"The Age of Aquarius"

"When the moon is in the Seventh House And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius ♒
Age of Aquarius ♒ Aquarius! ♒ Aquarius! ♒

Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the mind's true liberation Aquarius! ♒
Aquarius! ♒

When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius ♒
Age of Aquarius ♒ Aquarius! ♒ Aquarius! ♒

Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in
The sun shine in
Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in
The sun shine in
Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in
The sun shine in, etc......"
----- from "Hair the American Tribal Love Rock Musical"
Lyrics by James Rado & Gerome Ragni

Back in the 60’s when this song came out, it was an anthem for the youth of that time. It was about “flower children” and “hippies”, free love and exploring things beyond our understanding.

I wasn’t quite old enough to be a flower child, however, I was close enough to be one in my own world. That is when I started really searching for my own brand of spirituality. It started me exploring and thinking.

My home life was difficult. My father was an alcoholic and so I retreated to books, music and my inner mind. I was a very imaginative young teenager.

My mother was understanding of my search for what I defined as my spirituality, as long as I didn’t run away and become an actual “flower child”. I remember going with my parents and aunt and uncle to Soho in New York on a vacation. My mom bought me a button that said.. “Make love not war”. My mother and I went to see Jesus Christ Superstar and Hair at the theatre and that is when I became aware of “The Age of Aquarius”. It said so much to me. When I bought the album I would play it over and over and sing along with it.

Now, more than before, I see this song as an anthem, especially, with a new president in office. Someone who I think will really truly help this country to go back to the golden times when the USA was strong and most people were happy and not suffering, as we are now. There are more people than ever out of work and with families who are starving. I see so much hope on people’s faces as they listen and watch Barack Obama talk about how he is going to help them.

Unfortunately, our last president did not give us hope. In fact, by the time of the nominations for president, most people looked as if they had given up. I know I felt that way.

I felt frustrated that the health system failed me when I most needed it. I felt frustrated that although I was working, I had less to show for it than ever before. I felt hopeless and believed that I would never feel hopeful again.

Now I do feel hopeful. I know that there is no quick fix, after all it’s taken us a long time to get to this stage of life in the USA. I feel hopeful. I don’t care if I make a lot of money. I just want to be able to live comfortably and to know that if my health condition gets worse, that I will be taken care of by my health insurance and that I won’t go hungry.

I can see “The Age of Aquarius” on the horizon and its really beautiful.

Late Night Musings

I've been strolling through my day, surfing the web, creating art and generally enjoying this lazy moment in my life. It's so nice not to have a demand on me by work or anyone. I'm on holiday break at my job at the university and I am relaxing into it.

I am feeling the creative muse percolating in my brain, bursting out with little dots of brilliance. My goal for this week is to recreate my self esteem by publishing my bits of artwork and creativity.

Here's an ATC I created this morning. I gave no thought on what it was to become, I just let it create itself. The technique I used is called Iris Folding. I found the free pattern at this website. " http://www.irisfolding.circleofcrafters.com/irisfoldingcat.html" They have a lot of free patterns and very good instructions on how to make an Iris Fold card. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Here's one of the pictures I've uploaded to my "ATCs for All" account. I had so much fun making this one. I used a canceled stamp and "air mail" stamp from one of my received swap envelopes. The background is orgami paper, and ribbon. There is a vintage collage "beauty Post" image and a dragonfly button.

When I create I rarely have a picture in my mind of what I am going to make. It comes to me, almost in a meditative state. Sometimes I have a theme to work with, especially if it is for a swap.