Christopher Penczak
Current mood: happy

Have you heard of that Penczak dude?  If not, hurry over to his MySpace page or his website www.christopherpenczak.com   He's a wonderful author, teacher, and a great guy! 

Christopher and I have been email buddies for a long time but we finally were able to meet in person this past weekend at Magickal Mountain Mabon.  It was wonderful to get to spend some time just hanging out. We got to gossip, talk shop, plot to torment one or two of our author friends, and drink yummy mead and warm apple cider with rum.  Plus, he thoroughly won over my crow.  

He did some fantastic workshops and led a rockin main ritual that folks here are still buzzing about.  Definitely check him out if you don't know much about him!

9:19 PM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Merry Mabon!
Current mood: imaginative

May you all have a warm, delightful, and very merry Mabon!  I hope you enjoy these few fun offerings from my newly re-released Mabon book.

4:18 PM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Palin for VP
Current mood: disgusted

Sorry to get political on you but I think it is time that the focus was taken off the Palin's daughter and put on the VP pick's view on the world.   The truth is that she would be a frightening choice as VP ... gods forbid as president if anything should happen to McCain.  This is a woman who believes  that global warming is a "farce" and is not caused by humans.  And here are a few more facts about her from a great new YouTube video making the rounds.

* As governor, Sarah Palin supports the brutal aerial hunting of wolves and bears and authorized $400,000 in state funds to oppose a ballot initiative ending aerial hunting. State voters have twice before voted to ban such hunting.

* As governor, in order to increase wolf hunting, Sarah Palin offered hunters a bounty of $150 each for every left front foreleg of a wolf they could provide the state.

* In a region west of Anchorage, she authorized the killing of up to 70% of all bears (1400 bears) including mothers and cubs.

* Alaskan Governor Palin sued the federal government (the Bush-Cheney administration) to keep polar bears from being listed as an endangered species.

* Sarah Palin supports drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), an extremely sensitive region where millions of animals could be harmed or killed. Senator John McCain has long opposed this drilling as do most energy experts who see it as useless.

Well, that's ok.  Because really ... it's all about us.  It's not like other animals have feelings or rights or anything.  They are here for our amusement and exploitation right?  I think I'll order myself a polar bear rug now so I have something to look at when they go extinct.

4:24 PM - 14 Comments - 16 Kudos - Add Comment

DRUM
Current mood: rockin

There are few things that I would willingly drive a total of 6 hours in a day for.  Drumming is definitely one of them.  Drumming with a bunch of great people?  Is there even a question?

I had the great pleasure to co-teach Ardantane's (www.ardantane.org) "Living Drum" class in Las Cruces today.  We had a rockin bunch, including 2 of the fabulous teens from the Ardantane Teen Retreat I was raving about last month.  The final part of the day was all about drum circles.  We did some attunement and energy feeling exercises first.  Then we got into the really good stuff.

First was a group energy raising with a person acting as conduit in the center.  We raised so much fantastic energy that I had major goosebumps and felt like I was an arrow pulled sooooo far back on the string... Then we sent it out to the emergency workers that are heading for the Gulf Coast.  It was an incredible working!

Second was a healing for one of our drummers.  The drum circle held space with a rhythm while a healer performed an extraction healing.  Another great working!

What a day.  What a group of people.  Can't wait to drum with these folks again

2:35 AM - 5 Comments - 3 Kudos - Add Comment

Freedom
Current mood: blessed

I just released my last baby Cooper's Hawk yesterday and it was such a fabulous feeling to see her fly off and then sit in a tall tree, surveying her new digs.  She came in as a fluffy white, downy chick with Trich and had no hesitation about leaving the pet carrier and taking off into the unknown.  She was ready to be FREE.

The young firespinner and I are also exploring our newfound freedom in our own ways.  Not that either of us are totally free from commitments and work, but we are each moving in new directions.  Like the young Cooper's, my son is exploring a brand new life - not just the whole school thing but also high school.  Oh, he did a 3-month stint in something called Family School that was a total waste of time and he did a very part-time thing at a pre-school for a couple of years, but most of his young life has been spent with me.  And like that hawk, he has flown off into the unknown without hesitation and with great excitement.  There have been challenges, including 2 whole days of testing, but he's really happy.  And I am so excited for him.

It is interesting that so many people think that I am now free to sit around and eat bon-bons.  Because, you know, writing, planning classes, running the clinic, running Ardantane's School of Shamanic Studies, training raptors, rehabbing, and everything else I need to do doesn't count as a "real" job and doesn't take up much time at all.  It is true that I am free to go have coffee with a friend on occasion and maybe even make time to start working out again but I am still seriously busy.  The only difference now is that I am not just barely keeping my head above water and I get quite a bit more sleep.

So it is a bittersweet thing, freedom (for those that aren't terrified by it) ... we do grieve for what is past even as we journey into what is to come willingly, even joyfully.  But it is also empowering and challenging and exciting and fun and I would not want to live with it.

4:29 PM - 3 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

School?!
Current mood: shocked

Huge news!  The young firespinner/fencer dude may be going to school!  No really.  I know, I'm still in shock.

So there's this new charter school not run by the public school system that is starting up this year.  It's got some fabulous ideas and plans: Paideia Method, Socratic Seminar, International Baccalaureate, etc.  And it has attracted alot of his homeschooled pals.  We put in a letter of intent on the off-chance that a spot might open up mid-year or next year and then we'd see.  No hurry, exploration, that sort of thing.

Well, wouldn't you know it, they called last Thursday and want to admit him to the 9th grade!  So we talked about fencing tournament absences and they are more than willing to work with that.  So it is not yet a done deal but it is looking like it might be. 

Whatever will I do with all that time I am currently putting into homeschooling?  Hmmm, there are a bunch of books waiting to be written.  And then there is the gym in my garage that I would really like to get to, and birds that need training.  But could I live with the full nights of sleep and reduction in stress?  Could I live without my constant companion, road trip partner, tour manager, personal assistant, and buddy?  I really enjoy traveling with him and I've come to depend on him so much.  

It really does seem that events over the last year, and particularly the last 6 or so months, have been leading up to this.  Things have been falling into place to pave the way and it all seems so right.  We'll see what path is truly laid before us in the coming weeks.  Either way, it will be an adventure.

4:57 PM - 7 Comments - 7 Kudos - Add Comment

Hawk Central
Current mood: busy

That's what it feels like here, with 5 permanent ones, one long-term rehab one, and 4 young Cooper's getting ready to go.  The two oldest Coops are now out in the flight cage getting ready for release (yes, including the one that wouldn't eat - Thank You).  I still have one youngster that's not quite old enough and another that just had surgery inside.  One that came in yesterday didn't make it.

The peregrine falcon is being a major booger, either due to pain or nerve damage.  He chewed right through the leading edge of his injured wing so it is now padded and seriously wrapped.  He's also back on pain meds.  But he is feisty and eating very well so I still have high hopes for release.

As soon as I can clear out these Cooper's, the Ferruginous gets to get outside and test that wing.  She's been caged since last December, poor beauty.

5:59 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Peace
Current mood: peaceful

Tomorrow is an anniversary worth noting.  On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima in Japan and the age of WMDs was birthed.  This is a great site to check out if you are interested in Hiroshima or peace in general http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/top_e.html   And I have a Peace Page on my website here http://www.kristinmadden.com/Peace.html

War is still rampant across the globe.  And on a smaller scale, we all still struggle with strong emotions related to fear, territory, possessions, mates, etc.  Of course, it all comes down to fear and it is part of being human. 

Let's all pledge to be a bit more compassionate this week, a bit more tolerant and accepting, and a bit more peaceful.  Perhaps that will carry over to next week and next month and so on.

Deep within the still center of my being, may I find peace

Silently, within the quiet of the Grove, may I share peace

Gently and powerfully, within the greater circle of humankind, may I radiate peace.

Druid's Peace Prayer, OBOD, author unknown

10:16 AM - 3 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Prayers Please
Current mood: bummed

Ok folks, this is a serious request for prayers.  My fledgling Cooper's hawk is having trouble keeping up the fight.  I've managed to keep his weight up but he's had sooo much stress and they just don't do stress well!  I just started him on a new med that just worked on a kestrel recently. 

And guess what I got this afternoon?  A nestling Cooper's!  Guess what it has?  Trich!!!  Bloody hell.  And I'm getting another nestling Cooper's tomorrow.

So please light a candle for my young Coop.  He's a real fighter and he just needs a little more time.  It just isn't fair that so many babies are coming in, going through hell, and just dying from this damned protozoan.

Either the damn bug has developed a resistance or the new formulation of our favorite drug combo is not what it is supposed to be.

8:30 PM - 8 Comments - 10 Kudos - Add Comment

Patterns and Tears
Current mood: melancholy

Remember the mini-meltdown from the last blog?  Well, my vet and I both had one last night.  The female Peregrine Falcon didn't make it out of anesthesia.  Just like the one a month ago, she died as he was bringing her out of it.  Damn!  She'd just started self-feeding the day before and she was otherwise really healthy. 

So a whole series of musings today led me to an interesting pattern.  This year, I've had 4 peregrines.  Last October, the peregrine that lived with us for 9 or so years died.  This year, I had a Northern Saw-whet owl.  Last October, the saw-whet that lived with us for 8 years died.  The year after my Long-eared Owl died, I had 2 Long-eareds.  The year after my American Kestrel died, I had 28 baby kestrels.  Interesting pattern, don't you think?  And all but the kestrels are uncommon birds.  The only death of a permanent education/foster bird that doesn't follow the pattern is Momma Roadrunner.  I think that is because Poppa really changed after her death last fall and doesn't tolerate anyone in there with him.  He might be different with really young birds but he doesn't want the older juveniles in there any more than he wants adults.

So with that in mind, pray for the remaining peregrine and the new Cooper's (yup, Trich) and Western Screech youngsters I have.

8:47 PM - 5 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment