The Tower of Babylon

I gave some of my empty boxes to a friend of mine the other day. She is planning on moving sometime in the future. This tower is the current application of the boxes as created by her two grandsons. There are many other boxes than what is in this photo, but it is a work in progress.

Since the beginning of time humans have wanted to build things bigger and higher. The Empire State Building is a fine example of this. To reach the sky seems to be the goal. I find it interesting that mankind seems to think that to reach the sky means to build a sky scraper. I don't think that building structures that scrape the sky is bad. I just think that we need to also look at what will make our souls fly!

I think the kids have it right. Take a bunch of old boxes and build a tower fort! This allows the creative juices to flow like crazy, which only leads to broader and more expanded thinking. After all, the mind is supposed to be used to catch ideas and work with them. Once the mind closes, all reality becomes limited.

My invitation to everyone is to find something creative to do with old materials that can be reused. Just the other day we (this very same friend and I) used the bricks from the fire pit that we took out of my yard as the liner for the garden and rocks that houses the new fire pit area that we built. Old materials used in a new way is just a small part of what can save our dear planet.

Blessed Be
Trent
www.youtube.com/trentdeerhorn
www.deerhornshamanic.com

Presentation

It really is the key to how things are received.  I like to present myself well.  And usually I am, as a result, received well.  I also like to present the food I prepare in a creative and apetizing way.  This platter I made today for lunch for myself and my daughter, who was not feeling very well.  She is the type who, when not feeling well, will often not eat, sometimes for days.  Today, whether it was the energy work I did for her prior to lunch or the way it was laid out, she chowed down.  It was so good to see her enjoy good, healthy food.

Sometimes I am asked why it is that I prepare food in this way.  Well, if you have ever seen the movie "Spanglish" you will understand.  I may not be a gourmet cook in the same way as the character of the father in that movie, but I know how to make ordinary food at least look somewhat spectacular.  I like to create art out of vegetables and fruit and nuts etc. and even make it in the form of a fountain.  I think it tastes better that way.

No, I don't just do this for others.  When I was a kid I would make rivers and forests out of the cream and brown sugar in my island of oatmeal.  I think that it is a creative mind that can play with food.  That is why I have never discouraged my kids from playing with their food.  It boosts creativity and intelligence.  And yes, I still make things in my oatmeal.  I also sculpt my mashed potatoes and find interesting things to do with pudding.  I don't do it for others so much as I do it for myself.  Others, should they happen to be there and sharing the food, simply get to enjoy the presentation.

Blessed Be
Trent
www.deerhornshamanic.com

"Stay inside the lines!"

This is what my grade 1 teacher always yelled at us if we should happen to, God forbid, color outside the lines. She was one of those mean spirited people who, in this day and age, would probably be brought up on charges of child abuse. The ruler over the head if you should happen to drift off for a minute in class was standard fare. She would also not give permission to go to the washroom so there were many a child that ended up wetting their pants because they were forced to wait too long. Needless to say, I hope that there is a "special" place in the afterlife for people like her. She puts Professor Umbridge (that Nazi in pink in Harry Potter) to shame!

So when she would yell at me to "stay inside the lines" I would look at her innocently and say, "Oh, it's okay, actually, because I will be cutting out the shapes when I am done coloring." This would make her furious. My mother would try to explain to her that coloring inside the lines was not a prerequisite for life, let alone academia. The old battle axe would try to intimidate my mother into conforming, but my mother, in her infinite wisdom, would simply ask why it was such a life crisis for her to have me color inside the lines and to not let me cut the shapes out. I truly think that my mother was there to help teach this woman some flexibility. I was never so happy to be done with a grade than I was to be done with grade 1!

What my mother could see, and what this teacher could never see, was that what I was coloring was not the forms. I was coloring in the aura of the forms, as I would see them to be. As a child, and still now, I see the aura of things before I see the physical form. For most people this is apparently opposite to what they themselves experience. But my mother could see auras, so she knew what I was doing with the crayons. Even now in the art that I do, I show the aura colors and forms etc so that everything that I can possibly perceive is included. I think that coloring outside the lines makes for more creative minds. So feel free to do so yourself! Take a risk! Color outside the lines! Do whatever you want with that pencil crayon! As a matter of fact, just toss the coloring book aside and do it on a scrap piece of paper. It is very liberating. So be bold! Providence loves boldness!

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com