Pieces

Today is Easter, a Christian holiday, which marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I think of Jesus as a beloved medicine man and healer, and believe he would be offended at how the teachings he carried into this world are being manipulated. In church I heard more about the devil and how women should be obedient to men, than I ever heard about this healer who could make miracles and raise the dead. There are still medicine people who can raise the dead. I’ve heard their stories.

Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. This marks the beginning of spring, of planting season, of birth. It’s a transformational point, a balance point. Day and night are equal.

In Paris last week both the Sun and Moon were in my hotel room. Sunrise came in at one angle, and at night the full Moon stared in from the other angle. The last few nights in Albuquerque, an alert Moon has awakened me. I remembered similar nights in childhood, and how I climbed up moonlight to the Moon and other places.

A few days ago here in Albuquerque it was snowing white flower petals from apple trees. It was seventy-five degrees. Yesterday it was snowing cold and ice. Strange weather.

I’d seen a sign announcing an Easter egg hunt at the post boxes and figured it was a compound sponsored event. It wasn’t. A neighbor who loved Easter made doughnuts, coffee and tea, colored and hid eggs, some with prizes. My grandchildren were five of seven children, won two grand prizes and had a good time searching for eggs. So thank you Sarah in #15. I’m still blown away by her beneficence.

Tonight I am churned up because I see family members in danger. They are attracted to an encampment run by an enchanted spirit. He is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. He is so smart he believes that he has outsmarted the alcohol spirit. There are many different kinds of smart. It’s fun there, with plenty of food, laughter, drink and smoke. The enchanted spirit knows many good stories and tells them like doses of medicine, to lure them in. I warned them that there’s the person we know, and there’s the enchanted one who took root in a hole made by alcohol. The one we know is not in control. We miss him. I watch them return again tonight, and I am concerned for them. The enchanted one is lonely and wants company down that terrible road.

This is excerpted from an email, a report from a friend who was shooting a program on Maui: “…Just had a great meeting w/ a beautiful man who surfs 60 foot waves and swims with sharks. For him it's all spiritual.”

It is all spiritual.