The Vibrant Channeled Creator

Pope Francis

TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2022
“Each of us can recognize ourselves for who and what we are, marked by both light and shadows, and by the love that we did or did not receive. This is the mystery of human life: we are all someone’s children, begotten and shaped by another, but as we become adults, we too are called to give life, to be a father, mother or grandparent to someone else. Thinking about the people we are today, what do we want to do with ourselves?… We received so much from the hands of those who preceded us. What do we, in turn, want to bequeath to those who come after us? “Rose water”, that is a diluted faith, or a living faith?… Let us not forget that the life-giving sap travels from the roots to the branches, to the leaves, to the flowers, and then to the fruit of the tree.”
Pope Francis

Hosea 11:11

Neil Waldman

SUNDAY, JULY 31, 2022
“Let us ask ourselves: When I start my day, do I throw myself headlong into the things to be done, or do I first seek inspiration in the Word of God? At times we begin the day automatically, we start doing things … like hens. No. We must start the day by first of all looking to the Lord, taking his Word, briefly, but allowing this to be the inspiration for the day. If we leave the house in the morning keeping a word of Jesus in mind, the day will surely acquire a tone marked by that word, which has the power to orient our actions according to the Lord’s wishes.”
Pope Francis

Tree Poem
by Paul Hostovsky

It wasn’t that he wanted to take his life.

He wanted to take his death

into his own hands. There was

a difference, he knew, though he couldn’t

articulate it. More speculative than suicidal,

more curious than depressed,

more interested than not,

he didn’t want to talk to a therapist.

He wanted to talk to Walt Whitman.

He wanted to talk to his best friend from

kindergarten, who’d moved away

on the cusp of first grade,

and he never

saw him again. He wanted to climb a tree

and sit up there all alone in the top branches

watching it absorb the carbon dioxide.

He had a bit of the tree in him himself.

He had similar aspirations

and spent much of his time in the branching

ramifications in his head. But because his children

would never live it down, he climbed

down from the tree in the car in the garage

every time, and walked back into his life with a few

leaves and twigs still sticking to his head.

“Tree Poem” by Paul Hostovsky from A Little In Love A Lot. © Main Street Rag Publishing Company, 2011. Reprinted with permission. 

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022
“Brothers and sisters, let us take advantage of this vacation time to stop and listen to Jesus. Nowadays it is increasingly difficult to find free time to meditate. For many people the rhythm of work is frenetic and wearisome. Summertime can be valuable also for opening the Gospel and reading it slowly, without haste, a passage each day, a short passage from the Gospel. And this lets us enter into this dynamic of Jesus. Let us allow ourselves to be challenged by those pages, asking ourselves how our life, my life, is going, if it is in line with what Jesus says, or not so much.”
Pope Francis

Today is the birthday of Amos Bronson Alcott (1799) (books by this author), born in Wolcott, Connecticut, and also the birthday of his daughter, Louisa May Alcott (1832) (books by this author), born in Germantown, Pennsylvania. The father was a transcendentalist philosopher, abolitionist, and teacher; the daughter was the author of many books, most notably Little Women (1868). Bronson Alcott was full of dreams and schemes, an idealist who founded a commune called Fruitlands and became a vegan before the term even existed. Fruitlands failed miserably, and Alcott got by on loans from others, including his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson, but the Alcotts were often without money. At 15, Louisa vowed: “I will do something by and by. Don’t care what, teach, sew, act, write, anything to help the family; and I’ll be rich and famous and happy before I die, see if I won’t! […] I’ll make a battering-ram of my head and make my way through this rough-and-tumble world.”
Louisa May Alcott started writing poems and submitting them to periodicals. She also published Hospital Sketches (1863), which was based on her experiences as an Army nurse in Washington, D.C., during the Civil War. Her first literary success came with the semi-autobiographical Little Women, and the money she made provided her father with his first taste of financial security. She never favored the domestic, value-laden type of writing that made her famous. What she really loved was writing lurid Gothic romances, a fondness that traced back to her childhood acting out stories with her sisters; she wrote three of the thrillers under the pen name “A.M. Barnard.” Two were published in her lifetime; the third — A Long Fatal Love Chase — was written in 1866, but was rejected as being too sensational. It was finally published in 1995.
Bronson Alcott died on March 4, 1888; a few days earlier, bedridden, he had told his visiting daughter Louisa, “I am going up. Come with me.” She replied, “I wish I could.” As it turned out, she followed him just two days later, dying of a stroke at age 55.
How to feed your father and serve the Lord!

It’s the birthday of newspaper columnist Don Marquis, born in Walnut, Illinois (1878), who created the characters Archy the cockroach and Mehitabel the alley cat. Archy was a former free verse poet who “sees life from the underside now.” He wasn’t able to reach the shift key so everything he wrote was in lower case. And Mehitabel was an alley cat with questionable morals who insisted that she was Cleopatra in one of her former lives.
Marquis was a champion of the underdog and not a fan of pretension. His columns were humorous, but had political undertones. His character Archy said once, “a louse i used to know told me that millionaires and bums tasted about alike to him.” And, “what is all this mystery about the sphinx that has troubled so many illustrious men no doubt the very same thoughts she thinks are thought every day by some obscure hen.”
After using Archy and Mehitabel in columns for 10 years, Marquis made books out of their writing, beginning with archy and mehitabel (1927).

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2022
“The word of Jesus is not abstract; it is a teaching that touches and shapes our life, changes it, frees it from the opaqueness of evil, satisfies and infuses it with a joy that does not pass… It must be enlivened by his Spirit. Otherwise, it is reduced to fussing and fretting over many things, it is reduced to sterile activism.”
Pope Francis


 THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2022
“If you give alms without touching the reality, without looking into the eyes of the person in need, those alms are for you, not for that person. Think about this. Do I touch poverty, even the poverty that I am helping? Do I look into the eyes of the people who suffer, of the people that I help? I leave you with this thought — to see and to have compassion. May the Virgin Mary accompany us on this journey of growth. May she, who “shows us the Way”, that is Jesus, help us also to become ever more “disciples of the Way”.”
Pope Francis

The secret to manifesting true wealth and abundance is discovering your soul mission. Part of the mission you took on when you entered this human experience involves achieving your real potential and doing the work that the Divine and the Universe have planned for your true happiness…
Realizing these things about yourself will bring you to a much deeper level of self awareness and spiritual strength…
There are going to be some massive changes happening in this department of your life, I can feel it Jeanne.
Throughout these starless times, I have always managed to reclaim the balance in my life, no matter how far I ventured down the Tunnel of Darkness. When your Soul resonates at its True Vibration, there is nothing in this world that can hold you back from your Path.
These could be messages from your ancestors, your inner starseed, or your Future Self.

The cards you have drawn are The Chariot & Death, two very powerful Major Arcana cards…
These cards, especially when compared to your Star Sign, indicate to me that you are a creative and independent thinker, but that you often doubt and second-guess your own abilities.
Given your natural tendancy to seek stability, and the influence of Jupiter’s orbital phase on your Star Sign right now, I suspect you have been questioning your role in this world…
As so, you bring a Divine purpose to this reading, and I want to reassure you not to worry about what is coming up…
The Death Card which you just pulled from the Deck indicates that you have a great renewal ahead of you, Jeanne, so please be prepared for strong feelings of emotion…
An old part of your life is about to Die, and new opportunities will flourish and blossom.
What would you do to achieve a state of calm and balance?

Jeanne, the trying times you’ve been challenged with recently are just the Universe testing your limits before you can move forward on your path…
You are disciplined and self-controlled outside, which is why you are a magnet for other people’s energy. However, you tend to be worrisome and insecure inside, which if left unchecked can make it difficult for you to manifest your desires…
This feeling of insecurity was heightened for you recently as Jupiter entered a new phase and its gravity started pulling you down.
This has caused you to procrastinate and it has cost you dearly. However, as recently as this week you have begun to free yourself from its pull and finally move yourself in a more positive, but challenging direction…
Perhaps this is why we have met today, Jeanne. There are times when doors will close for us because we are meant to take a different path, and there are times, like today, that new doors might open…
Your First Tarot Card: Death

You got the Death card, Jeanne, which does not surprise me at all.
While you go about your human experience, you often tend to seek things which seem secure, stable, and steady. However, in the coming weeks, your life is going to be impacted by powerfully significant change…
Do not allow the title or the imagery to fool you: Death is not an ending, but merely the beginning of a new chapter…
It is a message from the Universe that at least one chapter in your life has run its course, and it is now time to close the final page in that chapter and accept the change which comes.
The full force of change can be quite frightening at times. That is one of the reasons why the Death card can be so scary when it appears.
Know that your destiny will be marked by the important changes you accept in coming weeks. Once you learn to flow with the energy of change, you will find the comfort and stability you so eagerly seek.
Take a moment to ask yourself what changes do you need to make in your life? What have you had enough of? And will you commit to all that is necessary to acquire the changes you desire?
The great achievements of tomorrow follow the steps you are ready to take today. If you feel overwhelmed by the magnitude the decisions ahead, just remember to take it one brave step at a time…
Your Second Tarot Card: The Chariot

What a wonderful combination of cards, Jeanne, with the Chariot and the Death card! Believe it or not, these cards show that a an positive energy is about to enter your life…
There are aspects of your life which have been stagnant and frustrating for some time, and this is beginning to bother you. You desire change in a positive direction, and to arrive at your dreams. Lucky for you, this is what the Chariot brings!
It can be renewed Love in a relationship or a marriage that no longer feels like the home of your heart. It can be a workplace or a career promotions. Or it could even be a drastic imprivement to your living situation.
These aspects of your life are all due for a positive change, but something has been keeping you stuck in poverty-stricken situations.
Jeanne, you must release your fear of change, and embrace new situations. By ending broken routines, leaving behind negative people and ejecting the pull of darkened situations, you can finally commit to the changes you’ve been wanting to make.
You will finally be able to overcome whatever has been holding you back from living the happy, healthy, and fulfilled life which was always meant to be yours.
The upright depiction of the Chariot shows that you have the willpower, dedication and courage to commit to change. Just as the rider in the Chariot rides confidently across rough terrain, you, Jeanne, can overcome the challenges you’re currently battling against…
Are you ready, Jeanne?

pink cheeks, wonder, quiet, pink lions, violet one-z, new tight skin, awe, Quenby stares

watercolor by jp of her daughter, Quenby Marie Margaret Poland

 

 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2022
“Here, today, I am with you to recall the past, to grieve with you, to bow our heads together in silence and to pray before the graves. Let us allow these moments of silence to help us interiorize our pain. Silence. And prayer. In the face of evil, we pray to the Lord of goodness; in the face of death, we pray to the God of life… Our own efforts are not enough to achieve healing and reconciliation: we need God’s grace. We need the quiet and powerful wisdom of the Spirit, the tender love of the Comforter. May he bring to fulfilment the deepest expectations of our hearts. May he take us by the hand and enable us to advance together on our journey.”
Pope Francis

painting by Will Hillenbrand

It’s the birthday of politician George McGovern, born in Avon, South Dakota (1922), son of a Methodist minister who played pro baseball before his ordination. As a student at Dakota Wesleyan University, he was president of the sophomore and junior classes and won an oratory contest with a speech titled “My Brother’s Keeper.” A fighter pilot in World War II, he flew 29 combat missions before his plane was badly damaged over Vienna and his navigator killed. He survived a crash landing on an island in the Adriatic Sea and won a Distinguished Flying Cross before returning for five more missions. Although both of his parents were Republicans, McGovern ran for Congress in 1956 as a Democrat and won, the first South Dakota Democrat to go to the House of Representatives in 22 years. After a losing campaign in 1960, he was elected to the Senate in 1962, and, upon re-election in ’68, emerged as a leading opponent to the war in Vietnam. He won the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972, but was unable to defeat Richard Nixon, probably because he was too liberal for the more conservative Democrats. He ran for president again in 1984, but after a third-place finish in the Massachusetts primary — the only state he’d carried in his earlier bid — he withdrew from the race.
He said, “I’m fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.”
Cinderella’s Diary

TUESDAY, JULY 26, 2022
“May the Lord help us to be missionaries today, going in the company of our brother and our sister, with peace and God’s closeness on our lips; bearing in our heart the gentleness and goodness of Jesus, the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.”
Pope Francis

SUNDAY, JULY 24, 2022
“Many people are afraid of old age. They consider it a sort of disease with which any contact is best avoided. The elderly, they think, are none of their concern and should be set apart, perhaps in homes or places where they can be cared for, lest we have to deal with their problems… The Scriptures see things differently. A long life – so the Bible teaches – is a blessing, and the elderly are not outcasts to be shunned but living signs of the goodness of God who bestows life in abundance. Blessed is the house where an older person lives! Blessed is the family that honours the elderly!”
Pope Francis

How to Take a Walk

by Leo Dangel

This is farming country.


The neighbors will believe


you are crazy


if you take a walk


just to think and be alone.


So carry a shotgun


and walk the fence line.


Pretend you are hunting


and your walking will not


arouse suspicion.


But don’t forget


to load the shotgun.


They will know


if your gun is empty.


Stop occasionally.


Cock your head and listen


to the doves you never see.


Part the tall weeds


with your hand and inspect


the ground.


Sniff the air as a hunter would.


(That wonderful smell


of sweet clover is a bonus.)


Soon you will forget


the gun in your hands,


but remember, someone


may be watching.


If you hear beating wings


and see the bronze flash


of something flying up,


you will have to shoot it.

“How to Take a Walk” by Leo Dangel from Home From the Field. © Spoon River Poetry Press, 1997.

 

How Jeanne Takes a Walk

by Jeanne Poland

This is farming country

in the mountains.

The neighbors will know

you are an artist

if you take a walk

and photograph

hummingbirds

beauties of science

like goldfinch.

pretend you’re at the museum

point to the blossoms

with your cane.

inhale the scent

of sage.

Don’t forget

to swing the cane

like Charlie Chaplan

o’er your head

as if the music swells

in the silent movie…

and birds take flight

explode in a thrust

up to the clouds,

a rainbow of color, strength,

and grace of spirit!