under the crescent moon, or ... the death of a seagull

dating the animal doctor has changed my life in more ways than one. in scotland a vetinary surgeon is bound to offer a twenty four hour emergency service. result - the phone will ring in the small wee hours and my girl will roll out of bed and be on her way to tend to the sick and injured of the animal world.

one evening, fairly soon after we first met, we were on our way home from an outing. her phone rang, on the other end, a gentleman who had found a seagull with a broken wing, as she was not home he had put the bird in her front garden!
yeah, i guess you can tell, the animal doctor is a village dweller - what can i say!

we were thankful that 'the boys' were safely ensconced in the house and that the seagull would at least have been spared the indignity of being eaten by a hound dog!
the winter dark was with us, a crescent moon rode high in a clear and frosty sky. my girl aimed her car lights into the darkness of the garden and turned to me ...

"will you lend me a hand?"

wtf! i am a happily retired flat dweller sans pets. i hardly know this woman and she is expecting me to rummage around in the dark cold and actually capture a seagull! cool as a cucumber i said ...

"yeah sure, of course."

it took us a little while to find and lay our hands on mr.seagull, the wing was so badly broken there would be no fixing it.
so on a dark winter evening under the light of a crescent moon, i held the seagull immobile whilst my new friend administered death to replace pain.

ice is nice

recently scotland has been a wee bit colder than normal.
traffic on the bridge over the river ayr was really slow. i did wonder why... and then i saw THE ICE!
i was so happy when i found this video on you tube, enjoy!

wordless

wordless


tonight the hours creep by undisturbed
by sleep
there was a time when unwritten words
might wake me
buzzing in my night time brain
begging to be penned
no more, fine words no longer my excuse 
for insomnia
for that once unrelenting fountainhead 
of inspiration
lies neglected, dry as the desert sands
devoid, desperate
struck down and bled strangely dry
by writer's block
a humiliating state of self indulgent lack for the wordspinner
left wordless

Copyright © 2004-2011 by Eryll Oellermann

a learning experience

like it or not ...
life is a learning experience!

recently a very dear person, a person i love and whose opinion i respect ...
mentioned "the three fold law".

life sends us reminders, i read and i remembered.
what did i remember ... that which we all know but so often forget.
allow me to share ...

and i quote -
 
" The Three-Fold Law - Punishment Or Gift?

You can blame the gods, you can blame someone else, you can blame anything and everyone, you can even
blame yourself . . .

The thing is, blaming isn't going to get you anywhere. Because
the issue isn't who's at fault and who gets punished. It's
what you can learn.

Each time the unpleasant situation arises, the Divine is
asking you . . .

"Here, would you like to be free of this miserable thing yet?"

Each time, you're offered the opportunity to notice how you're
hurting yourself (not to mention other people, the Earth, and
the gods and goddesses). Each time, you are given the
opportunity to make another choice.

Karma in Wiccan law is an offering of healing.

Beware The Seeds You Plant
Every choice you make plants seeds for the future.

Whether you plant sweet juicy crops or bitter stinging weeds
is entirely up to you. That's the gift of free will.

But whatever you sow, you will reap. Unavoidably. Every choice,
every action, every thought bears fruit.

And since the "fruit" is inside you, you can't escape reaping
it. The most you can do, perhaps, is delay.




 Poison Fruit
And these choices are not merely in the physical realm. It's
not as simple as you hit someone and they hit you back.

When you cherish a grudge or resentment in your heart - even
if it's never expressed - you are feeding yourself poison.

Every uncharitable thought has real repercussions… in your
physical and mental health, and in the world.

Do You Have To Change?
That is why the great sages say, as Gandhi did, that you must
be the change you want to see in the world. There is no other
way.

Regardless of whether the world around you is peaceful, you
will never see that peace, unless you have a peaceful heart.

And without peace in your heart, how could you ever create it
around you? That's like trying to bake bread without any flour.

This is fundamental to Wiccan philosophy - nothing is lost. It
all comes back around.

If you want a peaceful, loving world, it starts in your heart.
Your heart! - and mine, of course, and everyone's. But your
heart
is the only one you have influence over.



 The Magic Of The Three-Fold Law
And the wondrous gift of the Three-Fold Law is that

    * one little thought of compassion,

    * one little act of kindness,

    * one little choice for forgiveness . . .

multiplies!

And keeps multiplying, as the ripples spread out to infinity,
and back again."

"beyond time"

oh wow, oh wow, oh wow!

knock on the door ... rat-a-tat-tat.
special delivery...

"beyond time"

absolutely friggin' perfect. a real book, a real poetry book,
hard cover with shiny printed pages!

the word smith is without words ...

strength

"Strength is the ability to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands, and then eat just one of those pieces."

~Judith Viorst

 

damn! who would have guessed? thanks for passing this on mike!

situational silence

there is no true silence to be found
on this, our beloved planet
we are surrounded by the hum of nature
and the cacophony of sound
created by our invasive humanity
yet silence waits to be discovered
hidden in the hours of alone
we acknowledge silence in the missing


Copyright © 2004-2010 by Eryll Oellermann