The little town that Rocks

 That's Black Mountain...who's Tourist industry came up with that slogan, and we've got artist-painted rocking chairs around town for visitors to sit in and enjoy.

Last Thursday a friend from my Ornish Rehab program met me for lunch, then we went window-shopping. It was a lot of fun!

Seven Sisters gallery had these lovely glass witches balls...and this one matched my friend's outfit...so we had to have a photo!

Today's quote:

This magnificent refuge is inside you.
Enter.
Shatter the darkness that shrouds the doorway...
Be bold.  Be humble.
Put away the incense and forget
the incantations they taught you.
Ask no permission from the authorities.
Close your eyes and follow your breath
to the still place that leads to the
invisible path that leads you
home.

St. Teresa of Avila

Back to lake views at 5 pm Oct 1, 2020

 

Well, blogger decided to load these backward again, thus you'll find my reason for coming to Lake Tomahawk at the last one.

Just a bit of color next to the lake.

Looking toward the mountains which hide Mt. Mitchell about 15 miles away.

Though our sky was just happily blue with white clouds, we could see the rainy ones in the distance.

The closer mountains here are called the Seven Sisters...just north of Montreat.

The raceway which helps drain the lake had a duck and maybe some driftwood at the head.

And here's the reading group which gathered at 4:30 to discuss a book about racism. Several of the members of this group were out of town today, and I just took their photo and then went walking. First time I made the whole 0.55 mile loop without stopping. Er, except for the several photos shown above.

Today's quote:

When the Beloved wants to take you Home,
extend your hand to His welcoming
even though your body may be trembling
and your mind may want to flee;
even though those around you grieve,
and you yourself have mourned, even before they,
the changing form of your body.
Tears are not the final truth
though they will come and go
like stars that need a dark sky to be seen.
Death is not a failure of a mind
that is not strong enough,
or positive enough, or pure enough.
Those who hold such views are simply
masking fear with ideas of being in control.
We are being lived...
...anguish, fear or deepest grief
cannot alter Who you really are.
The beautiful Spirit that extended ItSelf
in space and time, and called ItSelf by your name,
is simply ready to return, unencumbered by a body,
to Its vast and spacious Unborn Self,
that kisses you at birth,
and holds your hand in death,
and never for a moment
forgets you are ItSelf.

The mind imagines you are leaving,
but where could you truly go?
You are Life ItSelf...
Unceasingly flowing,
moment to moment unfolding Yourself.

A body is born; a body dies; but you do not.
Deep within your heart, you know this Truth.
Rest there.  Rest in the knowing that
opens your heart to all that IS,
that loves ItSelf in all that comes,
and returns to ItSelf in all that goes.

Dorothy Hunt
Buddhist Teacher

Seven Sisters meaning

I've always wished I'd studied Greek Mythology.

On my other blog tomorrow, I'm showing a picture of one of our local mountains, known as the Seven Sisters (the whole chain, not just one).

Who were they?

Well, I keep hearing how they are stars (The Pleiades) being chased by Orion.  And at least I know what they look like now, though apparently only 6 are visible with the naked eye.

There's also a store here in town of gorgeous art including my favorite potters, known as the Seven Sisters.

But I did a search and found some minimal information (yes on the internet).

The Pleiad(e)s were the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione, and half-sisters of the Hyades...

The indivial names are:

Alcyone or Halcyone - `queen who wards off evil [storms]

Asterope or Sterope - `lightning', `twinkling', `sun-face', `stubborn-face' (Indo-European ster-, `star', `stellar', `asterisk', etc.) 

Celæno - `swarthy' - Had sons Lycus (``wolf'') and Chimærus (``he-goat'') by Prometheus.

Electra or Eleckra - `amber', `shining', `bright' (Indo-European wleik-, `to flow, run', as a liquid); electrum is an alloy of silver and gold, and means amber in Latin, as does the Greek elektron; Thales of Miletus noted in 600 BC that a rubbed piece of amber will attract bits of straw, a manifestation of the effects of static electricity (outer charge stripping via friction), and perhaps the origin of the modern term

Maia - `grandmother', `mother', `nurse'; `the great one' (Latin) - Eldest and most beautiful of the sisters; a mountain nymph in Arcadia. Seduced by Zeus and gave birth to Hermes. 

Merope - `eloquent', `bee-eater', `mortal' - Married Sisyphus (se-sophos, `very wise')

Taygete or Taygeta - ? tanygennetos, `long-necked' - Seduced by Zeus and gave birth to Lacedæmon, founder of Sparta

Astromorphosis

One day the great hunter Orion saw the Pleiads (perhaps with their mother, or perhaps just one of them as they walked through the Boeotian countryside, and fancied them. He pursued them for seven years, until Zeus answered their prayers for delivery and transformed them into birds (doves or pidgeons), placing them among the stars. Later on, when Orion was killed (many conflicting stories as to how), he was placed in the heavens behind the Pleiades, immortalizing the chase. 

I bet you didn't know what astromorphosis was before this, did you?

I do like that each goddess/woman had a "meaning" or attributes to go with her name.