A wee heads-up

Posted on February 3, 2019 by AlianaAlani

As many of you know, Google+ is closing down soon – starting this month and finalizing in April, if I read it correctly. Though I haven’t used my Google+ account in ages, I do ‘share’ these postings via it.

With that in mind – if you have been reading my posts via Google+ – if you like what you are finding here and want to continue, PLEASE DO SIGN UP HERE so that we can stay in touch with each other. That way, you’ll automatically get an email update when there is a new posting. And as many of you know, I don’t post huge amounts, so you won’t be inundated.

It is a joy having you with me so I do hope you will sign up and continue!

Big thanks, buckets of love, have a joy-filled day, and hope to see you here again soon!

No more…

Posted on April 9, 2017 by AlianaAlani

You will forgive me if I say – no more.
Forgive me, perhaps, as I turn away
From this game you seem unable, or unwilling,
To leave behind.

I have stood watch over your thirst for conquest.
Soothed your wounds of battle with my tears.
Mourned your spirits passing, bodies left in the cold of dark.

Many times the heavens turned, showering love
Like fertile seeds within the winds of sorrow
Upon the fields of story – your story
That you seem unable, or unwilling, to leave behind.

Many times did you drink from their cup gladly,
Relishing the moment, healing, even gratefully,
Only then to forget, yes again.

I have come more times than you can possibly imagine
To speak for love instead of hate
To light the way for gentler tomorrows,
And still it continues.

So you will forgive me, perhaps,
If I say – no more.

No more will I lament your passing nor watch
Sweet souls tumble to a blood-strewn earth.
No more will I bury your bones within the stars of light
That you may come to your senses and remember.

This game of war is yours and yours alone.
The courage to peace, to change, lives within.
It has always been thus, but this time it is up to you.
For next time, beloveds, you will be on your own.

You will forgive me, perhaps.
I will not come again.

for New Zealand…

Posted on November 13, 2016 by AlianaAlani

This article (and its added poem, which I posted here years ago) is long, so I hope you will hang in and continue reading. And if it strikes a chord in your heart, please share. It is my feeling that New Zealand could use your prayers today.

I AWOKE THIS MORNING to learn of the latest earthquake in New Zealand, a country that, as many know, is prone to such things. Some report it as a 7.5, others as a 7.8. Either way you look at it, it was large. Unlike the Christchurch earthquake, this one was inland and deeper. It was also bigger. The subsequent aftershocks have been large, shallow, and some have migrated northward. And there have been beginning tsunamis and casualties.

BACKTRACK, IF YOU WILL, to 2011. This time I wasn’t on the other side of the ocean. I was landing in Auckland – two hours after the Christchurch earthquake hit. As I watched the story unfold day after day for the next two weeks with all its aftershocks and increasingly bleak coverage, and as I personally walked small forest trails and ocean’s black sands, stared at calm sunsets and wild cloudy skies, I found myself touched beyond measure.

THIS WRITING BELOW feels as important to me now as it did then. As I read it again, I couldn’t help but feel that tucked within, there is perhaps a message for us all. It is a small homage to the spirit and heart of the Land of the Long White Cloud and of its people. New Zealanders, in my experience, are a strong kind people. That doesn’t mean your prayers and caring aren’t needed. So again, if this writing touches you, feel free to pass it on. Perhaps in the telling its heart song will help ease the way a little.

Digital Camera

LAND OF THE LONG WHITE CLOUD

©Aliana Alani 2011

LAND OF THE LONG WHITE CLOUD – AOTEAROA – Where stories linger like slender strings of tiny ocean pearls within your billowy sleeves of cloudlike memory. Where sky and sea walk hand in hand and in their mirage-like mist worlds both old and new appear to hover, and on their very edges ethereal doors stand ready to be entered, to share gifts perhaps waiting to be given. Is it but a dream to feel this way? And yet somehow, I think not.

Kia Ora, you say.

Aloha, I answer. For that is what I know in my heart.

Heart – the door you offer, at least to me – the chance to enter a land of ancient openness and be at peace, to walk with ease again along the corridors of time. As if a jewel had been here patiently waiting to be retrieved and lived anew. Strange to find you now, for I have landed on your shores when the earth is rumbling mightily and the ring of shifting sands and olden fissures is making itself known. Breaking through the seeming solidness of life and coughing up its innards for the entire world to see.

Kia Kaha, you say, for you have been through this before and know no fear.

Is that the opportunity, when all else falls away, to know no fear? To know that life always begins anew, that if we open our hearts and trust the birth, it can perhaps be even better than before, that we are strong in spirit no matter what?

I am touched by the hearts of people on this land of yours, Oh Long White Cloud. Touched by their generosity and kindness in the midst of devastation – their willingness to reach out and help another. It is the humaneness within humanity, is it not – to offer aid without question or condition? Too often we forget this as we stride our world of ever-increasing gadgets and sound bites. Your people are helping us to remember.

Ke Aloha Aotearoa, your beauty is astounding. Gods have walked upon your earth and fished in your waters. Songs have been sung in your honour and winds have dashed your shores. Mountains high and long have risen dressed in snowy garments. And films have told stories of Middle Earths and Hobbit kingdoms. You are part of a realm we now call, The Pacific. But somehow you are part of something else as well. It lives within the very fabric of your air, and hence within the fabric of your people. Amongst all else, it is a strength of heart and the never-ending ability to dare to weave new story into life, no matter what. A wondrous gift this is for the world to see and feel. Thank you for bringing it to our table.

Kia Kaha, Aotearoa, Land of the Long White Cloud. Kia Kaha New Zealand.

You are loved.

Samhain & those veils … part 2

Posted on October 31, 2016 by AlianaAlani

Earlier when I was writing the previous post, I was interrupted by a very insistent being … He’s small, he’s mighty, he’s fond of green, and he morphs whenever he wants to! He is also incredibly adamant about speaking. I want you to know here and now that I take absolutely NO responsibility for whatever it is he’s about to say. Whether you believe it or not is totally up to you. So, hang onto your proverbials, here he is.

“Sure and they won’t believe you. Not about the windows. We’ve been trying for ages. They like the fright and the candy. Maybe even the blood, but who wants to talk about that! And don’t go telling them who we really are. They won’t believe that either. They know nothing about the inner world, no matter what they say! They think we’re just wee gnomes sitting in the gardens. Leprechauns and fairies fluttering between the trees, hovering on the edges, smoking a bit of whatever. As if that’s all we had to do. As if that’s why we were here. They don’t remember the stories … sure and don’t they think it’s all myth, as if myth were nothing but a fable, a wee bit of fluff you talk about over some camp fire. I swear to you. They don’t even remember the Grand Cosmic Moment, and who doesn’t remember that one! And they’re running out of time, to believe I mean.”

“Because here’s the thing – when the veils thin to the point where there’s nothing between anything anymore (and that could be anytime soon, let me tell you), then what you find on the other side of thought (the current one that is) better be a thought or two that you’re thrilled with, that you’ve been dreaming about for like forever, that you love to bits, that brings joy and colour and life to your world – because if it isn’t, if it doesn’t, well then for sure for sure, you’ll find yourself in a dark place indeed. And that’s a place we can’t go to help even if we wanted to. You’ll be on your own, in a dark place, with no light. And it won’t be the cosmic void. It’ll just be a dark place, with no light. Trust me, there’s no fun in that at all at all at all.”

“SO, with that in mind, we’ll try this one more time (because we’ve grown a tad fond of you, not that we’d readily admit it you understand) – THERE ARE WINDOWS, THEY ARE HERE, especially on this night of nights when the veils are thin and worlds can meet in the hovering of an autumn moon. Would you just drop the candied fright for a moment and turn and say hello. The windows are waiting. And so are we. And on that note, God bless you all, and I’ll see you, I hope, on the flip side of tomorrow today.”