Thursday, November 30, 2006

Global mind shift urgently needed

The wombat speaks, and he's smarter than you, so listen up! In less than a minute, this rapid-fire animation tells you everything you need to know about how to get along on earth for the next million years.

View it now!

And if the wombat's message stirs you at all, do yourself and your children's children a favour and buy a copy of the New Gaia Atlas of Planet Management for Christmas. As it says in the introduction

"This is no ordinary book. It maps and analyses a living planet at a critical point in its history - as one species, our own, threatens to disrupt and exhaust its life-support systems. It charts the growing divisions in the human family. And it proposes that we have the chance to redirect our course and become caretakers of our future."

You can read more of the book here


And for more great material from the global mind shift crew see their memebase.

Friday, November 24, 2006

Starhawk speaks for the goddess

Newsweek and the Washington Post have started a new website devoted to religion. They have a number of panelists with widely differing perspectives, among them Starhawk who is as they say "a prominent voice in modern Wiccan spirituality". If you don't know Starhawk she is the author a number of fabulous books on Pagan Spirituality and the Goddes and the novel 'The Fifth Sacred Thing' which is a fantastic and powerful read. In her mailing list Starhawk says
"I’ll be responding to questions they pose and participating in interfaith dialogue. The more of you that click on my page, the more they’ll know there’s interest out there in the Goddess:"

Click away..
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/starhawk/

Starhawk's website is http://www.starhawk.org/

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

"Obese" mum commits suicide

Grief stricken family sue Science Museum.



No - not really!
But these were some of the possible headlines that floated through my brain after a recent experience at the Brisbane Science Museum.


I have shied away from weighing machines for over a decade, having spent much of my teenage years and early adulthood obsessed with the figures on those unforgiving dials. Recently however I have made some pleasing progress with my battle with the bulges and I now fit comfortably into a size 14 and even occasionally a 12.


So when confronted with an interactive Body Mass Indicator exhibit at the Brisbane Science Museum on a recent trip with my son I decided I might finally be willing to break my taboo and face those scales.


The height measuring part was fairly painless (although the measure jerked rather uncomfortably down on my head) and only slightly surprising (when I realised that the last time I had measured my height it had been in feet and inches).


But the scales were another story. They must have seen me coming! Maybe they have a special sensor detecting scales aversion because when I first stepped on the readout confidently read 72 kilos and then quick as a flash it changed its mind and jumped to 80 kg. Yikes - that can't be right I screamed internally in a panic. 80 kilos - why thats only a mere kilo or two less than I weighed after my son was born - a comfortable motherly size 18. What's going on? Heavy bones? Muscles? I have been doing a lot of bike riding but really ....


I jumped off and tried to start over but the machine was having none of it. It appeared that once you'd started you had to finish or remain forever ignorant of your BMI score.


I probably should have chosen the latter option but I remembered those pleasingly loose size 14 jeans and I plucked up my courage and pressed the button for the final section of the exhibit. The red LED display teased me for a moment as it computed my fate. It whirred and pondered and then spat out my BMI readout - 30.1! I turned nervously to the scale printed on the wall and ran my finger up the scale: past average .... they tell me 14-16 is the average for Australian women ... but no ... up into overweight .. oh well I guess I could still loose a bit without fading away ... but no ... horror of horrors .. I passed overweight at 30 and ... discovered my distressing diagnosis...


... OBESE!


I decided on something sweet to cope with the trauma.
Well - I'm an obese size 14 - what difference was it going to make?

Friday, November 10, 2006

End hatred in this world?

What can you do to end all forms of hatred in this world?
What can you do to bring more bliss into this world?


..asks Lisa Dale Miller in her powerful video/performance Millennial Burn




Listen here (you'll need Real Player)


Lisa is a talented lady. As well as her artistic endeavours she is an insightful astrolger.

I have been enjoying her moon analyses (at www.astrowisdom.com) for some months and sharing them with my women's circle as a guide to direct our energies at the different phases of the lunar cycle.

Lisa recently posted an interesting perspective on the demotion of Pluto to "dwarf planet" status by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). She reflects on the astrological significance of this "demotion" and suggests that 'The dwarfing of Pluto is in fact a perfect metaphor for a world in denial of its own destructive nature'.
Full article here

Her piece on 'Postmodernity, Spirituality and Guidance' is also well worth a read.