I already hear the murmur of people gathering for the annual burning of Zozobra here in Santa Fe. It’s a big celebration here, described in one of the tourist mags:
For 98 years, Santa Fe’s original burning man Zozobra, a 50-foot tall, storied marionette, has been built anew. And each year he is stuffed with thousands of paper “glooms”––love letters, divorce papers, photos, speeding tickets, bad habits, hurt feelings––to go up in smoke (and disappear from our lives) when this New Mexico icon goes down in a highly orchestrated, flaming fury as we cheer on from below.
https://www.santafe.org/blog/post/zozobra/
When I first moved here in the mid 80’s, I knew nothing of Zozobra but lived only a few blocks away and followed the crowds to watch. It’s a very family friendly event – no drinking, good security, lots of dance performances and music before the burning starts. After the burning the groups drifted down to the Plaza where there was music and dancing. Great fun.
Over the years, there were changes. A shooting at the Plaza one year curtailed that part of the event. As Santa Fe got more popular there were more people at the event. Now about 60,000 are expected. But for me the biggest change was in me.
I now live only a couple of hills from the event and hear the festivities way into the night. As I said, now I hear the murmur of people gathering. Later there will be music and fireworks. And the screaming of Zozobra as he burns.
Hey wait a minute! Granted this is a huge puppet created to be burned. But we are cheering while listening to the screams of a creature however inanimate being tortured. This has stopped being fun for me.
The idea of a scapegoat is that it is “not me”, not one of us, different, expendable. In this case an inanimate puppet. Originally a goat staked to lure the predator. All too often outsiders are blamed for a group’s misfortune. Hitler used the Jews as the scapegoat for Germany’s ills. We’ve seen a number of genocides like this. Even the concept of Jesus dying for our sins is scapegoating. Witches were blamed for accidents and illness. Not just humans – black cats have been killed relentlessly as scapegoats for bad things happening. Enough!
I am no longer interested in blaming “Other” for my sins or misfortunes. My personal growth depends on me taking responsibility for my own part in what disturbs me.
What’s the use of having developed a relationship with Guidance if I can’t ask questions like this? So I sit down, shut up, ask and listen. I get an answer, but it’s…..”REBOOT”. Reboot? What’s that mean, I ask. But I just keep hearing “REBOOT”. I get the impression that even if I was given more, I wouldn’t now understand it. Like something you only “get” when you’ve gotten there.
hat. When I first heard it, wondrous magical things were happening to me and all around me. Of course it was benign! But when I heard it the other day, I felt a glitch in me. Do I still believe that?
Do they not value themselves, not feel worthy of receiving what they want? Maybe pink rhodonite can sti
Are there negative
Are you setting out on a new path, needing help is establishing yourself? Consider tender green peridot for encouraging new growth.
I feel the sweet romance as she found a man to marry. I’m surprised to realize that it isn’t so much a falling in love as knowing that she wanted to build a family and connecting with a man who wanted the same. I feel the comfort of lying in bed with one person over the years, of increasingly ‘fitting’ with one another. Their excitement at pregnancy and the heaviness as the life within her grew. The agony and relief of birth. The bustle of growing children and school and worklife. The pleasure of little things – a child’s first “art work” posted on the refrigerator, comforting skinned knees and bruises. Her pride as a child moves ahead in school. I feel the poignancy as the children grow more independent and experience the quiet smile and shared look with her husband as they adjust to their changing relationship with each other and the children.
Gradually I come back to awareness of my own life and my own choices. She laughs that she found my life very exciting. Having a career, working with colleagues, traveling around the country and interviewing different people. Giving presentations and classes, being seen as “an expert”. But, she confesses, she found it a bit overwhelming and exhausting. I admit that I found her life rich, but for me, a little…well, dull. Much of the same day to day – same activities, same people, same environment. We smile at each other, with greater understanding of our sameness and differences.
There were objects that drew me to buy them. A stone with an unusual variation of a familiar rune. A pendant with runes and Celtic symbols. Incense for “Uncrossing”. When I researched the pendant, I was appalled to find that it spoke of love relationship. Ugh! I don’t want to go there again!
, paired with its reversed form. Berkana is often related to fertility. Double ugh! But I researched further and found phrases I relate to: “Now is the time to put the knowledge and wisdom you have learned into practice…Plans, ideas and concepts that you thought were sound may turn out to be a waste of your time and effort. Do not allow this to discourage you – it is merely indicating that a different concept or angle must be looked at.” [
Instead my Guides point out to me that I have been reminding those coming to me feeling under psychic attack that their very fear is what opens them to negative emotions. “Ahem,” they continue. “You do know that applies to you as well. We’re not saying you should take no action, but we do say that if you entertain the fear, it will grow.” Drat! It’s the parable of the two wolves again.
put it on your altar. Light a candle for him. Pray that he follow his own path. You really do not know what is best in this case. …But we don’t suggest that you send him $$! ” Comedians I’ve got as guides.
In my world, the rhomboid form of calcite (a slanty cube) suggests reframing. It’s easy to get caught in thinking something has to be one way or the other, either “this” or “that”, “x” or “y”. The calcite cube reminds us that there is a third axis, many different “this” and “that” possibilities. We don’t have to stay trapped in an either/or way of looking.
Musings & Meditations 