My Garden

This morning I spent time in my garden.

Blessed Sun caressing my sun-burnt skin,
beaming rays of ultra violet love to nourish
my bronzed melanin.

Zinnias, daisies, butterflies and bumble bees
thank you for blessing me with your amazing
colour and flutter of your wings.

This morning I spent time with my garden.


Copyright © Radiant Swan

Bonsai

Bonsai & Reiki

Miss Potter

The sweetest most endearing movie.

Just saw it yesterday.

Miss Potter

Now

Now is all there is.

There is no yesterday and there is no tomorrow. The only gift we have is this moment, this now.

We have two choices.

We can choose to be in fear right now. To worry, to fear that we are not being heard. To worry, to fear that we do not have enough money. To fear that we are right and that they will take it away from us.

We can choose to be in love right now. To trust that all is ok, that all will be ok. To trust that we are heard and will be heard. To trust that we will be accepted. To trust that the money is there and that we have more than enough.

Either choice has action to follow. Action follows thought. Inaction is action.

We can choose to do nothing.

We can choose to accept Krishna's words to Arjuna...that is our duty to do (act) our part in the world.

Will we do our duty through the lens of fear? Will we choose to do our duty through the lens of love?

Love is trust. Love is tolerance. Love is seeing the positive.

Now is all there is. I choose to exist in Now with Love as my partner. Accepting myself. Accepting you. Trusting that I will be fine no matter what you choose to do. I choose to act in Love. And should I falter, should I miss the mark what will I choose. Should I choose fear? Be angry with myself and ashamed of myself.

I will forgive myself. I will then choose to accept myself through Love.

Love is forgiveness.

I choose love now.

Just for Now.


Copyright © Radiant Swan

08.08.08

Eight has been a theme that has played out through out my Life.

Eight is a beautiful number!

Mayim-Water of Life

A video I made on a camping trip last year....

One of the spirits that make me happy...

Love Personified

My youngest son's favorite colour is Green.

Green is the colour of growth, renewal and love.

The heart Chakra is represented by the colour green in Western
thought.

My youngest son is a Taurus and he has green eyes.

He is fierce in all he does. He is passionate and loving.
His love is quick and his temper is quick. Yes, he tries my patience
at times.

At other times, most of the times he gives me love like no other.

He brings tons of smiles to my heart.

Today he saw an elderly gentleman playing lovely tunes on his harmonica.

He asked his eldest brother for a dollar to give to the man, his way
of saying thank you for the music. I told him that I do not think the
man takes donations. My green eyed bundle of love was adamant about it
and his loving older brother more than willing to oblige and sponsor this
act.

So I consented.

The boy with the tosseled chestnut brown silky hair, who normally likes to moan
"I'm too shy", walked over to the gentleman and handed him the dollar bill
and thanked him for the music.

My heart chakra swelled with love and pride that I AM his Mamma.


Thank you Source of Love, Joy and Life for allowing me to be the vessel through
which this beautiful boy...soon to be beautiful man, came into the world in this life. Bless me to be open and humble enough to be the best mother he needs to help him reach his goals in this Life.

I AM.

I AM so thankful for LOVE.

It Really Is

It really is the little things in life that truly matter.

Like how I told Paul today how much his warm smile and hello when ever he sees me pass by really means to me.

It makes my day. And helps to make my life happier.

It really is the little things in life that truly matter.

Take a moment to let someone you know how much they mean to you.

Holy Grail Your Rx

Where are USA prescription drugs manufactured? In the USA?

NaturalNews

You can come to your own conclusion.

Do Your Homework

Honour the moment that you are in NOW.

Do your homework.

Be honest with yourself.

Have questions?

Pray. Go within. Be still.

Be honest with yourself and trust what you see.

Trust in yourself and do not doubt.

Trust can only be established once you have entered
internal dialog with the Divine that is within you.

But you must do your homework first...what ever your
assignment is.....

Unconditional Love

*sigh....

What are the steps to unconditional love? I mean truly realising and actuating unconditional love.

Dare I say that there are NO steps to unconditional love. Why not? Because you already are unconditional love. It is about remembrance. It is about allowing the dry husks to fall from around you.

What was my "aha" moment?

Unconditional love is....

When you cease the desire or need to hold another accountable.

Then I thought to myself...could I imagine being constantly held accountable for all the crazy, inane, ridiculous and out right wrong paths I have taken in my life?

Wow! What a daunting and scary prospect.

Yes, I must let go the need to hold other accountable.

It is the process or part of the process of just letting go.

Breathe.

Breathe the Breath of Life....stop holding your breath and exhale.

Only when you exhale can you let a fresh breath of Life in.

Needing to hold other accountable is like holding your breath!

Think on this and let it sink in.

I love you.


This work by Tamu Ngina is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

P.S. I love you

Just finished watching P.S. I love you

Has got to be one of the most beautiful Life affirming movies.

Death is as much as part of living as life is.

Another spectacularly deep and beautiful movie is The Fountain
Mind you The Fountain is not for the faint of heart, nor for those
who need their movies to be spelled out for them. It is in fact
enlightening.

Day 170

From the book KABBALAH 365 edited by Rabbi Gershon Winkler

Day 170

All beings--all of them--are interconnected one within the other, and support one another, and it is impossible for any one of them to exist without the other. Likewise, there are wondrous medicines in all of the four merka'vot (vehicles of divine manifestation)--Still Beings, Sprouting Beings, Wildlife Beings, and Talking Beings.

-Sixteenth-century Rabbi Yeshayahu ben Avraham
in Sh'lah ahl M'sechet Yoma, Perek Derech Chayyim V'tocha'chat Musar, No. 29

Awaken

east
luminance rises

casting it's gilded rays

magnifying ecstasy

serpent coils

seeking to climb

ladder to gold

kiss the third

receive her blessings

dandelions daisies

alfalfa to balance


beautiful breath of life

water of waters

(c) Swan

This work by Tamu Ngina is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Today is Beautiful

Today is a beautiful day.

Today, I spent a bit of time reflecting on my Grandfather's passing, thinking on him and then realized that it is one month day of crossing over and that it is the 21st yahrzeit of the passing of his youngest daughter my Aunt Terri Inez Griffin, she was the dancer.

On my computer at work I have a post it note that says:

I love you Grandaddy, I hope you are happy.

I shed some tears. Let the emotion out. And after much self talk I became full of a lot of Love and Joy. I wanted so much to give our financial advisor a hug...just cause I really wanted one...I refrained cause I did not want her thinking I'd lost my mind. However, I am sure she would have obliged me, she is very sweet and kind. But I absorbed that feeling within and hugged myself. :-)

I released it all to Spirit.

Upon returning home from work around noon I discovered that the reliable postal service delivered the book I ordered by Rabbi Gershon Winkler entitled "Magic of the Ordinary: Recovering the Shamanic in Judaism".

For well over the past year I had been contemplating purchasing this book. What took me so long, I do not know. A fellow blogger posted a YouTube video of Rabbi Gershon in which he is being interviewed and then proceeds to play the hand drum. On his drum he points out several symbols related to one of the four archangels. Lo and behold one of the angel symbols was the very symbol that came to mind when I received my second Reiki One empowerment! Needless to say I was completely blown away. For the past year I had been wondering what the symbol meant.

Not only that but his book has already answered or shall I say confirmed some other questions that had been burning.

Today is a beautiful day.

Home Made Almond Milk

Organic non-pasteurized milk is my preference but Martin's Country market closed down years ago and was replaced by a car dealership. Yeah for progress!

There is nothing like thick, creamy cold milk in a lovely old fashioned glass bottle. Diversity is good and thank heavens for the Amish and Mennonites around here.

But fresh milk of that sorts is out of reach at the moment.

Eventually I switched to Soy milk but the information on its healthfulness is so mixed that I'd rather shy away from it. I've learned that eating large amounts of soy products from NON-fermented soy beans is not a good thing. Something about the mimicking hormones that may not be good for growing boys or grown women for that matter. So then I switched to manufactured rice milk. But even rice milk doesn't sit well with me.

Well I decided to go the way of homemade almond milk. So once again I go over to the Mennonite store, not the one that closed down but one located on a small dairy farm where they sell fabric not milk, and I purchased some cheese cloth.

I used the cheese cloth to drain/strain my almond milk concoction. Add a little raw sugar (in lieu of the maple syrup I neglected to pick up at the other Mennonite grocer (health food bulk store) coupled with a bit of vanilla extract.

How many ways can you say yum! Try out the recipe I picked up from Mahanandi
My knowledge of the Sanskrit language is very rudimentary. Mostly its what I picked up from studying at the Hindi Temple years ago. Maha means Great and Ananda is Bliss.... so I surmise the website to mean Great Bliss.

Well this Almond milk was close to bliss for me! Enjoy!

P.s. I used 6 cups of water instead of 5 so I guess it was a bit thinner but it was still yummy!

image courtesy of<

Tribute to Theophilus Griffin

On May 5, 2008 my grandaddy, Theophilus Griffin, passed away at home. We believe it to be a heart attack. My granmom was there with him. By the time the paramedics arrived it was too late. He was two months shy of his 80th birthday and he died in his home with his wife of 59 years whom he had known for 67 years.

By all appearances and American standards my Grandaddy and Granmom for that matter were an amazing couple who achieved the American dream. And through all of our ups and downs I love them both very much and proud of what they represented in our American culture.

They were both college educated people. My Grandaddy graduated from Tennessee State University where he was a Q-dog Omega Psi Phi and a Jazz alto-Saxophone player. He even played jazz saxophone at Carnegie Hall. In high school he was president of his senior class. He was tall, about 6'2, very handsome and everyone loved him. Yes, he had lots of friends.

He married my GranMommy, a model and wonderfully creative woman, in 1949 and they had 4 lovely children. One daughter, my Mother, is the hippie/creative who taught me unconditional love, the middle daughter a debutant and medical student and the youngest daughter a groundbreaking beauty pageant queen, actress and Broadway dancer (42nd Street, Chicago, Cotton Club movie-only to name just a few) and the son became an electrician whose two sons will son be signed to major league baseball teams.

They played bridge often with their club. They belonged to the Epicureans. And I remember while growing up as a young child they would often host cocktail parties. They lived the quintessential upper-middle class lifestyle. For a Black American couple having been born in the late 1920's this was an achievement beyond measure.

My Grandaddy worked for Western Electric and then AT&T as a supervisor where he retired after 39 years. He was known as Mr. T. He wisely invested in land and stocks so that when he and my Grandmommy, a Registered Nurse, retired they moved to a 5 acre rural lot and enjoyed their remaining years together. They indeed lived the "good life".

My fondest memories of my Grandaddy was traveling around in his 1975 brown (his favorite colour) Lincoln Continental (his favorite luxury car which he returned to in later life even after having two Cadillacs) and watching him use his CB radio to communicate with truckers. He handle was Big T and I fancied myself as Little T.

I could go on and on about my Grandfather and Grandparents achievements in this world, they were numerous, but I will not belabor the issue. I'm proud of their accomplishments and what they represent in American society.

Thank you Grandaddy for leading your family the way you thought best. Thank you for not being afraid to be yourself. Thank you for not "selling out". Thank you for representing strength. Thank you for being you the only way you knew how. I love you.

I wish you well on your journey in the next world. I wish you well in the lessons you have learned, the love you have gained and where ever you will go to next. Yes, I too will be there after I live out my lot in this life.
*********************************************************************************

Being with my family as we prepared for my Grandaddy's funeral was a very emotional time for me. I had so many issues and thoughts that needed resolving. After returning home there has been one song that I have been unconsciously singing for the past two weeks. That song is Whitney Houston's Greatest Love of All.

As I drank my yerba mate that song came to me even stronger so I looked it up on YouTube. All I could do was cry as I watched Whitney belt out this beautiful and spiritually edifying song. The lyrics of this song are profound, they feed my soul, thank you Whitney.

I dedicate this song to my Grandaddy, Theophilus Griffin, and to myself, his granddaughter.

---

---

Learning to let go is one of the greatest lessons. Letting go of pain, of expectations, of worry and letting go of what you think is right or wrong.

Death is the greatest teacher of letting go.

---

Yeah Right

(CNN) -- A passenger who landed at Tokyo's Narita airport over the weekend has ended up with a surprise souvenir courtesy of customs officials -- a package of cannabis.

Sniffer dogs failed to find the cannabis after it had been slipped into a passenger's bag.

A customs official hid the package in a suitcase belonging to a passenger arriving from Hong Kong as part of an exercise for sniffer dogs on Sunday, Reuters.com reported.

However, staff then lost track of the drugs and suitcase during the exercise, a spokeswoman for Tokyo customs said.

Customs regulations specify that a training suitcase be used for such exercises, but the official had used passengers' suitcases for similar purposes in the past, domestic media reported.

Tokyo customs has asked anyone who finds the package to return it.

Full Moon of May

Full Moon of May
So much energy at play

Lessons to heal
New plans to fulfill.


*************

This month kicked off with amazing energy. Sadness, loss but understanding and new platform.

Energetic motions coming full force and full circle. Big changes ahead. Changes that were long over due that fear clouded the way.

But the fog is lifted. Love releases.

Courage to forge...energy to move forward.

**************

Great Spirit, Spiral of Life....thank you for unexpected blessings....through death there is new life.



This work by Tamu Ngina is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Poetry for The Sun

I've always written about my love for Mother Moon
and now its time to write about Father Sun because
he, The Sun, drawn from water, has recently inspired me.

*********************************
His face is liken unto the Sun

Warm and glowing

His words are like the sun's rays
that give life and edify

A touch that caresses

His Sun in My Moon

La Luna El Sol

The Sun

Come...
Let your countenance
warm my face

Your radiance caress my soul

Brilliant are your rays

Loving are your ways

My Moon a reflection of your glory

You, the Sun, drawn from the deepest of waters

Me, the Moon, encouraging your tides to wash over
cleansing the shore of Mother Earth and the consciousness
of her people.

Sister Mother Moon a reflection of your glory

**************************

Dedicated to the one who was drawn from the deepest waters.

This work by Tamu Ngina is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.