Miriam and the midwives

Tonight at our Passover Seder, Miriam and the midwives of those days were invoked in a whole new way to my understanding - a juicy, reverent way.

As I heard it tonight...
Miriam, daughter of the leader of the Jewish community, convinced her dad that the community's idea that all Jewish married couples should get divorced and stop having babies to avoid the Pharaoh's ruling that boy babies be killed was unjust - it also eliminated life for all girl babies. Six years old, and a convincing prophetess, Miriam got her dad to shift the course of action, leading to the conception and birth of her brother, Moses. Moses would later encounter the burning bush and be convinced by seeing his staff turn into a snake to lead his people, despite his stutter. She let her people know that we had to not walk, not run, but DANCE across the parted Red Sea. Later, during the forty years in the desert, Miriam had a well which followed her, helping her people have water.

Miriam Dancing, a weaving by Anna Kocherovsky

The midwives are honored for not following the Pharaoh's proclamation, by supporting the birth and life of those babies being born, not following the authoritarian command that the baby boys be killed.

We also had an orange on the Seder plate, in support of all those who feel alienated and like they have no place at the table - "like an orange on a Passover Seder plate." 

L'CHAIM!

spit spat / reconciliation

I
spit spat
in the platinum sunlight
of scorching squabble,
I am a dragon, tongue a hot bent jalapeño
crowned with crystal fangs.

when you sink
across my equator
an orbital prisoner of my provisos
a flaring sigh ignites my wings to sky
as scaly talons dig you down in.

flesh craves a feisty feast, a sacrifice
too beasty to speak.
Willingly stunned, you fall
into my trap hole
every time.
The poison stinger of my tongue
outwits your numb-skull power scramble
to get the last word
in.

II
shhhhhhhhh! no more word banter in this
flamenco reconciliation...
this is an invitation to close your eyes
and feel this dream.

tip of a finger curled
to pick an orange and put it in your pocket
wax dripping, encircling the move
a snake rolling around the languor of thirst for ordinary fruits

every inch, every hair drawing rushes of resistance out
to drip past borders not yet opened
the piano fall of fingers composing nothing
the magnetic pull passes through fingers in time
the rowing of a beach guitar
cello prancing down rocky orchid vocal chords
stand up bass dips deep in tango
head down, the scent of ankles rises
topped only by that of shin, then knee crease
and the promise of an ooze of juice
down thighs into the thick deep well of
a baritone sax cavern
serenaded by a sunset of stomping heels

these beats pass through our bones, and
leave no choice, no free will
there is a cord between us
and the knots on our other sides are pulled so that
the space between us is yanked away
and we pound together
the heat builds to explosion
and the two halves split and pull

but still bound, the resistance only serves to
make the drawback more irresistible
this time the slam stills the pulsation
and long low six string hues strain away the game
leaving behind a wake of heaving
breathless quiet, eye to eye
spit spat / reconciliation by Jessica Tumposky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

“Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.” ~Rabindranath Tagore

There is a story of Tagore's that I read in Osho's Love, Freedom, Aloneness that echos and inspires me so that I will dig it up and share it here.

Wild Geese

This poem never gets old for me. So many of its themes echo relentlessly - self-love, self-forgiveness, our presence in our lovely imperfect bodies, our connection with the wild... Wild geese mate for life; this poem reminds me to mate with aliveness and presence for life.

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
~Mary Oliver

Egon Schiele

Zwei sich umarmende Frauen, Two Women Hugging, 1911

Die Umarmung (Die Liebenden), The Embrace (The Loving), 1917

“Bodies have their own light which they consume to live: they burn, they are not lit from the outside.” ~ Egon Schiele

Everyone You’ve Ever Had A Crush On Secretly Had A Crush On You, They Still Do, And They’re Waiting For You

I knew it!

http://www.theonion.com/articles/report-everyone-youve-ever-had-a-crush-on-secretly,35080/

Because if we can't laugh at ourselves, really, what's the point?!

Body, Remember

Because words move things, and often do so best through poetry.
This is my honoring of reminiscence, and of the time tendrils uncurling that never were and always are...

When we love and even sometimes when we desire, there is a fire of truth clarity in the light of our glowing eyes.


Body, Remember

Body, remember not just how much you were loved,
not simply those beds on which you have lain,
but also the desire for you that shone
plainly in the eyes that gazed at you,
and quavered in the voice for you, though
by some chance obstacle was finally forestalled.
Now that everything is finally in the past,
it seems as though you did yield to those desires ―
how they shone, remember, in the eyes that gazed at you,
how they quavered in the voice for you ― body, remember.

(C.P. Cavafy, The Canon. Translated from the Greek by Stratis Haviaras, Hermes Publishing, 2004) 


Body, remember not only how much you were loved,
not only the beds you lay on,
but also those desires that glowed openly
in eyes that looked at you,
trembled for you in the voices—
only some chance obstacle frustrated them.
Now that it’s all finally in the past,
it seems almost as if you gave yourself
to those desires too—how they glowed,
remember, in eyes that looked at you,
remember, body, how they trembled for you in those voices. 

(C.P. Cavafy, Collected Poems. Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard. Edited by George Savidis. Revised Edition. Princeton University Press, 1992) 


Original Greek:

Θυμήσου, Σώμα...  

Σώμα, θυμήσου όχι μόνο το πόσο αγαπήθηκες,
όχι μονάχα τα κρεββάτια όπου πλάγιασες,
αλλά κ’ εκείνες τες επιθυμίες που για σένα
γυάλιζαν μες στα μάτια φανερά,
κ’ ετρέμανε μες στην φωνή —  και κάποιο
τυχαίον εμπόδιο τες ματαίωσε.
Τώρα που είναι όλα πια μέσα στο παρελθόν,
μοιάζει σχεδόν και στες επιθυμίες
εκείνες σαν να δόθηκες — πώς γυάλιζαν,
θυμήσου, μες στα μάτια που σε κύτταζαν·
πώς έτρεμαν μες στην φωνή, για σε, θυμήσου, σώμα. 

Five Tibetan Rites

While not, strictly speaking, about sacred sexuality or the dance of the divine masculine and feminine, I feel called to share the Five Tibetan Rites here. I have been doing these exercises almost daily for over a year. I started when I got the information (by listening from within) that my daily Sun Salutations were no longer what my body and energy needed. I add all kinds of yoga and stretches to my daily body stretching when I have time; this one does not get missed and can be done in under 10 minutes on any ole day.

'How does this connect to this blog?' has been an interesting question for me to contemplate. I feel energized, stronger and better integrated from my time doing these rites. It is said that this practice supports the healthy function of the endocrine system, which regulates hormone release - definitely connected with fertility, attraction, pregnancy, birth and sexuality. The glands of the endocrine system and the hormones secreted from it are hugely influential on how we feel and our behavior. Well known allies from the endocrine system include endorphins, oxytocin, dopamine, adrenaline, and one of my all time favorites - relaxin. More on that another time...

Beyond that physiological support, I share this practice as a way I take care of myself - physically, emotionally, energetically. To listen within and hear our inner wisdom, to integrate the divine masculine and feminine within ourselves and in our relations, we need to take care of ourselves. We all find our different, beautiful paths to self-love, and I have experienced so many times the amazing way a spark of inspiration will come to me that helps me see my path more clearly. So, I feel called to share, that this spark might resonate with even just one person.

http://www.mkprojects.com/pf_TibetanRites.htm

Did you say restore your viriginity?!

Indeed.
Check it out.
I have had amazing openings and releases doing this shortly before my moon time, then moving into that shedding/releasing part of my cycle. 

This is an amazing tool for men and women! Learning to release energetic cords that do not serve our highest good is a nourishing practice.

http://www.sevensistersmysteryschool.com/how-to-restore-your-virginity-and-what-is-virginity-anyway-2/

Mara Berendt Friedman
“The MaBuddha of Passion”
www.newmoonvisions.com

on autoeroticism

I love the dance of art and science. This article reports on scientific research on the power of our minds to create ecstatic experience. 

The article is originally from the New York Times, and I am posting it via website reuniting.info, run by Marnia Robinson, that is well worth exploring for many other reasons, especially for those interested in that dance of science and sacred sexuality traditions. This site also has an extensive forum section on porn addiction. http://www.reuniting.info/forums/rebalancing-recovery

I'll Have What She's Thinking (New York Times)

http://www.reuniting.info/content/i%E2%80%99ll-have-what-she%E2%80%99s-thinking-new-york-times

beautiful, healthy merging

With his website's permission to post one piece of his art on a personal website, as this is, I want to share this painting of Alex Grey's. I love so many of his pieces, as well as the little I've gotten to witness of him as a person, artist, teacher, father, and partner to his amazing wife Allyson. 

The dance of autonomy and togetherness rolls on endlessly, and here's just a little inspiration for its beautiful manifestation.

www.alexgrey.com

He writes about this painting, Tantra, oil on linen, 1991:

Locked in an embrace of love with Allyson, I sensed the skin on the backs of our bodies dissolving into a field of deep blue fire fluid. The blue felt like an ocean of understanding permeated by love, a field of unbounded energy that was our essential nature and to which we briefly return during the ecstatic ego oblivion of sex. It seemed as if the skin on the front of our bodies was the surface tension of ego, a bounding line of flesh that we can use to merge and transcend energetically by becoming synchronous with the primal depth of our heart union, which is symbolized by the enveloping aura of the lattice-like Mobius egg.

Also from Alex Grey's website:

ARTIST'S PRAYER

 

Creator of the Universe,
How infinite and astonishing
Are your worlds.
Thank you,
For your Sacred Art
And sustaining Presence.

Divine Imagination,
Forgive my blindness,
Open all my Eyes.
Reveal the Light of Truth.
Let original Beauty
Guide my every stroke.

Universal Creativity,
Flow through me,
From my heart
Through my mind to my hand,
Infuse my work with spirit
To feed hungry souls.

Birthing Ourselves Into Being

* Goddess revision (with humming) *

From the dark warm moving place of our mother,

we are born

Our mother, solid and giving as a moss patch,

nurtured and nurturing by the crystalline waves of the sun

and the patience, curiosity and perseverance of all her creatures,

sharing her powers.

                                    mmmmm…

We come from the earth and go to the earth,

carrying on our turtle back all the traditions of evolution,

carrying in our claw a scrap of dirt from when we dive

deep deep deep 

into the waters of all time 

and grab some of the bottom to bring to the surface

to renew grounding creation.

                                    mmmmm…

We come from great spirit and go to great spirit

now, all the time, no time, always.

Sometimes we spin in time, inching along, sunning.

Sometimes eye to eye we dive 

deep in the pools

to surface with a newborn’s instinct to swim and breathe,

staying deep in the shallows.

                                    mmmmm…

We are in the water and moving towards water,

washing peacefully, transforming violently,

changing slowly 

with the ins and outs of waves and tides.

Through the water we swim with the bottom to the surface

To the water we go, we share, we drink deep

to enlighten again the memory of our composition

The water goes from the deep to the earth's face

A mantra unsung, it rings through our being

                                    mmmmm…

We are born into this village and

we are born into this body,

our vessel, moving around 

and sensing more vessels near us.

The water running through the aqueduct is free

and we are born in this way

solid and free, challenged, in paradox, in harmony,

moving with the water.

Words freed like birds from cages 

singing divine poetry.

                                    mmmmm…

When I brought the water in

from morning star in the east,

I was born from ways deeper than blood,

surrounded by family, 

with faces we only sometimes see 

or recognize.

Thirsty people drank, we welcomed precious baby boy,

son of my family from the deep bottom, and we laughed.

We smoked life earth breath through corn and tobacco,

we welcomed the deep, speaking peace poetry,

prayer, drink, birth.

So be.

   **                     **

 *  *  *         *  *  *

*          *         *          *

Oh ma

ye ma

ye ye ma

ye man

ye man

ye man ja

yemanja

ja ja yemanja

deep ma deep

da mirroring seas

deep ma deep

da ocean root

deep ye man ja

holding we

deep yemanja

we ma of we

Birthing Ourselves Into Being by Jessa Tumposky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

To Stephen Gaskin, with honor and respect

Sending love and gratitude to Stephen Gaskin 

and his small and large circles as he passes onward. 

His wife, Ina May Gaskin, is one of the elders in our modern times and in the United States of bringing back home birth, after its relatively brief (in the span of human history) but violent hiatus. It's still coming back. 

Now she holds space as her beloved husband passes on, a great visionary, writer, speaker and founder of The Farm, where his and her work has flourished. May we all be blessed with such life and work partnership.

Welcome to CONSCIOUS CONCHES! 

The name of this blog came to me one day when I was wearing shell earrings that were made from cowrie shells. A friend accidentally called them conches, another shell with beautiful symbolic meaning and connection to the feminine, and was saying the word "conches" just as I was saying the word "conscious." 

So there you have it, this blog begins in a way that defies logic :) but embraces the moment, synchronicity and the beauty of the feminine, the ocean and much more.

I intend to focus posts on this blog on my own research, wisdom, musings and discoveries on sacred sexuality, pregnancy, birth, the divine feminine, the divine masculine, and the coming together of these last two. 

So... welcome to my first post!

http://blog.museumofsex.com/the-internal-clitoris/

The true divine design of the clitoris seems like a perfect place to start... 

the internal erect clitoris