Different Ways #27, Chapter 5, On a Blanket With My Baby
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I look at his picture and I'm reminded of an aspect of my life that may be a little different from my peers that I should explain. I blew by this in the book. I was raised by a woman (my Nana) who was born and raised in Europe in the 1880's, as was my mother.
If you are at all familiar with psychology and unconscious intentions, you will realize I was dosed very heavily with an archaic mind set in regards to being female and in relationships. This picture is a woman in casual dress in the 1880's at the beach! My Nana never wore pants until the 1970's when she became senile and was forced into them. She never went out without a hat on.
Nana's highest hopes for this female grandchild reclining in this picture is fueled by a very deep and resonant core belief that I needed to be wed off and as soon as possible before anyone found out my origins. My Mom, though not as deeply attached to the idea, courted similar desires for me and herself. (There are diary entries.) That picture of the "come hither" twelve year old me at the top of this post is very much a visual snap shot of that kind of grooming.
I bring this up because I feel very strongly this is of a design. A sort of byproduct of my lineage is that I have a sensitivity to the vibration persons born in that particular time/space via the influence of my Nana. This orientation provides me with a unique opportunity to give back to my ancestry. I believe that all things that are taken on intentionally in healing in a life answers to a lineage that flows like a karmic river into a collective brilliance supporting further necessary wellness. Whether or not we have personally embodied a human violation in this or other lives that needs to be healed, we have the power to assist in carrying burdens into a transformation that benefits everyone in terms of evolution. This helping makes healing happen. I know, it is very woo woo and may be too "out there" for most people but this is the way I envision it.
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Thunderstruck
Thunderstruck
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Thunderstruck, Thunderstruck
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
Yeah It's alright, we're doin' fine
Yeah It's alright, we're doin' fine, fine, fine
Thunderstruck, AC/DC
Swept up into the cultural floodwaters of the times, I was carried into my future. Ready or not. I was mostly not ready. I'm still mostly not ready for the future changes that loom large on today's horizon. There was no stopping it then and no stopping it now.
As for the times, make no mistake, everyone - including professional adults - were confused and excited or irritated over being forced into thinking and seeing previously happily accepted, hidden and thought benign matters of social dysfunction that were erupting in the culture. Does it sound chaotic? Does it sound familiar? It was and is. We lure ourselves into a false sense of complacency, then cry bitterly when reality encroaches. We have always been a contentious country! Of note here: It was more frightening to the adults than the youth of North America and Europe. Please adjust your current anxiety level accordingly. We need to own our fears and stop projecting them. Things will go better if we work to transform them and lean into supporting these changes. We must look to the children to hear the right questions.
Thank you for listening.
Different Ways, Chapter 5, On a Blanket With My Baby, pp. 47-52.
Music: I struggled with picking a song, as anyone who was alive then would understand. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida was an FM staple when one could play 17 minute songs on the air without a penalty. You could smoke a joint, eat a sandwich, have sex (we were speedy teens, you know) and the song would still be rocking on. This was before money came knocking to make all FM radio glorified AM stations. I loved dancing to the drums on this song when I was young. I mean Ron Bushy? Holy tom tom, Batman! Dude's a monster! I think Michael Firth of the Jim Henson Company must have designed the Muppet Animal after Bushy.
If this doesn't take you back, you may have never been anywhere.
Thank you for joining me here. The memoir Different Ways: Revealing the Feminine can be purchased through my website using a link to Village Books at AlltheDifferentWays.com. There will soon be an eBook version available with an independent retailer. The e-book on Amazon is a bit of a mess but free if you are a Kindle member.
The BlogCast that outlines my intentions for this series of readings from my book, Different Ways, Revealing the Feminine can be found here in the post, Between the Lines.