The 45th Parallel

Salem. The name alone packs a powerful punch. Immediately my mind conjures up the Salem witch trials of Puritan Massachusetts. Ironic, as the birth of the word Salem comes from its Hebrew mother, Shalom, meaning peace. Salem in the late 1600’s was anything but peaceful. Suspicion, hysteria, betrayal and fear gripped the day.

But the name has an even earlier history than the 17th century. On a hill in the heart of Zion stands a city. jeruSALEM. As the “new Jerusalem” symbolizes any idealized city, Utopia, it means heaven to many. It is a sacred place to more than a few Jewish people, Muslims and Christians, and even though the pulse of the word means peace, this holy city in the Middle East is again, anything but.

The sister to Shalom is Shalem, meaning perfect, whole, full. I wonder if the Kalapuyans, the Native Americans who inhabited Oregon before the invention of the white man, knew that definition because they named the area Chemeketa, meaning “meeting or resting place.”

I had none of this in mind when Groom and I traveled an hour north to Oregon’s capital on Saturday. Neither did I feel anything unusual as we crossed the 45th parallel that runs through the city limits, that legendary halfway point between the North Pole and the Equator. But that’s really what this week’s entry is about, the location between my equator (umm, let’s call it my belt buckle) and my North Pole (my head) which is…my heart.

The 45th parallel, the 4th chakra, the heart.

I’ve just experienced an amazing realization and then manifestation, which has left me speechless. Well, not that you can tell, since one sentence follows another. But as I sit here clacking away at the computer keys, there is a whole lot of silence. Much space in between. I’m trying to find the words. Oh, here they come.

I ran across a great definition of progress in a jewelry magazine. The gist is that progress is a moving target, it cannot be measured standing still. It involves travel. In order to make progress, there has to be movement from one point to another. For example, a person cannot be judged by only one piece of jewelry (oh, but wait, they will be…stay tuned!), but by the progress made from one piece to the next and then the one after that.

Progress is dynamic, in other words, it is not static. Too many of us judge ourselves by only one coordinate, a lone word, a single action.

But Saturday, after a mere 13 months of planning, Groom and I finally made it to Salem right on the appointed dot of 10am. We met up with the In-laws for a day of Thrifting. The weather cooperated brilliantly, offering a sky of antique blue, and we did exactly what the tourism signs told us to do, “Explore downtown, eat & shop downtown.”

If you’ll be patient, this quilt of paragraphs will all come together by the end. Many of you are familiar with the Z0L0 vignette. Briefly, a lovely man, a 64-year old friend and pen pal of mine misread my handwriting and thought the date of 2010 said “Z0l0.” He quizzed and questioned me, wondering what on earth Z0L0 was. I had no idea. He said I had to know because I was the one who had written it. Story short, we’ve all been laughing ever since he realized the mistake and I’ve nicknamed him Z0L0 and he’s been calling me the Z0L0 Queen.

My New Year’s resolution for 2010, Z0l0, is to step out of my comfort zone and try new things. I was wearing this frame of mind when I received a lovely invitation from the Salem Art Association to create a piece of jewelry for the silent auction during their annual benefit, Clay Ball.

Creating something to donate is not the new part, for many organizations make that request. It was accepting their invitation to attend the event that rattled my cage of comfort. You would think dressing up and attending a fancy shmancy ball would be right up my alley, but er, um, hobbing and nobbing with the moneyed crowd, well?

It was a benefit, after all, and who do they want as guests in their well appointed ballroom but people who can afford the “per plate fee” and bid thousands of dollars against each other in the name of fun and philanthropy?

I knew it would be a stretch, but I decided I wanted to do it anyway. The theme for this year’s Clay Ball was Traveling by Starlight. Always one for a theme, I selected a stamp with, can you guess, a globe shaped like a heart and proceeded to embellish it with appropriate beads and charms.

The date finally arrived. Having to traverse the 66.2 miles of asphalt anyway, we made plans to thrift with the in-laws and then transform like Cinderella to attend the Ball. As we stepped into the Salem Conference center that evening, the atmosphere was at once charming and lively. The “fun and festive cocktail attire” made for great people watching, and by the time we climbed the stairs and perused the items up for bid, we were in a great mood.

And then we saw our piece. The little itty bitty “Traveling by Starlight” postage stamp pin. Yes, we were invited to donate what we do, but we had a bit of a shock seeing one of our jewelry pieces out of context instead of in a full booth like we’re used to. It was very sobering.

Why? Because while we were included in the realm of the donating, participating artists, we became aware of just how small our energy is. Our pin was the littlest object up for bid as well as the lowest opening bid.

Debbie Leahy, the Director of the Salem Art Fair & Festival, has been an amazing influence upon us, encouraging us to return to school and learn metalsmithing skills to expand what we do. Heeding her sage advice, we rearranged our whole lives, including our home, to make room for the classes and a different kind of studio.

At that moment, standing in the middle of the swirl of Saturday night, I set an intention. An intention to create a piece of jewelry (with the new skill set) that I can donate to next year’s Clay Ball that will knock my own socks off.

It was a good idea to have a smaller, less expensive piece available for people to bid on, to create something for those without access to huge funds, but I also realized I was at the very shallow end of the pool and I want to go deeper.

If the micro mirrors the macro, I looked into that mirror and saw how tiny my impact and energy was. While it kinda bummed me out, it was also a terrific marker, another coordinate in measuring my progress. Gosh darn nit, I am progressing, moving, growing and evolving. Instead of feeling like the smallest amoeba, the lowest on the totem pole, I decided to interpret the experience as inspiring.

That was the amazing realization. And now comes the manifestation. Deciding I did not need to feel puny, tempting as it was, I chose to plant a seed. Like Jack and the Beanstalk, I had no idea how quickly it could grow. Within 24 hours of planting the intention of allowing my energy to expand, I received a mysterious phone call. I was instructed to drive down to the corner of 6th Avenue and Fillmore Street where the Tire Factory is located.

Oh what a delightful surprise! On the marquee was the message, “Z0L0 Queen exists in Eugene.” My friend had gone to the effort of persuading the owner to display his message. I am so touched. Who goes to that kind of trouble? Who thinks like that?

It slowly occurred to me, that while I was thinking my energy was so small and ineffective it might need life support, somebody was going to the effort to announce my presence to the entire town. He also wrote a poem:

PRESS RELEASE by Ken Lee

You are all aware of the Eugene Slug Queen

At most openings and events she can be seen
Real Royalty has arrived in Eugene
She has emerged this year as the Z0L0 Queen!

When did the Royal Woman really appear?
Queen Z0L0 accepted her crown just this year
She’s no rookie to royalty though
In her veins, Queenly blood doth flow.

No princesses are needed, she goes solo
Remember the name dear folks –She’s Queen Z0L0
The Slug Queen is jealous of her, you see
Because by the next parade, she’ll be in the lead.

Queen Z0L0 is honored to lead the parade
The Slime Queen was invented, Queen Z0L0 was made.
When the REAL Queen goes by, just tip your beer
This is 2010 and its Z0L0 year!


Wow, as I said, this has rendered me speechless. Sort of. I am more gobsmacked, humbled, honored, delighted, and I realized, by him presenting me with a crown (my North Pole, my head, my 7th chakra) I encountered the halfway point, my own 45th parallel, intersecting at the city limits of my heart, and I report to you, at this moment, it is filled with peace.

Shalom.

Follow Your Knows...

What do you make of this? The whole thing began last summer. A vacant-ish lot in the neighborhood has become a yard of iniquity with teenagers getting high, whooping and hollering, coughing and spitting, shouting into their cell phones, playing obnoxious tunes on their hand-held security blankets and yelling fluently in Obsenities, their native tongue.

As I write and work from home, I remind myself to view this daily interruption as my “spiritual practice,” meaning I try to convince myself that I don’t need them to be different for me to be at peace.

I had another opportunity to hone my mad Zen skills while passing through the City of Trees, otherwise known as Boise. Driving through the desert in summer from Park City, Utah, I wanted an air-conditioned break. A movie was just the ticket and the elegant Egyptian Theater was hosting a cool matinee. Walking in the grand foyer and even more glorious auditorium, the place was entirely mine. Empty, I had the choice of any seat. Aah, the darkened theater, the smell of freshly popped corn, the dramatic raising of the curtain provided just what I was looking for.

Until they came in.

A group of unruly teenagers. Yep, a gaggle of hypernoids, whispering in loud voices, roamed the aisles in search of seats. Can you guess? With every seat in the theater unoccupied save two, this murder of crows decided to sit directly behind me. They squawked and laughed and pecked the back of my seat. When I turned around and asked them to be quiet, one girl jumped up and came back a few minutes later with more teenage spawn. Their obnoxious behavior increased.

I could think of only three options as I sat fuming, engaged in a battle of wills, while the movie I came to see played on without me. One, I could move, but I was here first, so why should I have to find a different seat?

Two, I could snitch to the management, but if the person in charge was the pimply faced boy who took my money and serviced the concession stand, then he was not going to be of any assistance, and besides, tattling grates my sensibilities. Three, I could get up and sit right behind them and kick their seats and make rude and loud comments, but that fantasy rated zero on the satisfaction scale.

I wanted to see the movie more than stay connected to that juvenile scene, so I went with option number one and moved. The new location was a vast improvement. I didn’t realize I’d been sitting in a funky acoustical pocket and the balcony railing had been partially blocking my view until I had this new seat. The movie reabsorbed my attention and the puerile dysfunction faded from memory.

Until Half Moon Bay.…

With the sun barely up, I took a walk on the crescent shaped beach, enjoying the crash of waves and the expanse before me. Desiring to write, I chose a picnic table overlooking the bluff, a peaceful office in nature. A few sentences in, I heard them.

You have got to be freakin’ kidding me.

I wasn’t going to look. Head down, pen to paper, I continued to write. I whispered to myself, “Spiritual practice, spiritual practice.” But there were too many of them. I glanced up and to my dismay, a troop of mustachioed monkeys and lip glossed beavers were slamming car doors, beeping their alarms off and on, yelling into their cell phones, lighting up cigarettes, playing cacophonous ring tones and swearing their customary greetings to one another.

What the…? It was a Friday morning, shouldn’t they be in school? Out of the entire empty beach, why did they have to descend upon the adjoining picnic table and congregate next to me? I turned to my faithful companion and said, “This is too much to be a coincidence. This makes three States now — next door in Oregon, a movie theater in Idaho, and a beach in California. Wherever we go, there they are. What’s going on?”

Just as I asked that, the wind shifted. Words cannot describe the putrid odor that gutted my nostrils and boxed my gag reflex. I could not grab my writing utensils and move quickly enough. While in flight, we saw the offending culprit, a bloated sea lion baking in the morning sun.

Prior to the nasal felony, I was in a defensive mental posture. Why should we have to move to gain our peace? We were here first, why do I always have to give in? Why should a lounge of lizards be able to have the run of the place, huh?

The scent of decaying flesh, wafting on the generous air, served as an excellent motivator. I didn’t think twice about moving when the vomitous smell invaded our space. There was no pride or stubbornness, no arrogance or contest, just a speedy relocation.

Catching my breath, I asked Companion what was being reflected back to us with all the teenage energy? What images/symbols were popping up in our immediate vicinity, waiting to be interpreted? Something was definitely trying to get our attention.

I know you know what happened next. Yes, I called Chakra Girl. She’s one of my Go-To, energy-interpreting friends. I needed her help reading the smelly, obnoxious energy field. What was the message?

She had no difficulty piecing our puzzle together. “Teenagers, groups of them. Hmmm, represents 3rd chakra fire energy. Rebellion, power, trying to figure out where they fit into the world, but still needing the safety of home and their own private room for retreat. Experimentation, expansion, taking over a space with their energy (noise, laughter, smoking, drugs, music, cell phones, text messaging, posturing, attitude, etc.).

“With the sudden onslaught of odor, you are being encouraged to step fully into your power, to MOVE to a better place. Your stubbornness is keeping you stuck. What you’ve known, what’s worked before, all that familiar stuff will decay and rot if you ignore the energetic message and refuse to move forward, clinging to the old way. You may not know what the new looks like yet, but apparently you’re about to find out.”

She went on to say that I was engaged in a bit of teenage energy myself, which was being reflected back to me. I was trying to figure out where I fit into the world and it was time to quit clinging to the past and open my heart.

Faithful companion wisely noted that when uncomfortable or toxic energy takes over a space, we waffle in our decisions, unsure if we should move, yet when an icky smell comes a knocking, we know exactly what to do. If we accidentally tasted something nasty, we wouldn’t hesitate to spit it out. Why is it then, if we are suddenly exposed to a blast of energy that is counter-productive, we act inconvenienced in the midst of being directed to a better place? Why do we obey our bodily senses immediately, yet hesitate to listen to our intuitive senses?

I shouldn’t have to – I don’t want to – sometimes we get stuck in old patterns and refuse to accept the new and improved situation that reading the reflected energy would gift us. The kids have their text messaging, but we have our energetic messaging if we’d just monitor our guidance system and stay as connected to Spirit as they do their phones.

Beep, gotta go, incoming message.

Honkers: The Pirate’s Curse

Ahoy there. Last week, after blog number deux was posted, I was approached by a saucy wench pointing out the obvious, “Did you know your initials are “FCK?!” My first thought was, “Madam Marauder, you obviously did not read the introductory blog, because I mention those jinxy initials straight away.”

“Aye, me matey,” I says, smiling wickedly and pointing to my rhinestone-encrusted choker (see photo), “Although unavoidable, my scurvy initials are indeed FCK. Quite burdensome, ye know, but a dash of sparklebooty makes everything better.”

Shiver me timbers: That’s my treasured philosophy when you get down to it. Problems, pox and pain are everywhere, but throw some paint on it, add glitter and you’ve got art!

For me hearties who have just come aboard, I am one of the three Frida Dolls who lives virtually at FridaPeople.com, where jolly lads and lassies are welcome to visit anytime. I am Frida Chiquita Kahlo, The Everyday Anthropologist, dedicated to the study of Landlubbers. If you’d like to be amused, read the previous entries located starboard, then visit yonder site. Or else walk the plank, ye blaggards.

Now, back to me treasure. Frida Miranda Kahlo, one of my salty cohorts, calls people who lead with their problems “Honkers.” You know, those swabs who sit in bottleneck traffic, uselessly honking their horns? Aye, kinda like this, “Waaah, I’m hurt, waaaah, I have a disease, waaaah, what are you going to do about it?”

Well, our Cap’n Frida Kahlo, eminent seadog, was NOT a Honker. She experienced all manner of grief, yet managed to throw paint, glitter and tears on the canvas and gave the world the gift of her heart.

Which leads this Corsair (a more romantic term for a buccaneer) back to the language of the Chakras. If you recall, the energy body of swashbucklers and landlubbers alike are comprised of seven major energy centers referred to as “chakras,” or wheels of energy.

I was racking me brain, trying to figure a way to explain this meaty concept (or curdled soybeans for our vegan picaroons) and the string theory came to mind. Nay, not the quantum theory of gravity, but the string-of-Christmas-lights theory.

Imagine a short strand of Christmas lights composed of seven bulbs hung vertically on a cord, each bulb a different color, starting with red and going through the colors of the rainbow. The second light up would be orange, the third yellow, the fourth green, the fifth blue, the sixth purple and finally, at the top, white.

Next, visually insert these seven bulbs into an outline of a human being and you now have a lockdown on the lighted energy centers. Each person has a strand of colored energy wheels running along their spinal cord and just like wrestling those pesky tree lights, if one bulb goes out, the rest of the string is affected. You can picture it, a steaming goblet of nog by the fireplace, the tree finally in its stand, and those bilge-sucking lights won’t work. Aaaaaaargh!

Begad, what’s a Jack Tar s’posed to do? Well, a Sister of the Coast called me the other day for a little support. Her tooth was hurting and a visit to the dentist revealed she still had a baby tooth in her mouth, which needless to say (but I’m going to anyway), was rotting and had to come out. Blimey! And her throat hurt, her voice was hoarsey and in general, she felt quite dodgy. With two young boys and the Holiday Season in full tilt boogie, she could not afford to catch a plague.

Using the string theory on her, I scratched me whiskers in a pondering gesture, and considered the clues. Baby tooth (childhood), mouth, throat, sinuses and December, and presented her with my thoughts. It was almost a year since her dear mother had kissed Davy Jones’s locker.

My friend’s 5th chakra, or blue light, blinked off and on, signaling discomfort with semaphore precision. Bothered by something, me seafaring chum needed to express herself or her energy would continue to weaken. I lowered the boom and suggested she dust off her guitar and sing a shanty about missing her poor mother.

“Yo ho ho, that’s it!” she cried. “I am sorely missing my mother and my music.”

“Avast and go!” says I. “Lament and wail.” Then I gave a cat o’ nine tails performance over the phone, improvising lyrics and tune. “I miss my moooother. She’s turned into shark bait and fish grub. I’m too busy to plaaay music, gotta go and scrub my tub.”

Suddenly, Friend was laughing and her voice came back. I practically guaranteed that if she would spend fifteen minutes singing her heart out, the other details would fall easily into place. I could see life was challenging for my friend when undermined by a drain on her energy. To reboot her system, she needed to express her feelings in a way that was meaningful, and for her, it was through the music she had let fall into the briny deep.

Even though she felt too busy to pick up the guitar on a daily basis, the fact that she wasn’t playing music made everything else more difficult, feeding the erroneous impression that she didn’t have the time.

A scurrilous belief floats on the waves suggesting it is selfish to pay attention to personal needs and preferences. And the nominee for the misleading notion in a Broadway musical is The Busy List. Attention SwagMart shoppers, all items must be crossed off this exhausting list before any time can be devoted to nurturing one’s self. That code of conduct perpetuates imbalances, lowers energy and breeds resentment. It also makes frustration out of daily tasks and extends the time required to accomplish them.

Scallywags, it does not have to be that way. Human beings are not meant to be constant Human doings, because eventually, flesh and bones conspire mutiny. In other words, they get tired, out of balance, and then sick.

Sail Ho! Here comes the good news. When people listen to themselves and take care of their own needs first, their chakras are happy, balanced and like magic, the refreshed energy centers assist with swabbing the decks in record time.

What’s the wisdom about head colds, “Untreated, they last a week. With treatment, seven days?” My proud beauty reported back that she had sung her lungs out to her mama and felt much better. She spent a valuable hour singing, reclaiming her voice, expressing herself and what do you know, the scourge did not pillage or plunder her body after all. Her blue bulb was back in alignment and so was the rest of her string of lights.

In terms of time and energy, which yields more bounty, an hour spent in fun or a week in snotty misery?

Godspeed and fair winds!

Interview with Chakra Girl

As the Everyday Anthropologist, I’m studying humans in their natural habitat. I’ve invited Katie Custer a.k.a. “Chakra Girl” to help me learn more about human emotions and their effect on the personal energy field.

Welcome Katie and thank you for coming out on this cold, wintery day. To introduce this topic, what can you tell me about your work?

CG: I’m a massage therapist in a chiropractic clinic, I’ve written a memoir called Break/Through, which focuses on how I lost 90 pounds through healing my energy body (the chakra system), and since July 2008, I’ve been hosting a weekly radio show called “Chakra Girl Radio.”

FCK: Whoa, 90lbs? That’s a significant amount of chubby. How did you lose it?

CG: I started journaling and discovered that every time I released something about feeling upset, depressed, ashamed or insecure, I didn’t feel like eating. That surprised me because all my life I felt like eating even when I wasn’t hungry. I was eating to comfort myself and the more I ate the fatter I got. I finally acknowledged that my overeating was not about the food and that my behavior had made me obese.

I was also learning about the chakra system and how my energy field was trying to communicate with me in a structured way. Communication began with a feeling in my gut that something was bothering me. If I ignored my gut, then communication came stronger through my emotional reactions. If I didn’t face my feelings, then the energy of those emotions would build up until I acted out. For me, that was comforting myself through overeating. When I let my behavior get out of control, the message from my energy body finally manifested as all this extra weight in my physical body.

FCK: What was the message?

CG: That my energy body was holding onto a lot of secrets. I finally tell them in my memoir Break/Through.

FCK: What is this “energy body” you keep talking about?

CG: Basically, the energy body is made of seven major energy centers that begin at the base of the spine and continue to the top of the head. These energy centers are called “chakras” which is Sanskrit for “wheel” or “circle.” Western Medicine focuses primarily on the physical body, while Eastern philosophy also considers the existence of energy within the human body. By paying attention to what’s happening in the body’s energy field, you’re more likely to find the root cause of imbalance, whether the disturbance (or illness) is recent or long term.

FCK: When humans attend to their energy and emotions, can they assist in healing themselves?

CG: Exactly! In practical terms, you can learn where there are imbalances in your energy field and with patience you can learn how to address those imbalances to feel better.

FCK: Now that it’s winter and we’re in the midst of the Holiday Season, is there any one chakra in particular we should pay special attention to?

CG: Yes. In my experience, whenever we express or stifle ourselves, the 5th or throat chakra is being activated. This activation takes the form of healthy release or blocked toxic energy.

FCK: So is there a connection between the winter Holidays, the throat chakra and getting sick, such as catching a cold, coughing, or overeating and drinking?

CG: Yes. Physical symptoms related to blocked throat chakra energy include coughing, toothaches, sore throats, stiff necks and swollen sinuses. Behaviors such as overeating, drinking and smoking too much, yelling, using abusive language or non-stop talking stem from imbalances in the 5th chakra. This pinwheel of energy located along the spine in the neck/throat area, affects as far up as the sinuses and as far down as the upper chest including throat, mouth, teeth, gums, thyroid, trachea, tonsils, the cervical vertebrae in the neck, vocal chords, TMJ and the skeletal system.

The healthy release of throat chakra energy brings balance and feeds self-expression. Communication, eating, singing, writing, talking, performing, playing music and speaking your truth are all 5th chakra. Now that’s a big one. For example, if you see a particularly stressful time approaching during the holidays, say a family gathering, you might feel like you have to stifle yourself around certain individuals. Some people react by becoming very quiet and others become unusually chatty, or it might be tempting to self-soothe with extra food, drink or smoke.

FCK: So what about all those tempting sweets and drinks that are offered in this season? Are you worried that you’ll overeat and gain all that weight back?

CG: By releasing what’s bothering me onto my journal pages, the blocked energies (or imbalances) are no longer held captive in my physical body, so I don’t need to eat to feed them. My first rule of food and drink is to respect my body by deliberately tasting. I find it impossible to fully enjoy a bite of food and overindulge because it takes time to taste what I’m feeding myself.

FCK: How might a person find balance when everything feels rushed or while spending time around people who aren’t so fun?

CG: By carving out five minutes to write down any concerns (why you are feeling stressed), it is possible you can meet your own needs and at the same time find yourself feeling calmer. This means when you arrive at the Holiday gathering, you now have less stress to carry in the door. When you take care of yourself first, whether by expressing your feelings through creating art, talking with friends, exercising, drinking tea, meditating, doing yoga or anything else that brings you joy and makes you feel good, you’ll be more able to enjoy the company of family and friends and see this once stressful event as a time to celebrate your relationships.

There are other forms of healthy expression using the 5th chakra energy that will help to release holiday stress, which can include gathering a group of friends to go caroling, especially if you have never done it before. Participating in a holiday play, even if it is in your own living room, or reading stories from scripture or traditional holiday stories to family and friends.

Another fun way of celebrating the energy of your throat chakra is to dress it up. This is the perfect season for colorful scarves, sparkly necklaces, dangly earrings, or your favorite turtleneck. In terms of gift giving, the color of the throat chakra is royal blue. If there is someone in your life who has had difficulty speaking up, expressing themselves, a perfect gift might be a blue scarf or jewelry with blue elements. It doesn’t have to be something only worn around the neck. It could be a blue shirt, blue hat or a blue journal.

In those moments when you feel like you have to hold back, put a smile on your face and allow your whole body to feel it. You have self-care options when it comes to holiday stress.

FCK: Thank you Chakra Girl. As for the next blog, I’m going to take your advice and express myself by discussing something very important like sparkly shoes or pink divinity.