News 8/7/22: Last Thursday Dinner — Inside AGAIN!

See last Sunday’s post.

We seem to be getting more leary of quickly forming and moving thunderstorms interrupting our weekly Community Dinners  outside on back patio. This time, Annie, Marita, and Adrian, hosts of this week’s dinner, opted to do it inside at 2615 E. DeKist, just in case it rained . . . 

But of course, it didn’t.

Oh well. Once again, as with last week’s dinner, the energy was good, solid, the frequency high. A quickly forming and dissolving good time had by all. As usual, about two hours from start to finish, leaving us all energized, ready to face and even embrace, the coming week.

And of course, with both a “circle up” hand holding and offering beforehand, and wonderful food and drink.

We sat in three groups. Here we are, just getting started. 

BTW: Community Dinner regular (and former resident) Dan, on his way here, was interrupted by a phone call from a woman telling him that a good friend of his on a motorcycle had collided with someone in a car. No injuries, but he sure needed Dan’s company to help him calm down. However, when Dan arrived, the family of the also uninjured person in the car he had run into was comforting Dan’s friend! People in Bloomington can be like that. Extraordinarily kind.

On the other hand, Marita and I were returning from the First Friday of the month Art Gallery walk, when we stopped at a red light, only to observe two young white men beating up on each other with a young white woman standing by, at first silent, and then starting to plead in a soft, seemingly half-hearted voice, for them to stop. A serious, violent fight; very energetic and aggressive; aimed to kill. One of them was trying to beat the other head on the cement, when young black man rushed up and tried to pull them apart. Don’t know the outcome, because then the light turned green. 

Marita told me afterwards that the three white folks were meth heads. “Did you see her arms? Covered with needle marks.” I did not see this. But it makes sense, given the extreme, mutually aggressive energy. Really alarming. 

What is this world coming to?

Whatever happens next, let us focus from the heart on love, on community, on connection. Let us each raise our own personal frequency enough to be islands of safety and calm in the increasingly turbulent cultural, political, and economic maelstrom that threatens to blow the entire world to smithereens. 

July 31, 2022: Community dinner RUPTURES! — and regroups

Our weekly Community Dinner, planned as usual for outside on the back patio, ruptured early on. As the three houses rotate dinner duties, at 6:00 pm new resident and housemate Adam and I met to clean up the patio. We swept the floor, spread out the table cloths, brought out the silverware, plates, and cups, napkins, water, etc. Joseph from next door came out to light all the tiki sticks (mosquitos love mid-summer); friends and neighbors started to trickle in . . . then more and more, each one bearing food or drink! Final count was 25, though, as usual, they didn’t all arrive on time. We were about ready to “circle up” before eating when, oh no . . . a rain drop! Then another and another. Several of us had checked the weather before hand, just to make sure. Yes, thunderstorms weren’t due until late evening, plenty of time for our leisurely dinner outside. 

Now Adrian checks again with his phone. Oops! An enormous green cloud rapidly approaching Bloomington on the radar.  

Instantly, we shifted focus. Within three minutes we had cleared the entire area, including the tablecloths, and regrouped inside this Overhill house. Only one trip for each person needed. Talk about team spirit!

A few minutes later we regrouped again, to circle up. Amazingly enough, neighbor Mariella actually got a photo of this part of the evening, our circle winding through the living room into the kitchen.

Rather than the usual circle up, where I ask someone present to give the blessing, this time there were two items to be addressed before that. First, it was the day after Daniel’s birthday, so we all sang him what has become our song, for birthdays and other special occasions. (I first heard this heartfelt song at one of the Crones Counsels, years ago.)

How could anyone ever tell you

You are anything less than beautiful.

How could anyone ever tell you

You are less than whole?

How could anyone fail to mention

That your loving is a miracle,

How deeply you’re connected to my (our) soul.

Next, what I had already communicated to the group with the emailed invite, that this regularly scheduled Thursday Dinner happened to fall on the same day as the July New Moon, July 28. As an astrologer, I wrote about that here, and talked a bit about its strong, expressive energies as we stood holding hands. Plus, Joseph had arranged a beautiful altar in honor of this New Moon in Leo.

And finally, the blessing, which Mariella offered, beginning with a pregnant silence, in honor of the New Moon. An unusually beautiful blessing, it just poured out of her.

Here she is later, with Dan.

Here’s feisty Muriel, mother of neighbor Devin, currently visiting Bloomington.

Lots of us spilled into all three public rooms in this house.

Former housemate Ethyl grabbed both me and my ipad at one point, pointing it at us . . .

The entire evening, though somewhat raucous — as an astrologer, I had said “it’s time for full-on Leo personal expression, time to be who you really are!”— and boy did the energy pump. Lots of love, lots of laughter. 

Rain here, Drought elsewhere — and Community Dinner

On this rainy Sunday morning . . .

I reflect on the news I heard last night, from Dane Wigington, speaking with Greg Hunter, that 40 million people are about to be severely affected by longstanding drought conditions. 

Climate engineering researcher Dane Wigington says the extreme drought conditions in the U.S. are caused by man-made weather modification called geoengineering.  It’s not some naturally occurring event, but an “engineered drought catastrophe.”  Wigington says after decades of climate engineering, things are getting so bad that millions in the Southwestern United States will be without water sometime in 2023.  Wigington explains, “The mainstream media and official sources are doing their best to sweep it under the rug.  We are talking about 40 million people that will be impacted by the drying out of the Colorado River basin and tributaries.”

Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson and Las Vegas are the few of the cities that are already struggling with severe water conservation restrictions.  Wigington says, “Drought caused by man-made weather modification is not coming, it’s here now and will only get worse from here on out. . . . There is no speculation, no hypothesis or conjecture in any of this.  Climate engineering is the primary cause for the protracted drought, and not just in the U.S. but in many other parts of the world.  It also causes a deluge scenario, and all of it is crushing crops.  We can speculate to the motives and agendas behind those who run these operations, but the fact that climate engineering is the primary causal factor for the western drought is inarguable.”

According to Wigington, the entire western half of the U.S. is affected by drought, in high contrast to the eastern half, which by and large is getting enough moisture and is largely asleep to conditions in the west, given that the MSM has yet to pick up on this developing disaster. What this means for likely drying up of food production as well as western refuge flows to the east is ominous. 

Even here, whenever rain does not come and we must water our gardens with city water, the water bills, like everything else, have gone up, to $85 in June for each of our three homes.

So we don’t mind rain, not at all. 

We are glad, however, when rain doesn’t interrupt our weekly Community Dinners. Two Thursdays ago, it did, and we retreated to the Overhill house for our weekly dinner. This past Thursday however, saw perfect conditions on the patio.

Here we are, gathering . . .

These flowers (what are they? not black-eyed susans, because eyes not black!) lean towards us, welcoming.

Two tables filled, one to go. 

What’s left of Annie’s delicious meatballs and sauce.

The usual good time with friends and neighbors!

Grateful.