Don't ask.

No, really, it’s nice that you do. Encouraging to realize just how many people are genuinely interested in my looming adventure.

But I have an idea that if only I were to start carrying a 40-lb. bowling ball around with me at all times, I might have an idea what a 40-weeks-pregnant mother might feel when everyone points out the obvious: "You're still pregnant?"

No one says “Hi” to me anymore … all greetings are along the lines of "Sooo ....?" or “Haven’t you heard yet?”

Obviously, I’ve yet to hear anything formal from Peace Corps. On Friday it’ll be a month since my phone interview with my placement officer – an interview that went really well and left me with the impression that I’d be getting my invitation in a week or so.

Since then, I’ve heard through the grapevine that I’ve been “placed” – whatever that means. It may be that they’ve found a program/site for me but haven’t done the paperwork yet.

I know this is happening, and they have to give me at least six weeks’ notice. So I’m trying to be constructive in the meantime … packing up nonessentials, spending as much time with those I love and doing all the things I’ll miss about Lincoln. And practicing that damn patience thing. It’ll come in handy, I hear.

The house is officially on the market -- check it out!

And I'm using Blogger to sell my furniture when I'm ready. I'll take out free ads on Craigslist and LJS, with a photo and the web site. Let me know what you think.


Spiraling outward.

I long ago adopted the spiral as my personal nature symbol. I never had any logical reason for it; it just felt very “circle of life” to me.

I never really understood why I felt so drawn to the idea of three spirals for my "jobkiller" tattoo. Why not just the one?

Krista recently sent me this passage she found in a book:

"The archetype of the spiral has existed since the beginning of civilization throughout all the world's cultures – as an art form, a religious symbol, and a sacred vehicle for medications. Spirals have been found on Neolithic rock carvings, indicating that the earliest human inhabitants of our planet considered them an important part of the their cosmological understanding. Many ancient peoples and indigenous and Eastern religions depicted our life journey using sacred circular symbols – the Native American medicine wheel, the Aztec calendar, the Mandala of Hinduism and Buddhism, the circles in the Celtic cross, the interlocking halves of the Chinese yin and yang and the mystical labyrinth.

"These physical representation of the great circle of existence and the interior journey of the soul. Each of them focuses our eye on a point within the symbol, as if gathering the outside energies and drawing them inward. In this way, they are designed as mystical and powerful forms of spiritual contemplation, inviting the seeker to travel within and discover the divine.

"Reality is not linear at all – it is circular. Life does not move forward in a straight line, but swirls around in a mysterious cosmic dance.

”This is the secret of the spiral: it brings up back to what great sages have called "the eternal Now.”

That made me happy.

It also led me to do some completely nonscientific research, via Wikipedia:

“The spiral is the most ancient symbol found on every civilized continent. Due to its appearance at burial sites across the globe, the spiral most likely represented the "life-death-rebirth" cycle. Similarly, the spiral symbolized the sun, as ancient people thought the sun was born each morning, died each night, and was reborn the next morning.”

“The triple spiral is one of the main symbols of Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism, often standing for the "three realms" – Land, Sea and Sky, or for one of a number of deities who are described in the lore as "threefold" or triadic. … Some Celtic-inspired Wiccans also use the triple spiral symbol, most often to represent the concept of the triple goddess.”

"A triskelion or triskele … is a symbol consisting of three interlocked spirals, or three bent human legs, or any similar symbol with three protrusions and a threefold rotational symmetry. ... Spiral forms of the triskele are often classed as solar symbols, while the legged version, sometimes including a gorgon mask or Medusa's head at the central axle point in the Sicilian version, suggests a chthonic (earthy) significance."

(In lesser company, the triskelion has similarities to the Nazi swastika and apparently has been proposed as a secret sign for BDSM practitioners. We'll just roll (spiral?) right on past those ...)

Maybe I learned these associations at some point and kept them in my subconscious. But I think it's fascinating to consider that I came up with the same symbolism as multiple ancient cultures, from far-flung parts of the globe.


Thought for the day.

“It is easy to see the beginning of things, and harder to see the ends.”
— Joan Didion