HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

OUT OF THE BLUE, Create A Vision: Unlocking Continuous Miracles,
 a Journey of the Heart-Mind, is one year old today!


Sept 26, 2010, two of my three children accompanied me as I pushed "publish" for the first time.  We all stood in silent jaw-dropping awe as the giant blue butterfly uploaded online as if by magic!  I felt tears.

"Now What?"

"Mom, just start writing!"


What a year of adventure and learning this is, a dynamic synergistic experience ongoing and encompassing realms of known and unknown.

What have I learned?  A bit about preparing photos for the Internet, a lot about logic and organization, a lesson in letting go of form, agendas, and outlined plans.   Subjects, art work, and photos upload appearing without much conscious thought.  Freedom from timetables, deadlines, editing, managing,  table of contents and more are  mine, online and open-ended!

How do I write and paint?  Spontaneously and with great joy!  Where will the brush or keyboard lead?  Let it go!  Let it happen!   Right brained words tumble out in streams or blocks of solid thoughts, or even catchy titles furiously scribbled on scraps of paper and later processed into solid left brained somewhat orderly light-words coming in from the Earth and beyond to become blog posts.  Like a giant jig saw puzzle, individual scattered bits of words, colors, and dreams fit together in harmony and balance.  Mind-training in action is here, a blend of intuition and trust.

Thank you family and friends, readers, contributors, and lightworkers visible and invisible for continuous encouragement, center stage and behind the scenes!  Keep up your great work!


What's ahead?  An "ongrowing" event, word (world) wide, an unlimited blueprint, a plan without boundaries!  Come Join The Dance!


Top 5 most popular posts of Out of the Blue for the year: 

Tonal Vision (The Power of Music, Jan 2011)

What Kind of Animal Are You? (Your Power Animal, Jan 2011)

The Story of Blue (Receiving the Blue Butterfly, Oct 2010)

Crystal Tiger Out of the Blue (Painting the Mitchell-Hedges Crystal Skull, Dec 2010)

Grow Green (Grow New Neurons, Out of the Box Healing, Apr 2011)


** Create A Vision Comes to Life!  Out of the Blue is the continuing tale of the Silver Butterfly.



BEING IS BELIEVING!
Love, Dahlis



*Creatrix Impigritas-Creative Energy

Related Post:  See Spots Run, (Master Cheetah Teaches Letting Go, Mar 2011)
See his head peeking through in the above photo at right.


* http://www.taichi-qigong.net/  Colin and Mitzi Orr offer Tai Chi and Qigong classes, workshops, and displays in Gorleston-on-Sea, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk UK.  Check out the photo gallery, a virtual trip to the a land by the sea.
Creatrix Impigritas-Creative Energy

"Imagine" and get started with your own custom made Blog now.  Create Your Free Blog, text, photos, and video.  
www.blogspot.com

** dahlis.roy@gmail.com  request  free illustrated PDF E-book Silver Butterfly, Create A Vision Awaken Your Creative Spirit.  Silver Butterfly is the preview for Out of the Blue.  Original paintings and custom prints available.

http://imaginehealing.info/  Use guided imagery to enhance healing for you and yours, children, and pets with Joel P. Bowman, Ph.D and Debra Basham, CHTP, NLP, HTt, RMT

The Open Book photo by Dahlis Roy

STARSTRUCK!

*Starry Starry Night
I dreamed I was in a cold wintry location. There was blue snow and ice about, orange sun was sinking into the frozen horizon.  I thought of Claude Monet painting rich pure color. 

In the dream, Paul and I had parked our car and walked up the hill on a snowy road to a little shop that sold Chinese soup.  Paul told me his order.  I told him I would pick it up for him and meet him later.  I would bring the steaming soups back for us .  He would walk on ahead to our nearby house.

I ordered the soup and carried it carefully in an insulated container toward the car waiting in the snow.  However, when I tried to drive the car forward to the little road, snow and ice had glued the car--- stuck solid. 

"Maybe I can back up?"

I intended to free the car and back onto the main road that had been cleared of ice and snow.  I gunned the car, and it lurched backward.

As I turned my head to the left to watch my back up path,  I glanced up at the winter heavens!  Stars were sprinkled out like random diamonds flung on black velvet.  OH YES!  There was Orion, the winter hunter, wielding his club.  Streaking out in front of him were the Seven Sisters.  I was awestruck because the constellations seemed so near to me, much closer than the "reality" of Earth.  I felt I could reach out and touch the stars.  Not only the main stars shown brightly in familiar patterns, but there were so many stars visible beyond what we normally perceive.  How could that be?

In my dream, I glanced at the Pleiades and noted Miope (sic) shining brighter than the rest.  Why?  "Home" I questioned?  Of course I called out to the Great Wolf.  I noted with pleasure his Sirius Star dog collar tag shining brighter blue white than all the rest of the starry diamonds.  Again I noticed the mist of star dust images behind the visible stars.  I heard Neil Young sing ** "blue blue windows behind the stars...."  Time Stopped. 

Now back to the road at hand.  This time, the car backed out smoothly , and I turned with ease in one strong motion.  Suddenly and without warning two menacing men appeared as if my magic.  They were hitch-hiking!  One was very tall, muscular and blond sporting a heavy beard.  He was dressed in Scandinavian gear with a colorful ski cap, heavy tan leather coat and cumbersome boots.  He looked like a Musk Ox in human clothing!  He grinned at me.  The other man was slight and wore darker clothes, no hat.  He seemed to hide behind his bolder companion.    

I heard a voice, "Lock the doors!"  I reached around for the door locks, but my arm was paralyzed with fear.  I gunned the car quickly leaving the men far behind and streaked toward home.  I felt like I was in a scene from Back to the Future!

The Painted Sky
As I pulled near my home, I again glanced at the winter sky.  In the pre-dawn, the sky had now turned a beautiful pale blue showing Orion and his companions against a soft light colored backdrop instead of the midnight blue black of the night sky.  There was a tinge of pink at the horizon.  The beautiful mist of stars behind the bright stars still glowed plainly.  Then the whole sky gradually flushed a welcome pale pink.  The stars still winked their messages. 

I woke with a start!  The pre-dawn pale blue sky color with the constellations pasted upon it stayed with me.  There could not be a sky like that except in a dream.  Constellations fade out when the sky brightens while brighter stars remain.  Why did the sky turn pink?

Glow Your Mind
Why was Orion in the East in my dream?  He would not be in the Eastern sky rising in the AM in the winter?  Why did I write "Miope" instead of Merope for the star in the Pleiades?  I chuckle to note that I am/was myopic (near sighted) but now I am seeing better into infinity while starwatching.  Why didn't I dream "Electra" instead of Merope?  Electra is my favorite of the Pleiades.


Some years elapsed since the dream of the starry sky.  Just this past August, I stepped outside in "first light."  Walking through the yard felt good underfoot.  Dewey grass and an umbrella of trees beckoned to me.  I breathed in the fresh pre-autumn air.  I entered a clearer part of the yard and looked up.  I was stunned speechless to look into the Eastern Sky and see all of Orion in his full glory flung out against a pale blue cloth.  Sirius had not risen yet.  These stars  were totally clear!  Yes, the pink tinge of the rising sun was present to greet me too. 

I stood alone, yet not alone.   My starry dream came true!

Related Posts:  Running Wild in the Universe (July 11), The Pink Blanket, Healing Hearts, Painting the Earth (May 2011)  A One in a Million Sky (Sirius beams a light show Oct 2010)

Related Music
* Starry Starry Night, Ode to Vincent van Gogh by Don McLean
**  Helpless by Neil Young


Wonders of the Universe including Children of the Stars and On Beams of Light (2011) and Wonders of the Solar System (Science Channel) by Brian Cox, Ph.D.  These titles are also available in book form.  Brian is a particle physicist based at University of Manchester UK.

http://www.mitchell-hedges.com/   http://www.areyoureadynewadventure.com/   Bill Homann, current keeper of the Mitchell-Hedges Crystal Skull invites a look into the beyond: Mayan, Native American wisdom and more.

http://www.actah2012.com/  AcTah, Mayan Wisdom Keeper, Unity and Harmony, the Mirror of Orion Labyrinth, and Vibrational Sound Technique.

http://www.rainboweagle.com/  Seventh Fire Peace Shield, A Walk in the Woods and more.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/  This week in the night sky.  Sky and Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas by Roger W. Sinnott.

A Walk Through the Heavens, A Guide to Stars and Constellations and their Legends by Milton D. Heifetz and Wil Tirion

Backyard Astronomy, your guide to starhopping and exploring the universe by Robert Burnham and others

dahlis.roy@gmail.com  inquire about paintings and prints, request free illustrated PDF E-Book Silver Butterfly, Create A Vision Awaken Your Creative Spirit.

http://imaginehealing.info/  Joel P. Bowman, Ph.D. and Rev. Debra Basham, CHTP, NLP, RMT, HTt create healing with guided imagery and surgical support  http://surgicalsupport.info/


Sketch of Orion by Dahlis Roy

THE LITTLE CHESSIE THAT COULD

A furry tan-gray kitten bunny-hopped after our daughter in a barnyard one brisk gray November Iowa morning.

"I think we're going to get another cat!"

And what a cat!  We named her Chessie after the painted mascot on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad cars.  Chessie peeked out from under her blanket just like the Chessie logo.  Chess grew up under the shadow of Zar, our fox-red tomcat presence.  After Zar left Earth some years later, Chessie's strong ruling personality began to emerge.  She had been repressed!  We were surprised to find an Egyptian Royal Cat in our home, and we were her subjects.  I picture Chessie, wearing a jeweled collar and golden earrings, mincing around the Royal Court, ruling humans and cats with an iron paw. 

Chessie mellowed in years but not in temperament.  When she was twelve, we sought to revitalize her waning physical energy with a surprise orange kitten, Mrs. Harris.  After Chessie got over viewing Mrs. Harris as prey, she went out and hunted food for her adopted kitten.  One day Chessie took a flying leap over a six foot fence to chase a dove in the soybean field.  Before Mrs. Harris' arrival, Chessie could hardly climb slowly over the same fence. 

Soon more cat family appeared for Chessie.  We adopted a large gray full grown domestic wildcat, a Tom about town.  Later, a brother and sister kitten pair, golden Sancat and dark tabby Sasha came into our cat clan.  Chess had never enjoyed a family to rule, and she loved the role!  She adopted little Sancat as her own. Chessie stepped back so Sancat could have her food bowl.  Hope, Sancat and Sasha's mother, had the same gray brown striped coat, slender build, and even the bright orange spot on her forehead!  Hope, like Chessie, also ruled her cat family!  Hope and Chessie were like-minded sisters, yet came from different sections of the country.

It is of interest to study a can clan.  Each cat is unique with individual eating habits, some are nibblers, some self-feeders, and some will eat any thing in sight, "no food left behind!"  Language patterns and dialects can be detected.  Young Mrs. Harris learned "Catspeak" from Chessie.  Genetic ancestral territories are also in evidence.  Mrs. Harris is a Sand Cat (a small golden desert cat), Sancat comes from the African desert but from a different region. Chessie comes form North Africa in the reeds near the Nile and resembles an African Wild Cat. Tom looks every part the hunter he is with a Bobcat and Cougar feel.  *Dark gray Tom sports a Cheetah-like tail from ten million years ago!  His tail has very dark rings followed by a bright white tip!  Sasha has the looks, muscular body, and personality of a small leopard!  Our golden cats are much tamer than our dark coated hunters.

Chessie never forgave Tom for moving into her home.  Tom shrank back in fear from this petite ferocious African Wildcat one third his size.  Tom is also afraid of Sasha.  She rescued her little brother, Sancat, at only six months of age from Tom's bullying.

Chessie chose her last two days of Earth School to actively go outside.  She went up and down the steps by herself!  She thoroughly enjoyed the September sun and wild beauty of nature.  Tom hunted for Chessie, a small rabbit provided red meat she relished.  A cat clan represents loyalty and cooperative unity.  Chessie loved the grass beneath her paws and even some gentle rain.  Her adopted Sancat son accompanied her around the yard on her journey and lay beneath her favorite bushes with her, protecting and guiding.

We all said goodbye to Chessie on Sept 11 several years ago.  Of course she is still here.  Occasionally we can hear Chessie's voice through some of Mrs. Harris' cat language patterns.  Chessie had special ways of saying "Ah-Ra" (Flat "A" like "apple") and  "Mrrr-row" (she's telling us off) sometimes with a purring sound.  Several times Sancat and I have heard that physical voice, but Mrs. Harris was asleep and so were the others.  No one was visible outside.  Chessie is near.

What do we learn from Chessie?  Chess overcame chronic illness and pain to keep going using her iron-melting will.  Chessie teaches us life lessons on how to live and how to cross over!  Through her example, we can climb life's mountain as joyfully, assertively, and as full of life as The Little Chessie That Could!


Cattitude:  Thousands of years ago cats were worshipped as God's, cats have never forgotten this.


"One thing I like about cats is that they are unapologetically themselves," Rob adds.

Related Posts: 
Welcoming Mrs. Harris
I Am Your Angel 
 Flowers in the Rain 
Catching Up 
Silver Stars and Moonbeams
Picture Perfect What Kind of Animal Are You? 
Stars and Snow Spirit of Phoebe (a spirit cat)


How To Speak Cat, The Essential Primer of Cat Language by Alexandra Sellers.  "Ma` RRow" says Mrs. Harris, "I am blessed."

Write Your Own Egyptian Hieroglyphs by Angela McDonald, Egyptologist at the University of Glascow.  Write your own name, your pets' names and more!



"Chess" in Egyptian Hieroglyphs

 *  The Reader's Digest Illustrated Book of Cats   Felis (numerous species of small Felids including domestic cats) and Acynonyx (Cheetahs in a separate line) developed from approximately 11 million years ago.  Our Tom did not directly inherit his Cheetah tail!

The Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois   In the gift shop, I held a small gray statue made in Egypt of Bastet, the cat goddess.  In the palm of my hand, I remembered an ancient time

Bastet Egyptian Cat Goddess

Photos, Portrait of Chessie photo by Emilie, published with permission
Determination, photo by Paul, published with permission

DOUBLE VISION



Coiled like a Snake, Watching...Waiting



"There's a heron crane on the pond!  He is a new crane with a white head and neck!  Quick, grab your camera!"

Paul and I hurried into the car and drove the short distance to a local pond where Blue Herons visit.  For several years now, we have enjoyed the cranes fishing and resting in meditative silence.  Sometimes they fly, showing a large blue gray wingspread. 

"There he is!  He's smaller than the other larger one.  Maybe he is younger?"

Hunting a crane with a camera is more difficult than it appears because shooting in digital is relatively new to us.  We were used to the old fashioned film cameras.  Those heavy monster relics (art cameras) gave us the ability to focus, zoom, point, and shoot in what seemed to be a less hurried manor.  I remembered my Dad using his Argus C-3 camera.  It did not have batteries.  I liked that!

We turned off the car and sweated and steamed in the heat and humidity.  Both of us took turns with the camera shots.  Neither of us could actually "see" what we were capturing because bright sunlight glaring on the small screen made shooting guesswork!  A crane took off!  I attempted to photograph the large wings and energy in motion.

"Missed Him!"

We drove around to the other side of the pond in great haste. 

"There he is in the reeds!"  He had flown up and relanded.


Seeing Double
We refocused on the crane and took some additional scenes.  Later at home "playbacking" the photos, we realized we had actually photographed two different cranes, one was all blue gray and larger, our familiar crane buddy.  *The other was smaller and had a white head and neck! 


Two Cranes Are Better Than One!





Majestic Crane Statue Still


The Magic of Cranes
The crane is very important in Chinese painting and Tai Chi practice.  Cranes are often pictured with a sun and pine trees.  The Mandarin crane represents health, strength, and longevity.  White Crane Spreads Wings ("Bai Huh Liang Shih") is a graceful and martial movement in Yang Long Form Tai Chi.  Shaolin White Crane is a Martial Style from the North.  Some of these white crane elements are blended into Mas Oyama's Japanese Karate form in Okinawa.

The crane is a study in meditative harmony, resting on one leg.  He is relaxed yet ever alert like a cat ready to spring.  He cocks his head to listen or watch for a fish.  Then all of a sudden and without effort, he strikes!  Success!  He conserves, he thinks, he knows like a sage on the mountain.

Walking meditation practiced by Buddhist monks and various Tai Chi walking forms mimic the meditative crane.  Watching a crane slowly walk-glide across a pond is a moment of harmony.

Cranes intend magical otherworldly dimensions in legends taking the form of Bodhisattvas (Buddhas electing to return to Earth lifetime after lifetime to teach Earth Friends).  What do cranes teach?  Patience, focus, quiet, balance, and the energy of watchful waiting in a hurried world are their lessons.  **When practicing Tai Chi and Qigong, we salute the crane and it's long heritage on the Earth of 24 million years.  ***Some say other Bodhisattvas in the form of human sages arrive on Earth riding on the backs of cranes to teach humans about science, music, painting, and more!

Count the Cranes:  Majesty in Motion
How many cranes do you see?  In the original painting there are five cranes taking flight.  This is a detail photo showing only three.  Notice the thick paint of palette knife and brush strokes hinting the texture of feathers.  The blue and green bushes and reflections at lakeside are added with a palette knife on its flat side.

Rob, my son, sees the parade of cranes flying as one single crane in a slide show of motion!  What dimensions do you see?

Salute the Tai Chi Crane with Stillness and Motion:  Thought (Yin) and Action (Yang)!


Related Posts:  Universe Shadows of Cranes tips to achieve your goal by Paul Lam, MD (Mar 2011) and Star Child with poem Saturday Colors (June 2011)


*  www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/great_blue_heron/lifehistory  Cornell University Ornithology Lab   "Wurdemann's Herons have the body of the Great Blue Heron and the white head and neck of The Great White Heron."  The Great White Heron is found in Southern Florida and may interbreed with The Great Blue Heron.  Our friend migrated from the South!

**  www.earthlife.net/birds/cranes.html  Crowned Cranes (with straight necks) appeared in Africa 37-54 million years ago.  Typical Cranes (necks coil) are from 24 million years ago according to fossil records.

How to Grasp the Bird's Tail If You Don't Speak Chinese by Jane Schorre with calligraphy by Margaret Chang.  Yang Long Form Tai Chi movements are examined, building of Chinese characters, phonetic pronunciation guide. 

*** http://www.taichifarm.org/  The Tao of Meditation pictures sage riding on the back of a crane and The Dao of Taijiquan by Jou, Tsung Hwa

http://www.ymaa.com/  The Essence of Shaolin White Crane by Yang, Jwing-ming, Ph.D.  Self hypnosis relaxation meditation included.

The Magic of Cranes by Carl-Albrecht von Treuenfels, The crane in art and culture, many color photos of cranes world-wide.

http://www.taichiforhealthinstitute.org/  Paul Lam, M.D. learn about Tai Chi, improve your health with Tai Chi for Health Programs,  DVDs, workshops, articles, forum, free newsletter and more.

dahlis.roy@gmail.com  Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Instructor, original art work and custom prints, request free PDF E-book Silver Butterfly, Create A Vision, A Tai Chi journey with a mystic twist.


Photos: Watching...Waiting and Statue Still by Paul Roy

White Cranes Spread Wings, oil painting by Dahlis Roy