Defining | BLOG 2 CA 4/14/17

Three symbols 

Prickly pear cactus is a source of food, water and medicine. Its flowers bloom in shades of yellow, red or purple - giving way to a delicious pear fruit. It represents about a dozen species of the Opuntia genus in the North American deserts. Chollas are also members of the Opuntia genus but have cylindrical, jointed stems rather than flat, plump pads like the prickly pear. 

As a flower essence, prickly pear's power lies in adaptability, connecting to the inner calm through surrendering to what is and accessing the strength that comes when one follows the flow of life, the heartbeat of the Earth. It teaches us to open to our authentic self by clearing emotions that are blocking our empowerment. 

The Wolf is a symbol of guardianship, ritual, loyalty, and spirit.Wolf has the ability to make quick and firm emotional attachments, and often need to trust their own instincts. Thus they teach us to do the same, to trust our hearts and minds, and have control over our own lives.

The Zia Indians of New Mexico regard the Sun as a sacred symbol. Their symbol, a red circle with groups of rays pointing in four directions, is painted on ceremonial vases, drawn on the ground

around campfires, and used to introduce newborns to the Sun. Four is the sacred number of the Zia and can be found repeated in the four points radiating from the circle. The number four is embodied in:

• the four points of the compass (north, south, east and west);
• the four seasons of the year (spring, summer, autumn and winter);
• the four periods of each day (morning, noon, evening and night);
• the four seasons of life (childhood, youth, middle years and old age); and
• the four sacred obligations one must develop (a strong body, a clear mind, a pure spirit, and a devotion to the welfare of others), according to Zia belief.

For Brevity's sake, I think the poem I wrote really does justice for this week. 

After Anne Waldman 

I am a fast speaking woman, I am a forked tongue

Woman,

I am a woman with words, a woman of curves

a curse.

I’m a woman that cares too much,

A woman that don’t give a damn, I am

a hell fire woman, I’ll spit in

your face

I’ll lick your wounds, I am

an animal,

I’m a nail biting woman, I am

spell bounding, too.   

Look into my eyes and

you’ll see nothing

but Truth, 

I am a woman of my word

            the words, and the world

Did I mention?

                        I am a fast speaking woman,

Too quick

and I’m            gone

outta here,

I am a woman that leaves

no breadcrumbs.

I am my own legacy, I speak

 a history of cavities

 I speak

with my swollen tongue,

        my bitten lips

I’m thirsty,

and I bring my own water.

I drink,

 from a pool of            electricity.

Did I mention

            I am a fast speaking woman?

I have no reins behind me

            cool, like ocean water

and warm like

 sand

tossed for 1000 years.

I am a woman of no bones

            so you can’t break my back,

but still headstrong, I am

a woman

of

determination, I run circles around my own soul.

I am

the woman that

raised

me

Momma, we are fast speaking women

            and you can’t

tell us

what to do. 

I am an avalanche

a thin sliver of melting ice

            I am the snow that falls at midnight,

the quiet

 in the room

the drone, buzzing beneath

your eyelids

scraping away,

            scratching to get out.

I am the fast speaking woman

you tried

so damn hard 

to hide             but you couldn’t

the sunrise woman,

             I am the woman of new

beginnings,

the woman of turned pages,

            and I’ll burn those pages, too

I am the woman of abandon,

            the woman of all

embrace,

I am her

 and she is I

Two stones,

            at the bottom of the lake,

I am

the lady in the lake,

            the woman in the water

you tried

            to drown

I’ll haunt you with my siren songs, whisper

sweet nothings

about

God and the Devil raging inside,

I am the blue machinery of night,

            the first moon’s harvest,

the last autumn burial,

“A boy from this small town has died,
and tonight the town awaits tomorrow
when they will lay beneath the blade
of the backhoe youth curled like a seed

in jaws of frost.”

 I am the woman that greets the boy,

            holding him with soft light

he is safe with me.

            I am the protector woman, I am

the warrior woman, I’ll fight

till my honorable death 

but I don’t die for honor anyway.

I am a woman that dreams  

            within your dreams

I almost forgot, I am

a fast speaking woman,

but how can you forget

your soul

knowing you can’t

 depart            it.

I am a memory woman,

            I am an educated woman

earning knowledge, like kneading bread

I am a baked woman

            I rise

            I rise

            I rise.

I am a fast speaking woman,

            watch my words

slither

 in the air

like      smoke

I am the storyteller woman

I am oral antiquity, old like tree rings,

                                skin like wood grain,

I am the wise

Woman,

You need to keep running,

don’t stop digging,

you’ll get there,

the center of the earth isn’t hard to find,

just listen to the sound of it turning.