Reconnecting to the Divine Feminine..

Wicca teaches that the Goddess created the universe and everything and everyone in it. In her wisdom, She created a duality which balances masculine and feminine energy. But in practice, is it always an equal balance? I don't think so, given societal norms and mores that tend to discount or dismiss feminine energy in favor of masculine energy. Because of that, feminine energy is thought to be weak; masculine energy is viewed as strong. However, nothing could be further from the truth. And now everything is so out of control.

And by everything, I mean men, as well as all the women who support the oppression of other women. I read an article in which former President Jimmy Carter expressed his belief that Republican men are abusing women by not embracing Equal Pay laws. He's the perfect example of how to be Christian and still think women are worth fighting for. I know others like him exist..we're just not hearing from them enough. Maybe President Carter's comments will prompt others to speak out on behalf of women's issues. Pope Francis expresses progressive thinking about women, but still won't allow female priests. Baby steps, I suppose.

War hawks in Congress, particularly the Senate, should really connect to the divine feminine energy that they've so effectively hidden from view. President Obama understands this concept, standing in stark contrast to Mr. Putin and his aggressive action in Ukraine. Some in Congress clearly disagree with President Obama's approach, instead blaming him for not being "manly" like Putin. Their definition of manly expresses the imbalance in which the world now lives. 

Even the military isn't exempt from this imbalance. They brazenly continue to insist that they can investigate sexual assault, by officers no less, and then justify it all when the guy gets his charges and/or sentence reduced..assuming he's convicted in the first place. They want it both ways which fails on every level to respect the victim. They're just like a spoiled child who has had too much candy. The rush (of arrogance in this case) is too great, and they can't see anything clearly. Anyone who has had kids understands this. And whether we're talking about Congress or the military, or anything else for that matter, the good ol' boy's club mentality needs to go..now.

Last May, I attended a lecture given by His Holiness, The Dalai Lama. His message: We are One. He stressed the importance of balance and equality, particularly in the case of women. His Holiness discussed the problem with out of control male egos and told mothers to train their sons to value compassion. Radical ideas? No. They reflect the truth that lies within. We cannot go on as we have. We need a kinder world. We have forgotten that we are one and that everyone matters. Mr. Putin needs to take his troops home. Congress needs to embrace our President and then get to work fixing this country. Compassion needs to rule the day. 

Women are the bedrock of the family. We give life and wipe tears and bring balance. We should never need to fear the men in our lives, nor should we need to fear men in authority. And yet, that's where we now find ourselves. All that we've worked for as feminists is in jeopardy. We cannot let this happen.

My Sisters..we need to raise feminine energy to bring back harmony and balance to the Earth. Create your sacred space. Extend blessings of love and remembrance. Extend blessings of awakening and vision. We must be vigilant for there is much work to do. Our children deserve a world far better than the one we now have. They deserve to feel safe and loved. Clearly..it's up to us.

~ Blessed Be!

Mr. President, patients need your help..

Dear President Obama,

It's me, your unabashedly supportive cannabis patient and adoring fan. And I mean that. I knew you'd be our president when you spoke at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Seriously..my husband and I were watching the convention and you were the keynote speaker. As we listened to your speech, I got uncontrollably teary and I said to my husband, you know what? He's going to be our president one day. And as much as I love Hillary, I voted for you in Oregon's primary in 2008. My boys voted for you and my husband voted for you. It was the coolest feeling ever! I joined the Democratic Party then as well. I had always registered as non-partisan. I really couldn't take sides, even though my heart was always with the Democrats and what they stood for. At least, I couldn't until you came into view. You see, we share basically the same views on most everything. Everything except for cannabis, it seems. I say, it seems, because although you seem to not support legalization, you also seemed to support the medicinal use or at least you seemed to support state law. In any event, the Ogden memo was nice, and then proved to be something else.

US Attorneys like the one in California appear hell-bent on not respecting state law and, in turn, patients. DEA and other law enforcement agencies appear to look upon raids as a way to increase department funding. All at the expense of patients who are following their state laws and who simply want to get well. As legalization continues throughout the states, which it surely will, at some point, you guys are going to have to figure out how to reconcile federal laws with state laws. Or how about this? Take cannabis out of the federal drug registry completely, and let states decide from there. Unless of course you want to go ahead and legalize federally. That would be the simplest thing to do. That gets the federal government out of the way of states who want to legalize. Fix the IRS and banking laws that interfere as well. Then fire any US Attorney who doesn't comply and continues to harass everyone. That should apply to law enforcement as well, particularly those idiot cops who did the roadside cavity search in Texas.

And now for why you need to take a thoughtful and compassionate look at cannabis as medicine. There are amazing stories of healing out there..google them. This is what I went through and continue to go through. I've probably had Rheumatoid Arthritis for most of my life. It went undiagnosed until 2001. I was severe for almost twelve years. I have taken all kinds of meds for it, including methotrexate (5 years until it damaged my liver), sulfasalazine, Enbrel (7 years), Humira (the last 4 years), various anti-inflammatory drugs, and narcotics. I retained so much fluid in the beginning and over time that my weight increased dramatically. I was always waif-like, so this was really disturbing..excruciating pain and weight gain. None of my doctors believed the whole fluid retention thing..they told me to eat less and exercise more. I ate nothing and exercised when I could because frankly, I couldn't walk very well. The fatigue was similar to mononucleosis fatigue. For my doctors to not believe me was emotionally devastating. I knew I would tread water and never get better. So I did what they wanted and took the drugs. And every day I suffered beyond description. My feet were so swollen that wearing shoes, not to mention walking, was difficult. My energy would happen in short bursts, leaving me exhausted. By 1pm, I was done. Except that we owned a business and I couldn't be done. We put in 98 hour work weeks for the first six years of our business. I experienced excruciating pain 24/7. I don't know how I survived that.

In September 2009, a flare began that would last a little more than a year. Flares are awful because they're far more intense than what your daily pain level would be. They typically last for a short time..a day, or a week maybe. For this to go on month after month was ridiculous. Honestly, I didn't think I would live through this. Eventually it was going to take its toll. So, six months after the flare began, I decided to get my OMMP card. I submitted my medical records for review and received my appointment. You don't get one of those if you don't qualify, so I was encouraged. Upon receiving my card, I began growing. Or I should say, my husband began growing. I wasn't able to help at that point..existing was difficult enough. After the first harvest, I began processing my cannabis into tincture and capsules. I designed a treatment regime that I could track and began medicating. I also vaporized cannabis as well as used raw leaf in smoothies. Within 2 months, much of the fluid was gone (TYSVM!!) and I began looking like myself again. I had immediately stopped the narcotic I was taking when I started the treatment regime. I also began discontinuing the anti-inflammatory drug I was on. I couldn't believe that I was so much better so quickly. I had been researching everything I could find on the endocannabinoid system and I was convinced that properties in cannabis balanced that system and when that happens, health returns. And that's what happened with me. By the end of September 2010, my flare was over. My garden was almost ready for harvest, but I had been medicating during the summer with cannabis given to me by other patients so that stopped the flare. I just didn't have the concentrates yet that would give me the best results. But when I did, my health began to return. 

Mr. President, I know there are really important things that need to be addressed in our country. I understand the obstruction that's happening and I know people may think that cannabis is really not all that important in the broader scheme of things..but it actually is. Patients, growers, dispensary owners are all being targeted in states where they shouldn't be. People with cancer are using cannabis oil and curing their cancer! Children with severe epilepsy are living normal lives for the first time ever! We have a wonderful child here in Oregon, Mykayla Comstock, who is in remission from her cancer because of cannabis oil. We're all healing because of this plant.


Today, I'm healthier than I've ever been. I still have RA, but it no longer controls my life. It's a nuisance now, and that's doable. I'm still on a couple of RA drugs, but everything else is gone. Cannabis allowed me to do all of this. It balances the immune system, and so much more.


Cannabis is a safe and effective treatment for everything. It never should have been made illegal. Legalizing it would stop the arrests and incarceration of people who are doing nothing wrong. At the very least, resolve the conflict between federal and state laws so that states who have legalized as well as those that only have medicinal cannabis laws won't have the issues they currently face. That helps patients in the long run.


I sit here, tears streaming down my face, imploring you to take up our cause. It's emotional when we finally have something that actually heals us when nothing else has. We believe we're safe because we're following state law, only to discover we're not safe at all. Patients need your compassion, your thoughtfulness. We need you to stand with us and clear the way for our healing. We need you to listen to our stories and not view them with that dreaded "anecdotal" label that diminishes our experiences, relegating them to the proverbial dustbin. We need you to take us seriously.

Respectfully,


Jan 

I guess I got my wish..

Well, cool. We're not going to bomb Syria. At least not yet. So that's something. Syria has apparently agreed to hand over their chemical weapons (we'll see). Russia is on board. And everyone on MSNBC seems reluctant to be happy. And what's with the yellow coffee cups on the table? They clash. Pick another color. It's interesting that a bunch of people (me included) seem to have become pundits about MSNBC hosts. Everyone's mad at Chris Matthews and Chris Hayes. I get why they're mad at Matthews. He's not making any sense. Chris Hayes tends to have people on that I don't care for. Rachel talks way too fast and crams too many words into a tiny space in time. I love her stories that tie past events into the present, but I wish she'd not repeat herself so much. And for heaven's sake, take a breath. Because I tend to hold mine while listening and I get lightheaded. Help a girl out here..

I like all of the hosts at MSNBC. And I won't stop watching their news shows in favor of any else. But sometimes it's just noise, and my feedly suffices. 

Back to the Syria mess. The President is in a continual catch-22 with Congress. They want him to come to Congress for a resolution, then say they won't vote for it. Could they stop making all of us look foolish? Because the world is wondering why we continually elect these people who can't seem to put one foot in front of the other without checking to see if the President is doing the same. And oh my God, if he is, then they come to a full stop. Cue the outrage. Suddenly they're no longer interested in moving forward. Now that he's let you all off the hook for a bit on this Syria mess, how about voting on something other than repealing Obamacare. Because the country is beginning to see just how great it's going to be, and already is for that matter. I would have preferred single payer. I believe that will come. But this is fine for now. So stop it. Get to work doing something positive for the American people.

And if Michelle Bachmann, Louie Gohmert and Steve King leave the country again, please don't let them back in. Golden opportunity..just sayin'.

Thoughts on the President's remarks today..

I love it when President Obama has an unexpected conversation with the nation. Even the White House Press Corp. had no idea he would pay them and us a visit today, and his remarks continued for seventeen minutes. It felt unscripted. It was clear that he wanted to offer a perspective on the murder of Trayvon Martin in the broader context of how African American males still experience profiling in this country on a daily basis.

He shared with all of us what it's still like to be a young black man in this country. He talked about being watched in stores, hearing locks activated in cars as he walked down the street, and how entering an elevator could cause worry if a white woman was already in there, alone. Guilt is assumed..never the other way around.

Toward the end of his comments, President Obama asked if Trayvon had been of age and had a weapon, could he have used the stand your ground law to defend himself from someone who had been following him? Because that's what this really comes down to. Would he have been allowed to go home that night had the situation been reversed? Or would he have been arrested immediately? Does stand your ground only apply to white people? Or does it only apply to white men? It certainly didn't apply in the case of a black woman, Marissa Alexander, who fired shots into the air to stop her husband from abusing her. She was convicted and will serve twenty years unless the appeal is successful or someone intervenes and commutes her sentence. How did the law not apply to her? Why was she punished for defending herself? 

The President suggested that stand your ground laws may be too ambiguous and may need review. I agree. I realize that technically, stand your ground was not part of the Zimmerman trial. Still, it is at the heart of this issue. It feels like the law applies only to certain people. If the woman who received twenty years had been white, would she be in prison now? 

The American experiment is an interesting one. We're supposed to be united, but instead of a reality, it's more of a goal. At least it is for some of us. Too much nonsense keeps getting in the way. Sooner or later though, we have to figure out how to live together. Racism is still alive and well in this country. It's far too easy to be suspicious of others. Zimmerman decided all kinds of things about Trayvon and then got out of his car, instigated the altercation, and killed that precious boy. And he got away with it. He didn't care that Trayvon was someone's child. Zimmerman was so full of himself that he saw danger where there was none. A child is dead and his parents are heartbroken.

It feels different in this country now. Dealing with what happened on 9/11 was bad enough. The Bush administration used fear to take away our civil liberties. No one could speak out against Bush's response to the attack without being branded as unpatriotic or worse, a traitor. We finally elect an African American as President, and somehow conservatives think he needs their permission to actually do that job. So it should come as no surprise that conservative men also seem hell bent on living solitary lives because eventually even their women will leave them. Hint: women don't like being controlled and we actually think they're pretty stupid for trying and it's going to get really messy if they keep crap this up. And I guess, even though we have the Voting Rights Act, SCOTUS threw out Section 4, so our oh so popular and responsible Congress will have to fix that before 2014. Otherwise, I fear that voter suppression will win the day and ruin our lives all over again. And I'm not so sure that we can take anymore. And as far as Texas goes, Google Lewis Black's rant. He says it better than anyone else.

President Obama spoke about listening to his daughters interact with their friends. He made the observation that with each new generation of children, things seemed to get better. That with them, we have a chance for positive change. He's right. And I love that we have a President who gets that.

Can't we all agree that we've come too far to lose our way like this? It'd be nice if we could just care about each other. It'd be nice if kids could walk home from the store and not die along the way. It'd be nice if they could go to school and come home alive and well. And it'd be nice if women didn't feel that we need to fight battles that should have never been fought in the first place. 

Misunderstanding results in fear. The world is a scary place, so it makes sense that we react this way. But at some point, we have to stop trying to control everything and everyone around us. We have to stop viewing others as the enemy and then use that belief to justify our behavior. Nothing good comes of it. Nothing. 

Just ask Trayvon's parents..

UPDATE: While watching Melissa Harris-Perry's show, I learned that Marissa Alexander was given a choice between 20 years and 3. But if she had chosen three years, she would have lost her child. Her husband admitted he abused her. There was a restraining order mentioned by Melissa's guest. Marissa Alexander has a master's degree. What has the state of Florida done to this woman? And Angela Corey was involved. She was too gleeful at the verdict in the Zimmerman case. In her case, Madeleine Albright's words apply..you know, that special place in hell for women who don't help other women.