Shani

green trees near snow covered mountain
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Returning

To the land of drifting snow –

So

Many angels.

Black ravens circle

Above

The treetop,

Glinting green.

Dawn

Stars discern

A faint pathway

To river banks unseen.

Only divinity remains,

Only angels and singing bells,

In the gentle rains

Of spring.

Rocks washed, in the rolling

Dance

Of the unstoppable swells

Of the sea;

Tree shadows fade against the sky.

There is no one,

No one at all.

The tangles of time are all undone.

Only the lingering glance

Of eons sliding by,

Only the halo

Of the sacred night,

Only the peace of Eternity,

Only the startling snow,

Only the song of the swan

Has slipped away

Into the gray

Clouds of the pillars of the night,

Where the moon might

Sing,

The white-crowned sparrow

Hop,

And the magpie don

Her white robes, worn

In celebration

When the cosmic journey leads on and on

Through calming mists

Over miles of snow forests.

The one who waited to kill

The soul

No longer glimmers,

But is gone,

Into the night-waves of shadow.

Faded,

The bitter song – of illusion – was never sung –

The notes were never played,

But fell instead into the yawning gap of the abyss,

So the autumn leaves never cascaded

On to the burned embers of time, unborn

With the final hiss

Of the raindrop.

Now, at last, only

The brave, undaunted raven rises

Whose eyes

Glisten wise

In the snow-radiant dark.

Only the real one,

Who soars aloft, ever higher

Over the juniper tree.

Shani,

The first one,

The only one,

The God of myth

Who sparkles fire

As the bright

Truth

Of being,

Riding on the swift ark

Of the moon-crowned night.

© Copyright Sharon St Joan, 2023

Horus – Great God of the Sky — Iseum Sanctuary

Horus is one of the most Ancient Egyptian Gods, worshiped from the Pre-dynastic period (c. 6000-3150 BCE) until the last of the Ancient Egyptian dynasties (600 BCE). Horus was the “Great God, Lord of the Sky,” as well as god of war and hunting. He was usually depicted as a falcon-headed man or a falcon. […]

Horus – Great God of the Sky — Iseum Sanctuary

Anubis – Lord of the Underworld — Iseum Sanctuary

Anubis is one of the most well-known gods in the Ancient Egyptian pantheon. He is typically depicted as a man with the head of a jackal, or as a full jackal. He was often seen accompanying the deceased on their journey through the underworld, ensuring their safe passage and helping to guide them to their […]

Anubis – Lord of the Underworld — Iseum Sanctuary

Birds of the California Desert — Jet Eliot

Greater Roadrunner, CA We are lucky in this great state of California to have many different environmental habitats, providing a rich variety of bird and wildlife species. Let’s cruise down to southern California for desert birds. There are dozens and dozens of bird species in the California desert. Some species reside in a variety of […]

Birds of the California Desert — Jet Eliot

You can see five planets align in the sky every night this week. — Natural History Wanderings

from NPR What to know: Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury and Uranus will form an arch immediately after sunset. This happens every time the planets line up on one side of the sun — about once a year. How to watch: Four of the five planets should be visible with the naked eye beneath the moon. […]

You can see five planets align in the sky every night this week. — Natural History Wanderings

Khepri the Scarab Beetle – Divine Creator — Iseum Sanctuary

The Scarab Beetle God known as Khepri was associated with the Sun God Re and quite important in Ancient Egypt. He was usually portrayed as a scarab beetle which was a symbol of regeneration, transformation and rebirth. Khepri’s name is derived from the ancient Egyptian word “kheper,” which means “to become” and “to transform.” Khepri […]

Khepri the Scarab Beetle – Divine Creator — Iseum Sanctuary

The Triads — Iseum Sanctuary

The Ancient Egyptians had important groupings of the deities and among these, the group of three deities, Triads, were particularly significant. Two of the most famous triads of Ancient Egypt are the Theban Triad and the Abydos Triad. The Theban Triad consists of Amun, Mut, and Khonsu. Amun was the chief god of Thebes and […]

The Triads — Iseum Sanctuary

About the Nature film, The Serengeti Rules

starfish underwater
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Those in Utah who are in favor of removing all limits on the killing of cougars – which is in the current bill on the governor’s desk – might watch the film The Serengeti Rules – part of the Nature series, which just aired this evening on PBS. You can buy it on PBS too.

It is a crystal clear presentation of what happens when a keystone species – which are often, but not always, predators – disappears from an ecosystem.

What happens is always exactly the same – an imbalance arises – and one by one – all the other natural species die until nothing at all is left – only a barren desert with no life – or an empty pool by the seashore in which nothing lives.

Many examples were given in the film. Starfish are a keystone species. They hunt and keep other populations in check. When they were removed from a pool by the seashore, other species, with their population unchecked, multiplied, and began to eat everything in sight. In short order, everything was eaten and there was no food left. Then everything died and there was a completely dead pool.

In another situation – like several similar real situations in western U.S. states – all the wolves were killed. (All U.S. wolves had been killed and were extinct in the lower states by the end of the 1940’s. Gradually, with great effort some wolves have been brought back in recent years. It is an uphill battle – and many, many wolves, re-introduced, are still being killed.) In this particular situation, the film shows that after all the wolves had been killed, the deer, predictably, multiplied and ate everything – every young sapling, every blade of grass, every leaf within reach on the trees – until there was a vast overpopulation of deer who then died of starvation. This is what always happens.

There were many other examples presented – in the water, in the ocean and rivers, and on land – of keystone species being killed off and then the entire ecosystem collapsing as a consequence.

Of course, we might care about the cougars because they are individual, innocent, magnificent, majestic animals who enjoy living their lives free in the wild. But even if we don’t care about that – even if we don’t really mind killing off all of nature (the bill would make it legal to trap cougars pretty much anywhere at any time), we might take a moment to ask ourselves how we humans will survive when all the natural ecosystems are gone.

Radical imbalances in nature and weather disturbances are already causing harm and death to humans on a significant scale – and of course also to all the innocent creatures on the planet.

The Serengeti Rules, part of the Nature series, presents an absolutely clear, irrefutable scenario of the path we as a species are headed down – and also highlights the work of those heroes who fight hard and persevere to save the earth and the natural world.

© Copyright Sharon St Joan, 2023

A thought – there are more worlds than one – we have a choice

bird in tropical rain
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Today it was raining – and sleeting, cold – and there was hail too! But it was extraordinarily beautiful – and much needed by nature – by the ravens, the juncos, the pinyon jays, the deer, and the one Steller’s Jay who just showed up a couple of weeks ago. And by the juniper trees who spent so many years being thirsty.

Sometimes it occurs to me that we often have more of a choice than we think we do about our general state of being and our mood.

There are many worlds – or many levels – depending on how we want to look at it – and we can even exist in several of these at the same time – or sometimes alternately in one world, then another.

We can easily be drawn into a TV world (often not very elevated) or a world of gossip – or dismissal of others – or blame.

We can also allow the light of heaven to shine through the clouds and sometimes walk in the presence of angels in a world of peace and beauty.

We can be aware of sadness in the world and harm that is being done, and yet, sometimes still be able to focus on the light, rather than on the darkness.

For some of us this may be easier than for others. For some, it’s a bit like catching a train – we can catch the train to a pleasant seashore – or we can catch a different train to a crowded downtown traffic jam.

We’re not always aware that we have a choice. And some of us actually do have less of a choice – depending on the make-up of our personality and the history of our lives. It’s not a question of being good or bad; some people are just more adaptable than others. It’s a pattern.

But when we can, and if we can, sometimes it helps a lot if we don’t always have to jump on the train that is going to a dismal, unhappy train station – but instead, if we can exercise some measure of control of the emotional content of our lives, that can give us more of a choice – and often, if we choose to be more in a world of pleasant spirits and less in a world of doom and gloom, then we can – not only be happier ourselves (which is much pleasanter) – but also it makes it easier for us to have a positive, uplifting effect on those around us – which is a good thing.

This isn’t a question of good or bad, right or wrong (though certainly there are questions of good and bad, right and wrong) but in this case – it’s really just a question of giving ourselves greater possibilities in life – when and if we can – to see a glimpse of light rather than to be drowning in darkness – to choose a road that goes up towards the sky rather than down into the dumps. Or even just to be kind to others, rather than grumpy.

Not always, but often, we have more of a choice than we might think – and pausing for a moment, looking around, and allowing the door to open to a brighter world gives us a greater ability to do some measure of good in life. (It’s also more fun and less miserable.) Sometimes we call it counting our blessings.

We’re not always a victim, we can be free agents with a choice. And being open to the possibility of seeing the door that leads to the light is a good start.

Until the hour

ancient megalith structure
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Until the Hour

Through dim

Years of distain,

On the barren,

Moon-dark steppes, the hero’s

Blade has lain,

Half-broken,

In the shadows,

Where regiments of rattling

Drones

Skulk by,

Their bones

Whining

In the wind, the lights of their eyes

Gone,

Lugging through the mire,

Their banners grim

All hung with skulls and bells and pelts on wire,

They, the rusted kings,

Who create and re-create

Their soulless empire

Of uncounted deaths

And only lies.

Yet, all the while, the snow lily

Grew

Among the rocks

In the rain

Of silver tomorrows

Her petals, ghost-patterned

In the grace-filled land

Where all beginnings

Once arose

In the foothills of the eternal ones.

There gentle flocks

Of dragons,

Hatched of the sea,

Flew

In the pure skies

That overlie

The smoking rim

Of time, until

The hour when,

In the quiet, unremarked snows

That slip over oak and briar,

Along the high,

White-hooded hill,

Dragon dreams of standing stones

Walk abroad again

On the earth, and

The sword sings

In the ancient dawn

Of mists and myths.

***

Written around 2000.

© Copyright, Sharon St Joan.