Sunday...

"There is little chance that meteorologists can solve the mysteries of weather until they gain an understanding of the mutual attraction of rain and weekends."

~ Arnot Sheppard

It's 6:30 Sunday morning, and I just finished tweaking my links page. Now I'm sipping some 'just past palatable' coffee, and typing this entry. Rain has been forecast. I love rain. Wish a steady falling rain was a constant. I know it would probably drive some batty, but not me. I dig everything about rain. The mood, the sound, the feel...the smell. I lived in La-la-land (Los Angeles for those unfamiliar with the nickname) for a number of years, and during that time I had people look at me like I was a Martian on more than one occasion. I'm from the South originally, so from time to time I would say things that were perfectly normal to me, but would be completely foreign to the West coast crowd. One of those things was "It smells like rain". Believe it or not, approaching rain has a specific nose to it. I don't know if it can be scientifically proven, but it does...damn it! Ask any southerner, and I'm pretty sure they will agree. As for the indigenous denizens of L.A. and the whole alien thing, they are the aliens not me. Living there was like being on another planet. Life in southern California will skew your sense of reality everywhere else. When I moved back to Georgia, it was like landing back on earth. Really. No kidding. Anyway, I moved back to a rainier place, rain is scheduled, and it better show up. I need the calm, and the creative energy. Rain always amps up my creative juices. Gotta love that.

I've been up for another sleepless night. Just one of many in this latest stretch. Adding a few things to my blog here...I've been playing. Having fun. I have another blog that I started awhile back, but I kind of slacked off on it. I may give it some 'mouth to mouth' at some point and revive it a bit, but I've kind of shifted the bulk of my blogging focus to this one. Needed a fresh start. There was a third blog centered around some of the reality shows I watch, but that fizzled pretty quickly. It became a huge time commitment (had to keep up with all of the shows...got difficult because I co-habitate with someone who hates reality shows), and no one really seemed to be on board in terms of 'dishing' (which is why I started it...to get other people to weigh in). Basically, I got tired of writing for myself. So, here I am writing a blog 'for myself'. LOL Of course I do write it to be read, but...enough about this.

I spent a bit of time on Crackbook, and then decided to do some looking around on the net. Was looking up images and I saw a picture that reminded me of one of my favorite artists, Gilbert Williams. That's one of his pieces above at the head of this entry. I want to call him the Thomas Kinkade of metaphysics, but that might come across as insulting(although Kinkade does have some pretty work). Kinkade is known as the "painter of light" because of his knack for creating the effect of...well, 'light' in his paintings. Williams kind of does that, too, but with a much more pleasing style. To me, anyway. I've always wanted one of his originals. (I've had a couple of Gilbert Williams calendars over the years that I picked up at my favorite metaphysical/crunchy granola store, "The Psychic Eye". Kind of a bummer that I can't shop there in person these days. It's in Sherman Oaks, California. Not really a doable commute.) Williams seems to have a pretty heavy connection to Lazaris. If you've never heard of Lazaris, a gentleman named Jach Pursel has been channeling the entity/ies since 1974. Pretty fascinating stuff, actually. Jach/Lazaris travels throughout the year giving seminars over weekends. A number of years ago (mid-90's), a co-worker and I decided to take in an 'Evening with Lazaris'. Having never experienced a channeler up close and personally, and being an extremely open minded person, I was very intrigued. The evening event was something like $60. Not really that much in the grand scheme. It was a new experience, and who knows? Maybe I was about to learn something profound. The "Evening" gathering was the first night of a whole weekend of seminar, and the weekends were held in hotels so it could all be in a contained central location. Since it was all Greek to me at that point, I wasn't interested in shelling out the big bucks for something that involved. Maybe I would've attended the evening, thought it to be a huge joke, and then been stuck with having shelled out a few hundred bucks for a big goose egg.

Just heard the Sunday paper hit the screen door...be right back...Decided to put on a fresh pot, too. Moving right along...

The hotel was one of the big ones down by LAX. Didn't really know what to expect in terms of the people attending. Was I going to see a bunch of hairy armpits and tin-foil hats? It turned out to be a wide cross-section of types. Truthfully, if it had been the hairy pit and foil hat crowd, it wouldn't have bothered me. lol The room itself wasn't huge. Probably one of the average sized banquet rooms. The back wall had a few tables of literature, tapes, etc. The sign-in table was by the door...where they usually are. There was a crescent moon shaped area of chairs with a small stage that had a comfy looking chair, a mic on a short 'chair height' stand, and a couple of chalkboards on it. There were several individuals who could only have been regulars sitting on the special meditation friendly chairs they had brought with them. It didn't surprise me that Lazaris was followed like the Grateful Dead by some. Everyone has their spiritual spot, and Lazaris was theirs. Lynda (my co-worker) and I grabbed a couple of seats near the front but off to the side. I wasn't 100% sure what to expect, but it was exciting. Then Jach Pursel entered. He wasn't very tall, kind of thick around the middle, and had a very nice energy about him. He sat in his chair and addressed all of us in a very calm and warm manner for a moment, and then he brought Lazaris out. I have to say that it was one of the strangest things I've ever witnessed. Jach's eyes were closed and he had this very strange voice coming out of him. It was very articulated and...I can't think of any way to describe it. I'll just say that it took me a few minutes to adjust to the voice before I actually heard what the voice was saying. It was amazing and wonderful. Whether or not you believe in the channeling of spirits/entities, how anyone could not be transfixed by what I witnessed is beyond me. I failed to mention before that Lynda and I had another coworker, Jane, who was a pretty hardcore Lazaris "follower". Jane had been attending weekends and studying Lazaris 'stuff' for years. If asked she was quite outspoken as to how Lazaris had changed her life. Jane and her best friend had shown up for the evening and were sitting a couple of seats away from us. I didn't notice her until the end. That's how riveted I was. Was Jach channeling an entity called Lazarus up there on the stage? That kind of became secondary for me. The oddness of the voice also ceased to be a distraction. It was what was being said. I think the thing that made me feel that Lazaris is more valid than other purported "Channelers" is that Lazaris wasn't hawking anything other than talking about each of us looking inwardly. Getting in touch with our Higher Self...with God/Goddess/All That Is. The best way to say it is I didn't feel like what Lazaris was talking about was harmful in any way. We weren't being told to follow anyone and do what they tell us to do, or to give them our worldly possessions. It was about light, love, and looking within ourselves to the energy within each of us. Am I huge Lazaris follower now? No. I do own some Lazaris material (a book and accompanying meditation about getting in touch with your Higher Self). That "Evening" was the biggest Lazaris related event I've done.

For the bulk of the evening, Jach/Lazaris was closed eyed and spoke not just with his voice, but with his hands. He always remained facing us, but with chalk in hand he would write quickly, neatly, and uniformly on the chalkboard behind him. Just fascinating. The evening also included a guided meditation, and it was then that I realized why some had brought special chairs for the occasion. The meditation was really great, and I felt incredible afterwards. At the end of the night, the money and time was well worth it. It was a positive experience. One I wouldn't mind repeating if the opportunity presents itself.

I just took a moment to re-read this entry for type-o's and such. It's funny how the brain shifts around. A picture that reminded me of Gilbert Williams' art, took me to the subject of Lazaris, which took me to my 'Lazaris story'. Guess the path was pretty linear...anyhoo... Think I'll hop off the computer and go work on my scarf. I'm crocheting a scarf. Winter will probably be over before I get to use it. Well, I guess there's always next year.