Author: Denise

(Saturday, May 12, 2017) moon waning gibbous Sagittauris / tarot Hermit

I am on a retreat journey in the Himalayas. Our group walks a narrow path through a mountain pass blanketed with snow. I have been on spiritual gatherings many times with everyone here, over the course of hundreds or perhaps thousands of years. I recall each episode in complete detail.

Alysia Miller, the designer I work with in Phoenix, is at the back of the trail. She is suffering from serious health issues. Somehow I have visibility to her medical test results: the numbers shift erratically, like Chris’ heart rhythms undergoing atrial fibrillation.

She must rest. She cannot continue to walk. I find a primitive sled made of small logs bound together with twine. I embrace her gently and lower her down onto the wooden carrier. I will pull her along the trail behind me.

As she relaxes onto the sled, a giant red and gold bird nuzzles us both, lovingly. The bird is the size of a human, maybe bigger, with soft, silky, downy feathers. Like an owl. The sweet touch of feathers brings me total joy.

Day notes:

There were two women at the Red Tara retreat in Glastonbury named Alycia. One was my roommate, a psychologist from Lithuania.

Chris’ pre-op test results came in the mail today. His atrial fibrillation is pretty constant these days.

On our way to the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour this morning, Cullan and I passed by a giant chainsaw sculpture of a cardinal. Red bird.

Dream during my 60th birthday retreat in Glastonbury:

I am gathering prairie plants on my grandmother’s farm, in a field near the gold-red gravel road that is the entrance to the acreage. Facing away from the road, I spy a black wolf moving through the tall grass to my left, perhaps thirty feet away.

Carefully, I turn toward the road, crossing over it and walking quietly down into the cool, shallow ditch. Hoping that the wolf will not notice me.

But he has. He runs rapidly across the road and leaps for my jugular. I grab him by his teeth, my right hand on his uppers and my left on his lowers, pulling his jaw apart with great strength. My power is equal to his, if not greater.

Day notes:

The tarot card I pulled for my journey was Strength, which often shows an Empress/May Queen holding open a lion’s jaw.

For the first time in my life I enjoyed my name because of the French pronunciation by the people at the Glastonbury retreat. Emphasis on the first syllable, not the second. And after being home for just a few days, a lovely older gentleman at Walgreens told me Denise is one of his favorite names.