Tori Amos is an artist who has, for many years, resonated very deeply with me on many levels. Ever since I found that there’s much more to her music than most of the other musicians, I’ve managed to learn a great deal from her work. Indeed, I discovered that many of our definitive experiences are strikingly simmilar and we share many of the same feelings towards certain aspects of life.
Today’s article isn’t about me or Tori, however; it is about the things that we are passionate about discovering in ourselves and those around us. It is about the exploration of the deepest darkest parts of the psyche that seldom see the light of day. It is about feeding our spirit the pure, raw, milk and honey that it has been craving, but never knew to ask for.
Excerpted from Piece by Piece by Tori Amos
During [Boys for] Pele I really started to explore the Dark Prince archetype. It’s one that a lot of men have been able to explore, from Jim Morrison on down to Trent Reznor, and I felt it was calling me. With my religious upbringing I felt I really needed to discover that. It was different from the Magdalene essence. I’d been studying her for a long time, and she was a muse. But I needed to access the Dark Prince in myself, instead of pulling in men who had access to it. But that was yet to come.
I was courting demon lovers at the time, but I didn’t know who the real Demon Lover was. I knew I needed to initiate myself. So I went to Hawaii by myself and began that quest. I worked with a woman, a shaman, who was reputed to know how to take you on a spiritual journey by uncovering things you were avoiding in your view of yourself. While I was in Hawaii, locals were talking about the goddess Pele in a way that I had heard of, but so distantly; it wasn’t something that was in my framework like the greek goddesses or the Norse or the Celts. Eventually I began to see, not a malevolence, but–through Pele, Kali, and Sekhmet, a few of the dark goddesses–I was really beginning to discover anger. I didn’t know how to contain it yet.
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For those of you who are curious, I ended up doing the last juice fast for 7 1/2 days, starting on the evening of October 4th and ending on the afternoon of the 12th. My friend Alex, who was also fasting, went about 5 days on this fast; pretty good for her first major fast 🙂
The experience was a powerful one, as you might imagine, I feel much more connected to everything now. These sorts of experiences have the potential to alter the very core of your being and call into a critical light the habits that we rarely expend any effort to contemplate during the normal course of our day.
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by Shunryu Suzuki | Zen Mind The Beginner’s Mind
“To give your sheep or cow a large, spacious meadow is the way to control him”
To live in the realm of Buddha nature means to die as a small being, moment after moment. When we lose our balance we die, but at the same time we also develop ourselves, we grow. Whatever we see is changing, losing the balance, but its background is always in perfect harmony. This is how everything exists in the realm of Buddha nature, losing its balance against a background of perfect balance. So if you see things without realizing the background of Buddha nature, everything appears to be in the form of suffering. But if you understand the background of existence, you realize that suffering itself is how we live, and how we extend our life. So in Zen sometimes we emphasize the imbalance or disorder of life.
Source: WorldVillage
Our liver is the one of the most vital organs in our body. Our liver cleanses everything that is consumed or eaten by us. The liver along with our kidney helps excrete toxins and waste products from our body. Our liver also controls our blood sugar, cholesterol, and heart problems. Thus it is very important for us to take care of our liver and detox it regularly. Herbs for liver detox have proved to be the most beneficial treatment to cleanse our liver.
The liver performs many important tasks; however the most imperative task is to regulate the metabolism of fat in our body. It helps throw away the extra fat from our internal system in the bile. The fat in our body is caused due to various reasons such as, alcohol, fatty food, unhealthy diet, chemicals, drugs and so on, thus damaging the liver. All the extra fat that is accumulated in our liver prevents the organ from functioning in the appropriate way. There are many ways to detox our body, such as correct diet, healthy food and medication. However, herbs for liver detox have confirmed to be the best solution for liver damage.
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Ordinary people’s energy rises in front and descends in back; realized people’s energy rises in back and descends in front. When energy goes out and in, this is called ordinary breathing; when it does not go out and in, this is called true breathing.
Generally speaking, when the ordinary breathing is stilled, the true breathing is spontaneously activated. The way breathing is stilled is not by forcefully holding it so that it does not come out. It is a matter of absolute emptiness and utter stillness; the steadier the mind, the subtler the breathing.
The way to do this is to return the mind to quietude whatever you are doing, not imagining what is yet to come and not thinking about what has already passed. After a long time at this, spirit and energy merge, feelings and objects are forgotten; spirit solidifies, energy congeals, and there is just one breath in the belly, revolving without going out or in. This is called womb breathing. read full article »
Went out to the store and bought enough Celery, Bok Choy and Carrots to last about a week. A friend and I started this fast on Friday we plan on doing this for as long as each of us feels we are capable. I think it would be great if I can keep the juice fast going for at least 10 days, which would put the ending at about October 15. If I’m still able to function reasonably well by then, there’s no reason to limit the experience, but 10 days seems like a reasonable goal to start with.
While most people that I’ve talked to seem to think that Juice fasts are very difficult, I firmly believe the difficulty lies in the mental aspects of such an endeavor. This kind of fasting still allows your body to have calories, depending on the juices selected, as well as many of the essential nutrients and vitamins.
My research indicates that juice fasts have the potential to get our bodies more nutrients than eating “normally.” The reason being, when we eat whole foods that are in liquid form, they are very easily assimilated into the body with very little strain on digestive system. read full article »
Tags: fasting experience
by Tori Amos – Y Kant Tori Read
You went away
Why did you leave me
You know I believed you
Nothing explained
Where are the answers
I know I need you
Tell me
Is your city paved with gold
Is there hunger
Do your people grow old
Do your governments
Have secrets that they’ve sold
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by Din Fiv – Escape to Reality
You can sail the ocean blue
You can fly up on the clouds
You can search the world for gold
You can seek a life of fame
You can toil at a job
You can hear a higher call
In our hearts,
In our minds,
In our short and fragile time,
We must all decide just what it means to be alive
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–implies defeat for the following:
1. Neoconservatives
2. The Clintons
3. Liberventionists/Beltway libertarians
4. The mainstream media
5. Federal Reserve
6. IRS
7. War on drug users
8. 110 straight years of Hamiltonian government
A study was conducted, measuring “HIV” using the Western Blot HIV test. It was conducted on a carefully selected group of 90,000 hospital patients, who were thought NOT to be at risk for the “disease.”
The results of the Western Blot HIV test revealed 25% of all men and 8% of women testing positive for HIV. These results call into question the accuracy of such a study.
People diagnosed HIV+ are routinely and systematically stripped of their individual rights. They face legal penalties (i.e. a pregnant woman losing her child) if they refuse the deadly AIDS drugs. read full article »