I approached the area I asked the dispatcher to repeat the time that the call had been received, I made my notations that it had been over an hour and a half.
I arrived to the location where gunshots were heard. The streets were quiet and dark, I rolled down my windows and cruised my police car at the slow pace of 5 miles per hour. I reached over to my left to use my police spotlight to get a better look in between the houses so as to light up around the dark areas... the whole time, hoping not to find anything out of the ordinary.
It all appeared serene and nothing out of place, I paused at the end of the street and grabbed the police radio deciding to ask the dispatcher one more question: Does the caller want to be contacted? The dispatcher said: Negative, anonymous. Okay, too simple right? Anonymous caller, everything is quiet, the call almost two hours ago ...probably some bozo testing their gun, right?
But something nudged at me to be more thorough, to get the job done right. I went around the block one more time, parked my police car and walked up to the first house on the corner. It's almost 1:00 am, I ring the bell. I hear someone shuffling to the door... and a voice asking: Who is it? I respond: Metro-Police Open the Door. The homeowner opens the door... a bit ruffled but their dealing with it. I inform them that I am in the area investigating an incident and wanted to know if they heard any gunshots.
I knocked on about 3 homes, two said they had heard gunshots earlier and one had heard nothing at all. One of them had pointed at a neighbor’s house that had a school bus parked in the driveway, the mentioned that they had seen someone running from the bus and into the house right after they heard the gunshot.
I walked over to the house with the bus in the yard and noticed that the bus door was ajar, cautiously I opened the door and that is when things started to happen too fast for human comprehension. From the corner of my left eye I caught movement and to this day I still don't know how I was able to run to that door and single handedly apprehend the man coming out through it. But I did, I knew I could not ask questions or my own life would depend on it. Swiftly seizing the moment and maneuvering handcuffs in place, I quickly grabbed my police radio and called in for back: 1332 - send back up to my location, I have a dead person and one in custody.
This is the part where police officers must rely on the 'animal' instinct of being human. Sprawled on the stairs of the bus was a dead man... a bullet had been placed through his head. The rest is documented history.
Most times people look for short cuts in life, doing things half ass, yet expecting the world to yield to them. Be a person of integrity and do your best. No one can hold anything against you when you do your best.
Daisy Says: Do your best in all you do, your life does depend on it.. and believe it or not, the life of those around you too.
March 11, 2009
I was going through your pictures and fell upon you in uniform. I was surprised and not surprised. I was in law enforcement during the height of the crack epidemic in the late 1980's as a housing police officer in Maryland. I had numerous 'touches' of the spirit moving on my behalf, and that of my partners. One time, and I have never written this down, the local drug dealers placed a hit upon my head. They came en masse in four cars. Everyone in those cars was rendered blind to my presence by the Great Mystery that Created me. The entire neighborhood and my men stood witness to this!
I am impressed that you would share this story online. People need to hear the stories and insights of women officers. My first-born son is a Police Officer now. I didn't lead him in that direction. I gave him a lot of medicine teachings over the years and he is serving the DC metropolitan area with distinction at a level beyond mine. ~Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
ELIZABETH TAYLOR: Intelligence to beauty
Elizabeth Taylor, as Cleopatra
ELIZABETH TAYLOR (1932 – 2011)
“Elizabeth Taylor, as Queen Cleopatra, in 1963, glorified an elitist idea Anglo-Americans needed to feel superior to the people they conquered, colonized, and subjugated to the worse of atrocities that began to swell to the surface when they destroyed the great library of Alexandria. From that act of terror the fuel to supplant themselves as the author and finisher of the knowledge Europeans received from the Black skinned Egyptians, and Nubians led up to, and was heralded within one of the greatest beauties, and talents of the 20th century. Her roles, and the jewelry she wore flaunted that history in the face of suppressed Africans in Africa, and throughout the Diaspora.
Elizabeth Taylor is all of the things she lived, and embodied; even the Goddess! She lived deeply, and America before cable TV, cell phones, the Internet was viewed and listened to differently, and I dare say, with deeper insight than today's women celebrities, many of whom, do not have the depth introspective living develops within a woman. Ms. Taylor's escapades ran parallel to my life too, and I, like every other person who read the papers, passed judgment, made comments, gawked in astonishment as her life crumbled, or rose to extraordinary heights, or raised the ire of our Puritan ethics, am affected by her death. Elizabeth Taylor’s life was a deep life in service to many, and magical to all.”
©Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories
Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton
Elizabeth Taylor & Audrey Hepburn dancing in the 1960's
PARENTING STYLES
Tina Fey, a skilled comedic actress catapulted into fame by her Sarah Palin sketches on the old comedy show, Saturday Night Life, has children of her own. Tina Fey, and Sarah Palin have a similar beauty, and physical style, and most important they are good mothers, but the similarities end at some point when you go down into the real nitty gritty of their views of the world they live in, and the relationships they have with their wombs, and water.
Sarah Palin exposed her family on her reality TV show, and talks about her family during interviews. I watched some of Sarah Palin's reality show. Impressive. Millions loath her, and were unable to discern the wisdom of her parenting style or appreciate the beauty of her love for her children, the land, and culture of the indigenous people of Alaska. I didn't know, until the show aired, her husband's people are Inuit, and indigenous to the land. She grounds her children, which used to be fundamental to childrearing. Like most American children they have cell phones, but unlike most parents she balances the air element (cell phones) with Earth energy (on hands tasks like cleaning fish, tanning hides). This a powerful, and empowering teaching lost to many parents. Her children are outside in the forest, white water rafting, flying in small aircraft, talking to the elders, and exploring their backyard in simple ways lost to her detractors.
Sarah Palin consciously makes connections between her family, and the land in a variety of ways. Sarah Palin is, also, part of a cultural paradigm that despises the Earth, our Mother, and renders insignificant the notion of wholeness, and connection, or relationship with the Earth, our Mother. This contradiction stands with her on each podium. Pouring from each rant of her party is the gross contradiction that purposely undermines mothers across the continent as they bully people into being ashamed of being liberal, and able to negotiate, and compromise.
Tina Fey is drawn into this tribute for her ability to draw all of these contradictions into comedic skits.
I couldn't, myself, connect with Barack Obama until I heard his wife speak three months before the election. I could clearly see who he was by who she was, and what she embodied that was connected to divinity, and African spirituality, and the unity between love, and intellectual curiosity that is held in distain by supporters of the agenda that is undermining the United States of America. The founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund, Marian Wright Edelman (a Black woman) said today on the talk show THE TALK: "The premise of the American dream is that our children will do better than their parents. That is sliding backwards (in this country)!” Sarah Palin says those words, and expresses those sentiments but she, and the party and people she represents, as Tea Party folks, good Christians, and white poor, and middle class, and rich Americans, live within the contradictions of their rhetoric by the practice of non-belief in the equality of peoples other than white America!
It is a sad commentary, but it glares out from under the laws the Republican, and Tea Party has created that sustain the belief in eating our grandchildren to feed our children. Ms. Edelman said, "... we have leaders who have Robin Hood in reverse theory, and they'd rather give tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires."
Sarah Palin connects her children with their father's people in the culture of the Inuit people, and her politics, and stance encourages the strange paradigm that votes against one's best interests. Tina Fey serves the consciousness of her generation by raising the fundamental questions that serve the future of our children the Christian conservative movement shuns, and condemns. – Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
TANTRIC SPIRITUALITY
"If you are too much technique-oriented you will miss the mystery of Tantra. That is pseudo Tantra that is based on techniques because if techniques are there, ego will be there, controlling. Then you will be DOING it, and doing is the problem, doing brings the doer. Tantra has to be a non-doing; it cannot be technical.
You can learn techniques. You can learn certain breathing so that the coitus can become longer. If you breathe very very slowly, if you breathe without any hurry, then the coitus will become longer. But you are controlling. It will not be wild and it will not be innocent, and it will not be meditation either. It will be MIND. How can it be meditation? The mind will be controlling there. You cannot even breathe fast, you have to keep your breathing slow. If the breathing is slow then ejaculation will take a longer time, because for ejaculation to happen the breathing has to be fast and chaotic. Now, this is technique but not Tantra.
Real Tantra is not technique but love. Is not technique, but prayer. Is not head-oriented but a relaxation into the heart. Please remember it. Many books have been written on Tantra. They all talk about technique. But the real Tantra has nothing to do with technique. The real Tantra cannot be written about. The real Tantra has to be imbibed. How to imbibe real Tantra? You will have to transform your whole approach." – author, Tantric Spirituality
You can learn techniques. You can learn certain breathing so that the coitus can become longer. If you breathe very very slowly, if you breathe without any hurry, then the coitus will become longer. But you are controlling. It will not be wild and it will not be innocent, and it will not be meditation either. It will be MIND. How can it be meditation? The mind will be controlling there. You cannot even breathe fast, you have to keep your breathing slow. If the breathing is slow then ejaculation will take a longer time, because for ejaculation to happen the breathing has to be fast and chaotic. Now, this is technique but not Tantra.
Real Tantra is not technique but love. Is not technique, but prayer. Is not head-oriented but a relaxation into the heart. Please remember it. Many books have been written on Tantra. They all talk about technique. But the real Tantra has nothing to do with technique. The real Tantra cannot be written about. The real Tantra has to be imbibed. How to imbibe real Tantra? You will have to transform your whole approach." – author, Tantric Spirituality
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
IMAGE, PERFECTION & IDEALS
The lives of people under the dichotomy of Western ideology, religion, and value systems would be deeper and purer if they sought wholeness, and simply sat upon the Earth, our Mother, and listened to her stories, and learned from the talking spirits, the animals, the birds, and insects the Western mind shuns, despises, and cannot see as part of the whole." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories
Pamela Ruedemann, the mystery of a woman
LISA RAYE, actress
Lisa Raye with her daughter Kia
Lisa Raye on the red carpet
"Few people, known and unknown, can create a stir the way Lisa Raye can. She is an under employed actress who has succeed in creating memorable performances. Like many Black actresses she is a fresh force in a sea of contradictions, and high heels. In a business that shuns colored actors, and exploits white actresses, and ignores thousands of stories from the African-American experiences Lisa Raye has had to create her own place, and make money with an energy that rivals the momentum of trains, and other forces." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories
Monday, March 21, 2011
Grandmother Dawn Sky Weaver grinding corn
Grandmother Dawn Sky Weaver
Sunday, March 20, 2011
GENETIC MEMORIES
The Big White Clouds
a writing
Upon the news one day that one tall ship
Was sailing into the harbour,
My heart raced as I thought to grab the camera
And run off for some new exciting learning,
An adventure of film making and photography.
The brakes jammed to the floor suddenly
As I heard in a faint voice in the gust of wind:
“These were the people who took us away,
The big white clouds on the water coming to us,
What do they want? Why do they come?
Why do they seek to destroy us
Who supply them with everything?”
All this took place as I was getting out of the car,
At the dock with the tall ship EUROPA in front of me,
I let go of the camera, shoved it in the car and quickly
Closed the door.
No, I thought.
Times are changing.
With the upbringing I have had, I have learned
to almost worship the tall ships, especially the one
That I grew up along side with on Cape Cod,
The SHANANDOAH… Yes indeed,
Times are changing and so are my feelings
Of who I am and how I have grown up…
… and where the cycle of ignorance and assumption,
And most of all the love of money
Comes from.
I put my hands in my pockets,
Bowed my head,
And learned yet another lesson,
Today’s lesson…
My beliefs and treasures are not necessarily
Your beliefs and treasures…
Life has to be rethought and retaught,
With our mistakes in the spotlight…
With humility
And regret.
©Luc Majno
a writing
Upon the news one day that one tall ship
Was sailing into the harbour,
My heart raced as I thought to grab the camera
And run off for some new exciting learning,
An adventure of film making and photography.
The brakes jammed to the floor suddenly
As I heard in a faint voice in the gust of wind:
“These were the people who took us away,
The big white clouds on the water coming to us,
What do they want? Why do they come?
Why do they seek to destroy us
Who supply them with everything?”
All this took place as I was getting out of the car,
At the dock with the tall ship EUROPA in front of me,
I let go of the camera, shoved it in the car and quickly
Closed the door.
No, I thought.
Times are changing.
With the upbringing I have had, I have learned
to almost worship the tall ships, especially the one
That I grew up along side with on Cape Cod,
The SHANANDOAH… Yes indeed,
Times are changing and so are my feelings
Of who I am and how I have grown up…
… and where the cycle of ignorance and assumption,
And most of all the love of money
Comes from.
I put my hands in my pockets,
Bowed my head,
And learned yet another lesson,
Today’s lesson…
My beliefs and treasures are not necessarily
Your beliefs and treasures…
Life has to be rethought and retaught,
With our mistakes in the spotlight…
With humility
And regret.
©Luc Majno
the Curse of 27
Two and a half weeks after Jimi Hendrix died, on October 4, 1970, the world of rock was stunned to learn that he had been joined in the afterlife by Janis Joplin. Here was the one-two punch that made the curse of 27 achieve mythic proportion. A boisterous, self-destructive Texan who found her singing voice in the church and her inner one in San Francisco, Joplin had the most distinctive and powerful set of pipes anyone had ever heard, introduced first as the chanteuse of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist. She also had a taste for alcohol and narcotics that followed her wherever she went. No matter how many times she managed to get clean, she always relapsed. She died of a heroin overdose while recording an unfinished album released after her death as "Pearl. - anon
Saturday, March 19, 2011
UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION ON
THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Adopted by the General Assembly 13 September 2007
The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the General Assembly on Thursday September 13, by a majority of 144 states in favour, 4 votes against (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States) and 11 abstentions (Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burundi, Colombia, Georgia, Kenya, Nigeria, Russian Federation, Samoa and Ukraine).
Since its adoption, Australia has reversed its position and now endorses the Declaration. Colombia and Samoa have also reversed their positions and indicated their support for the Declaration
During the Durban Review Conference in April 2009, 182 States from all regions of the world reached consensus on an outcome document in which they “ Welcome[d] the adoption of the UN Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples which has a positive impact on the protection of victims and, in this context, urge[d] States to take all necessary measures to implement the rights of indigenous peoples in accordance with international human rights instruments without discrimination…” (UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Outcome document of the Durban Review Conference , 24 April 2009, para. 73).
Source & Declaration in different languages:
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/declaration.html
Friday, March 18, 2011
AFFIRMATION for our youth
Falani, your affirmation, "People alwayz try to define who u are, but Eye have a story to tell and itz MY STORY." is powerful, and clearly spoken. Walk in your power with grace, and honesty flanking how you love and look at the world, and those who live in it to the best of your ability! - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories
"Emotions are the way you speak clearly to yourself."
- Adele Longo, Sirmiq Aattuq Wisdom Keeper
Thursday, March 17, 2011
FOR FUN: Dita Von Teese
Red carpet glamour
Let the statement green dress do all the talking! While this version may not be as couture as Dita’s, with the silk and waist cinching tie, it’s just as gorgeous. Pep it up with bright statements of colour - a purple heel, a gold necklace and a pretty, sparkling clutch.
1: Oscars Dress $169.90 from Principals
2: Bette Glitter Miniaudere $69.00 from Neelear Nomad
3: Dryberg Kern $299.00 from Neelear Nomad
4: Mi Piaci Blyth $250.00 from Mi Piaci
http://www.nzgirl.co.nz/buy/10227/
Let the statement green dress do all the talking! While this version may not be as couture as Dita’s, with the silk and waist cinching tie, it’s just as gorgeous. Pep it up with bright statements of colour - a purple heel, a gold necklace and a pretty, sparkling clutch.
2: Bette Glitter Miniaudere $69.00 from Neelear Nomad
3: Dryberg Kern $299.00 from Neelear Nomad
4: Mi Piaci Blyth $250.00 from Mi Piaci
http://www.nzgirl.co.nz/buy/10227/
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
the Sartorialist
Tracy is holding the paperback version, and soon I will have a copy of the limited-edition hardcover with slipcase to show you. This has been a labor of love. Taking the pictures, editing the pictures, arranging the pictures, doing most of the writing while I was still in Phoenix after my Dad died. It's hard to put into words how one feels looking at their own work presented like this - so I won't even try. I hope you enjoy the book and I will keep you posted about the book signing tour, the SartoriaLUST pop-up shops, and any other events surrounding the launch of the book.
Below are links to some sites where you can pre-order the book. It comes out August 12th in the US, and worldwide by early September.
Amazon (US)
Amazon (UK)
Amazon (FR)
Barnes and Noble
Bol
Borders (US)
Borders (UK)
Foyles
Indie Bound
Waterstones - July 10, 2009
the SARTORIALIST http://www.thesartorialist.com/bio.html
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
WILLOW SMITH
Willow Smith, singer & daughter of Will Smith
“I only heard Willow sing two songs. I don't need to do more than be appreciative for the example and power of her parent's parenting style, and teach it to those who ask. I know most American parents say they would love to bring out the best of their children, but these times dictate something different. Today, Americans, for the most part are a fearful, timid lot. On the international stage Americans project the image, and assault powers of conquerors. It is a mask over a population that cowers in fear. It is an amazing thing to view, and a disturbing thing to witness, but it is the truth.
Will Smith, and his wife; Jada Pickett has a lot of money. They are rich. That doesn’t count as a reason to subvert our ability to change the course of our parenting styles if they are not up to the high standards, nor is the lack of financial wealth an excuse not to ascend to the level of parenting the Smiths, the Knowles, the Jacksons, the Williams, or my parents have. What they have accomplished is assessable to all parents in the United States, but the high level of fear that dominates the creativity parents need to open their inner ear to the spirit of their children, and develop the mind to ‘see’ the spirit of their children is muzzled by a belief system. Unearthing the source of these fears of the law, judgment, and shame is the most important thing for today’s parents to begin to grasp, and internalize!” – Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories (Dawn Wolf)
Willow Smith collage
MEDITATION
“The Arab world creates different environments for creativity to grow, and shapes boldness in a different, and un-American fashion. It is puzzling why creativity ceased in the Arab world so many centuries ago. What is within Islam that retards creativity, and stopped its flow?” – Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories
Monday, March 14, 2011
the work of Zanita, an Australian model & photographer
Zanita, an Australian model & photographer
by Zanita, an Australian model & photographer
inez vinoodh by Zanita, an Australian model & photographer
Sunday, March 13, 2011
THE CHRIST WALK
The Mystery Of Small Beginning
One vital truth that cannot be overlooked in the school of stewardship is the fact that God would always prove you before He approves you. It is the way you handle your present position that determines whether you would be approved for the next level or not. Jesus said in Luke 16:10, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” Life is in phases. I know you have great dreams, fantastic visions of the future that you desire, maybe with strong scriptural backings, but if your dream must see the light of day, you must be prepared to start where you are and with what you have.
Many people are deceived into thinking that they must start big to make it big and as a result they ...have stagnated their destinies; refusing to take a step, because they consider what they have or where they are as too small to achieve what they want. God believes in people who humble themselves to start small, so don’t despise what you have.
WHAT IS SMALL?
‘Small’ is a relative term, it does not represent any number or size in particular. For one person it could be two, for another it could be one hundred, two thousand, or even ten thousand. ‘Small’ simply means starting from where you are or with what you have. The problem many people have is that nothing is ever enough. Even if you give them a million, it will not be enough. Bishop David Oyedepo said, “If you can think enough, what you have is enough.”
There is no fixed size or number to begin with. Where you are and what you have now is good enough. Success in life begins with a step and wherever you start from is your own small beginning. As you faithfully use the small that you have, taking one step after the other, you will be surprised how fast you will get to the top. The parable of talents explains this well. Jesus said, “For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money” (Matthew 25:14-18).
Somebody started with five, another person started with two but the person with one refused to start. He despised it; he felt it was too small, so he buried it.
Small things are often despised, that is why God said, “For who hath despised the day of small things…” (Zechariah 4:10). When Jesus needed to feed five thousand men in the wilderness, the only food that was available was a little boy’s lunch of five barley loaves and two small fishes and one of His disciples said, “But what are these among so many?” (John 6:9). He despised it, because naturally speaking, what they had, looked extremely small compared to what they needed, but as a faithful stewards Jesus started with it all the same. He made the men sit down and asked His disciples to distribute the bread and fish to them and from there the Bible says, “When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten” (John 6:12-13). Normally, they would have thrown away the fragments but Jesus said, “Gather up the fragments, let nothing be lost”, because it may be needed for the next miracle. ~ Adeniyi Adeniran Henry Taju
One vital truth that cannot be overlooked in the school of stewardship is the fact that God would always prove you before He approves you. It is the way you handle your present position that determines whether you would be approved for the next level or not. Jesus said in Luke 16:10, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” Life is in phases. I know you have great dreams, fantastic visions of the future that you desire, maybe with strong scriptural backings, but if your dream must see the light of day, you must be prepared to start where you are and with what you have.
Many people are deceived into thinking that they must start big to make it big and as a result they ...have stagnated their destinies; refusing to take a step, because they consider what they have or where they are as too small to achieve what they want. God believes in people who humble themselves to start small, so don’t despise what you have.
WHAT IS SMALL?
‘Small’ is a relative term, it does not represent any number or size in particular. For one person it could be two, for another it could be one hundred, two thousand, or even ten thousand. ‘Small’ simply means starting from where you are or with what you have. The problem many people have is that nothing is ever enough. Even if you give them a million, it will not be enough. Bishop David Oyedepo said, “If you can think enough, what you have is enough.”
There is no fixed size or number to begin with. Where you are and what you have now is good enough. Success in life begins with a step and wherever you start from is your own small beginning. As you faithfully use the small that you have, taking one step after the other, you will be surprised how fast you will get to the top. The parable of talents explains this well. Jesus said, “For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money” (Matthew 25:14-18).
Somebody started with five, another person started with two but the person with one refused to start. He despised it; he felt it was too small, so he buried it.
Small things are often despised, that is why God said, “For who hath despised the day of small things…” (Zechariah 4:10). When Jesus needed to feed five thousand men in the wilderness, the only food that was available was a little boy’s lunch of five barley loaves and two small fishes and one of His disciples said, “But what are these among so many?” (John 6:9). He despised it, because naturally speaking, what they had, looked extremely small compared to what they needed, but as a faithful stewards Jesus started with it all the same. He made the men sit down and asked His disciples to distribute the bread and fish to them and from there the Bible says, “When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten” (John 6:12-13). Normally, they would have thrown away the fragments but Jesus said, “Gather up the fragments, let nothing be lost”, because it may be needed for the next miracle. ~ Adeniyi Adeniran Henry Taju
Saturday, March 12, 2011
teachings of the CHEROKEE CALENDAR
[06] The Twins, Flint Knife and Reed, shifting into bird form. Together, they form a rough equivalent of the Taoist tai-chi (yin and yang sign), showing how two apparent opposites form a whole.
They also shift into snake forms in one of the stories, and accidentally kill the Daughter of the Sun. Their mission is then to bring her back from the Underworld.
On Twins days, we remember that we are never truly alone, seek out partnerships of many kinds, and reflect on our obligations to our immediate and extended families, including the Earth itself. -Brian Wilkes
http://www.Cherokee-Calendar.com/
http://www.Cherokee-Calendar.com/analysis.htm
CHEROKEE CALENDAR 20 count
Friday, March 11, 2011
the Curse of 27
Robert Johnson
the Curse of 27
Legend tells us that Mississippi-born Robert Johnson went down to the crossroads and sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the ability to play the guitar like no one had ever heard before. No one can say for certain whether or not the devil exists, but one thing is certain: Robert Johnson played the guitar (and sang) like no one had ever heard before, and left his mark on several generations of blues players since. An authentic American original, Johnson's musical innovations influenced the blues, rock 'n' roll, R&B, country & Western, gospel and folk styles. He died -- reportedly after being poisoned by the husband of a woman he was courting -- August 16, 1938.
Eleggua, Exu, Elegba is the Orisha of the Crossroads. In Ifá, the spiritual practice that crossed the Atlantic with people from various tribes, and nations to be sold into slavery throughout the Americas, Elegba is the Orisha that has to be honored at the beginning of ceremonies with other Orishas. Exu, or Elegba is a trickster sitting at the Crossroads. In places, like Brazil, with high African spirituality present in the land and the air, offerings, and small altars are all over the place and one needs be, at the least, mindful of these things, and at the most respectful of the powerful energies of this Orisha. Exu can hurt or help you.
In North America where African spirituality, and its deeply rooted sensitivity and connection to the Earth, and other realms of power are reduced to the boogey man, the Devil, and Evil, Black Americans became the proverbial lost souls. Unable to recognize their own power, connect with their spiritual legacies, afraid of white people, and dominated by the Church who replaced their image of self with their own image Blues lore talked about Robert Johnson in whispers, and saw him in the dark, not in any light whatsoever!
"He sold his soul to the Devil to play the guitar like he did!"
In the street vernacular that's bullshit. I use the vernacular to convey how foul such assertions are, and how detrimental to the soul our language has become. If the story is true about the African spirituality the Portuguese, and the Spaniards respected and feared we have the reason African spiritual traditions flourished in Central and South America, and we have the essence of Robert Johnson in focus. He, apparently, was in relationship with the roots of his legacy and made the proper offerings to Elegba at the crossroads to fortify his life journey. I do not know what Orishas sat atop Robert Johnson’s head, but I do know he was an ‘African spiritual man’. It takes spiritual power that does not conform to form to live at the level of commitment Robert Johnson lived. It’s in his music; his story-powers! Robert Johnson's lesson and gift to the African grandchildren of ex-slaves was not lost on them. It was lost on the church-going, white people fearing, superstitious, frighten small minded, and feeble hearted Negroes, and colored folks who cowered before the frightful power of a Black man attuned to his African soul, and the powers of the worlds he had assess to coming together because of the words he formed around the intent of his being, and the content of his purpose on Earth, his Mother." ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories
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