2018…Charting A New Course

I know many people were happy to see the back end of 2017 and welcome the new year, bringing with it fresh HOPE. I barely know anyone who wasn’t affected by some serious challenges in 2017. Already the feeling of this year is much lighter. 2018 is a number 11 year.  In numerology the number 11 is a Master Number, as are 22 and 33, meaning it is of high vibrational frequency and works within the realms of creation. Master numbers possess great potential for learning and growth, and can bring major transformations in your life. Whereas 2017 was a number 1 year of new beginnings, with many people experiencing resets in the form of loss or change, now the transformation into what was lost gives way to our next creation.

                                        Painting by Vladimir Kush

I, like millions of others, watched Oprah Winfrey’s speech at the Golden Globes when she accepted her Cecil B. de Mille Lifetime Award. My soul was deeply touched as I witnessed the women in that room claim their power, spurred on by Oprah’s passionate stand for women who have had the courage to speak out against the powerful abusive male culture, declaring an end to the silence and a new day dawning on the horizen.  It’s amazing to be alive as a woman during this time, to see this monumental shift taking place after hundreds of years of repression and silence and submission. Now a tipping point has been reached, what has been building for so long, has finally broken free. Just like a dam bursting, allowing the waves of truth to gush forth, drenching the barren lands, so thirsty for what is right and good and true to take hold. I feel that this “Me too” movement will allow women’s voices, feelings, thoughts and ideas to be acknowledged as more credible and powerful and to be heard across all areas of life. The “Me Too” movement has followed on the heels of  the “Black Lives Matter” movement. No longer are the oppressed people of this earth;  women, African Americans, LGBT community, etc… going to sit down and take it. It is time for all our voices to be heard and acknowledged. It is a time for love to lead the way. Not to diminish the “Black Lives Matter” movement, but we all matter and we must start caring for all communities of people and accept people for who they are, and celebrate our differences.

Think of the flowers on this planet. There are so many different and beautiful flowers that God made. Some of my favorite flowers are roses, dahlias, zinnias, lilies, orchids, sunflowers, hyacinth, gladiola, peonies, begonias, African violets and there are so many more; daisies, daffodils, tulips, marigolds, iris, and on and on. Now, do we look at a flower and say, “I don’t like that dahlia because it does not look or smell like a rose! I want every flower to be a rose! Any flower that is not a rose is not a good flower. Only roses should be on this planet.” No, we appreciate the variety of colors, shapes, smells and textures, because they are all beautiful in their own way. God made all of those different types of flowers for us to appreciate and admire in the same way God made all different types of people. There are no two people exactly the same on this planet full of 7 billion people. How cool is that? We all have our different looks, shapes, colors, smells, languages, ideas, gifts, quirky habits, talents, voices, etc. Earth is one giant garden full of unique people who we can appreciate and marvel at as we come to know the different ways that each of us chooses to live our lives on this glorious planet.

I love to travel. When I was a little girl, I lived in India, surrounded by Indian women who wore beautiful silk saris, with jasmine flowers in their brown oiled hair, who preferred to walk barefoot, cook over an open flame outdoors and live a simpler life full of laughter.  The streets were teeming with families on bicycles, white cows, food stalls, sadhus, yogis, snakes in baskets, roadside temples with ochre colored paste for your forehead and elephant statues, and I came to know this marvelous place as India, with all of it’s raw beauty, delicious smells and ancient culture. Then I moved to Turkey when I was 4 and every day I would hear the call to prayer being broadcast from the speakers of the minarets of the Mosque near our home. I would see the rug weavers and copper pot makers and the men selling fresh, hot bread from a round tray they carried on their heads. The groups of men drinking very strong tea and smoking houkas in the coffee shops and the beautiful women with their heads adorned with scarves and traveling together. And lots of cats, cats everywhere, ok, that was a little weird…LOL!  And this place, I came to know and love as Turkey. So different than India but just as beautiful.  I was lucky to grow up as a child in these countries and experiencing the diversity first-hand. And my mother and father never said one bad word about anyone, they respected the people in these foreign lands and they taught me to respect them too. My father took hundreds of photos of all the interesting people and places and the world was a strange, mysterious and wonderful place, waiting to be explored.  Since then I have traveled to many other countries, lived for 11 years in Australia and spent time in several of the states of this country. Each has it’s own flavor and beauty, as well as challenges and energies.

I can’t imagine a planet where everywhere you went it was the same. We have enough of that happening with the homogenization of American stores like Pet Smart, TJ Maxx, Panera, McDonalds, Staples, Walmart, Target, Best Buy and more. I preferred the character and individuality of the personally owned stores rather than these large corporations that dominate creating a flavorless white-wash across this nation. You can’t even distinguish if you are in Toledo, OH, or Hoboken, NJ, the stores are all the same.

For the past year and a bit, we have had to watch our so-called Leader, The President of the United States, demonstrate a distinct lack of respect for women, minorities, the elderly, the poor, the disabled, foreigners, the environment, wild animals, domestic animals and basically everyone who is not in his immediate family. It has been ugly to say the least, although I’m not sure how much respect his wife gets either. His actions are not good, right and true. And it doesn’t feel good in our bodies, it is not harmonious, it is chaotic. We have had to stand by and witness this, day in and day out, like some horrible reality show gone wrong, and no one will fire the Producer, change out the cast and get the damn show off the air. It’s like our own American version of Clockwork Orange, where we are being forced to watch this horror show from our pried-open eyes. We have felt helpless at times, watching the horrific plot unfold and facing the reality that this man is not only inept, but dangerous. He does not appreciate diversity, he wants everyone to be the same, white, vanilla,  like him and he is basically saying he wants all the flowers on the planet to be the same flower. And that any flower that is not of his liking will be excluded, deported, fined, incarcerated or fired. It is diabolical, he has no true appreciation of life itself, because Life itself, by its very nature, is diverse. It is hardly believable as we see injustices taking place from the very group that are supposed to support and care for our people, our country. We can be the victims, or we can take charge as a people, to chart a new course for ourselves, and speak out as to what we will tolerate and what is utterly unacceptable. We, the people is a powerful phrase.

The new course we are charting has to include everyone, that means all of God’s children. Let’s allow everyone to be who they are and learn about and celebrate our differences. Let’s encourage the variety of flowers to grow in the garden of Mother Earth and value each other’s unique beauty. Let your voice be heard because no one is just like you. You are unique. Your voice matters. You matter. Speak out if you see something that is not right, take action and set in motion the wheels of change.  Get yourself to the voter’s box and cast your vote. This is how each of us can make a difference. There is one man and quite a few more powerful people at the top trying to strong arm us into swallowing an agenda that is not virtuous. But there are millions of us and if we each do our part, the sheer numbers will shift the tide into transforming our world into what we know to be right and true, where we honor and respect one another and allow each other to live our lives in peace. We must stand up for ourselves. We must take action, it is the only way. I am planning to march this year in the women’s march in Seneca Falls in New York. Last year during the march, I was in New Mexico with a very sick man who was intent on controlling me. I remember seeing the march on television and wishing I was there, marching arm in arm with my sisters about what truly mattered. Well, I broke free from the abusive man and now I can go to the march this year and you had better believe that I am going to be out there, freezing temperatures and all to let my voice be heard and stand up for what is right and good and true. The New day is indeed dawning and the light of the new dawn has never looked so bright.