I've been discovering wonderful books this past month and adding to my studio collection. I thought to share one with you this week and hope that it offers you a similar level of delight and uplift as I am finding...

if you're looking for a fascinating, buoyant, fiesty and creatively charged read check out: Pronoia is the antidote to Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings by Rob Brezsny...I've been familiar with Brezsny's weekly column in our arts paper for years but recently began to read excerpts from his newly revised edition of this fabulous workbook.

The back liner notes read:
"888 Tricks for becoming a wildly disciplined, fiercely tender, ironically sincere, scrupulously curious, aggressively sensitive, blasphemously reverent, lyrically logical, lustfully compassionate Master of Rowdy Bliss."

Utne Reader says "This wild, wise, and subversive book is a must read for those who want to live a more imaginative and free life...Rob Brezsny is a Culture Hero.

From page 8: You need regular doses of unreasonable beauty, sublime anomalies, beguiling ephemera, and inexplicable joys.

And on page 85: Tweakable Pronoia Therapy/experiments and exercises in becoming a radically curious, wildly disciplined, ironically sincere Master of Uproar.

There's terrific graphics from modern and ancient arts and cultures smattered throughout so it's also a treat to thumb through randomly.

May your day sing ~

Walkin' the Wheel for 2009

I've been living and working with the cycles of the moon since 1989. Each year during the first lunation I post an article on the energy of the coming year with my friends David and Sandra at Zodiac Arts. Below is the first paragraph for 2009 plus the information for this first lunation...

2009: THE YEAR TO PATIENTLY OPEN TO RECEIVE

Welcome to 2009 and to our collective opportunity to: patiently open to receive. As we walk through this year we are invited to work with our passion and sense of belonging particularly as these qualities spring from our urge to create.

The creative and sexual urge spring from the same zone within the chakra system. Each of these desires helps us to manifest, in their unique ways, a depth of love through devotion, commitment and dedication. We all start life as creative/sexual beings. The ways in which we channel this combined energy will show itself this year. The goal, of course, is to open these centers, one by one, until we are fully functioning and able to contribute to the better world we yearn to see. To connect readers with excellent information on this topic of opened and healed chakras I suggest the book Awakening in Time by Jacquelyn Small. Her book would be a perfect companion for the year.

First Lunation: December 27, 2008 - January 25, 2009:

I of myself can do nothing. It is the Spirit within who expresses and manifests as true success in my life. -- John Randolph Price



Happy New Year! The quality of this moon cycle is that of relinquishing our hold. The Universal Year #29/11 tests us by providing the chance to practice a patient surrender. That yielding allows us a return to our original state. It's a huge concept but 'In the beginning' there was innocence and no need to feel separate and alone.


During this cycle focus upon belonging to your Self. This won't happen through wishful thinking it happens through a rigorous personality review. It comes about by being patient enough to weigh your strengths and relinquish your weaknesses. The reason for this focus is to 'flip' the way you've been pushing yourself.


Now is the time to prepare for an infusion of connection to Inner Self-direction. Be quiet and listen so as to determine your values and establish priorities. This first moon has a lot to do with endurance. It isn't possible to develop, much less give birth to, a new level of Being without endurance. This cycle is really showing us a natural process. The seed cannot sprout without letting go of its hard casing. The baby cannot grow without the right timing. During this moon cycle play is as important as any other responsibility you can think of. All year we are being asked to entertain a light heart and here at the start is a perfect opportunity to practice daily by being with that which you enjoy.


KEYWORDS for attuning to this cycle: abundant, art, attractive, baby, beauty, choose to act wisely, day, humor, innocent, optimistic, passion, playful, poetry, self expression



KEYWORDS that take your energy away: betrayal, exaggeration, fear, hurtful words, inconsiderate scattered, intolerant, jealous, self-centered, superficial, whining



HOMEWORK: Since the year is readying us by placing a spot light on a healthy sense of self through our creative/sexual passion this is a good cycle for beginning a prosperity program. Why? 1. So often we work at a job that robs us of our creativity. 2. Humans have been known to project sexual energy onto someone who they imagine will provide for them. Keeping in mind the acronym for money mentioned in the article above, you may want to select a prosperity program to follow through the year. There are many excellent ones; I'll offer John Randolph Price, The Abundance Book.Lifecycle Forecast 2008 © Donna Iona Drozda

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Habitat for Humanity

I'm working on a piece to donate to Habitat for Humanity through the Art Therapy Center in my hometown. Creating the painting helped me to consider the force of the matter that is swirling about in the news. It's a hurricane of chaos. I like to keep in mind that chaos is the first step to opening up to new creative possibilities.
Chaos is not news. It's a part of the natural process of expansion/contraction.
Yet to cease living in a state of chaos, which is destructive, it is essential to identify the chaos.
STOP.
Take a deep breath.
Take 10 more.
Settle down. The word and the quality of fear are best looked upon as an acronym that we may do well to connect to now...
False Education Appearing Real.
Things do appear to be turned upside down. Things do appear to be falling away, and falling away and falling away... for the moment.
How about taking stock of the opportunities inherent within the chaos? How about being inventive and mining for creative ideas, visions and responsible responses?
How about simplifying. How about calming down. How about walking. How about taking inventory of available materials and endless ideas. How about applying my mother's favorite. All along the path of my youth and my many prolonged fights with monsters, dragons and strange beliefs, she, like a rock would remind me... 'This too shall pass." Thanks Mom.