Dan's Birthday 2005

I had a wonderful birthday celebration in 2005 - in recognition of some of those who helped make it so, here's all about it:

http://www.whizzyrds.com/020805_Birthday.html

For my Birthday in 2005:

Just before I went to sleep this morning, my mother and father in-law Sally and Leonard
called and wished me a happy birthday. Thank you, Len & Sally!
(Yesterday was their 54th anniversary. Happy anniversary, you two love-birds!!)
PS: They sing a pretty good "happy birthday to you."

---

When I woke up this evening, I had a very nice happy birthday message from my
step-son Dan on my phone. Thank you, Dan!

---

Dinner...


(Click on the menu above to go to Catch Thirty-Five's web site.)

I had the Catch 35 crab bisque to start, followed by the blackened mahi-mahi
with andouille sausage etoufèe sauce. Saren had the seared Chilean sea bass
with Hawaiian ginger-scallion sauce. With dinner, we each had a glass of the
Charles Klug Napa Valley Merlot wine, which is a heavy red wine. Dessert
Was Signature Key Lime pie for Saren & the AWESOME Triple-threat chocolate
cheese cake for me. The food was OUTSTANDING.
(Of course we each had generous samples of the other's desserts!)
Catch Thirty-Five was kind enough to give me the cheese cake on the house
for my birthday. Thank you!

(Thank you to our friend Tom for the gift certificate to Catch Thirty-Five!!!)
A just as big THANK YOU to my beautiful wife Saren for everything else!

I was wearing my flying fish Hawaiian shirt from our
Florida coast tour, with black leather jacket. Saren
was wearing her purple shirt and funky necklace from Chico's,
and we both looked very festive and hopeful for the coming
Spring weather.

My brother Jeff and then my sister Lana and her daughter Ariel called me
while we were at dinner to wish me happy birthday! Thank you, Jeff, Lana, and Ariel!!

---

After Dinner:


(Click on the picture to go to the Quigley's web page)

We went to Quigley's Irish Pub and had Bailey's & coffee while I had a big
La Gloria Cubana Serie R cigar.


(Click on the cigar to see more about these.)

The La Gloria Serie R is a seven inch by 54 ring guage. I had the natural
wrapper rather than the maduro.

While we were at the pub, there were quite a few people there speaking in
British accents and drinking Guinness Stout. We almost felt like we were
on an evening out somewhere in Ireland or England. Everyone was cheerful and
having a good time. We reminisced about visiting friends and helping our friend
Holly move into her new town home. My sister Lori and her fiancè John called
while we were here to wish me a happy birthday! Thank you, Lori & John!

---

After Quigley's, it was time to come home and tell you all about it...

Thank you to my friends, Art Paul, Eric, and Kat for the birthday e-mails.
Thank you to my brother Larry & his wife Patty for the cool birthday presents like
the "What The Bleep" book and everything. Thank you to my Honey Saren & our
friend Tom for the Awesome Elvis cards, and to Tom also for the "Outlaw Bible
of American Poetry".
(I'm reading a little bit of that every day, it's got some very interesting work in it.)

My friend Luis & his wife Cece will be celebrating with me this coming Saturday, and
We had an awesome Japanese steak & shrimp-flipper dinner at Yao Shue's this past
Saturday with our friends, Paulie & Cheree. (It was Cheree's Birthday on Feb. 7th)
After dinner we went back to their house and sang karaoke until way late.
Happy birthday, Cheree! Saren & I both had a great time.

Thank you to all those of you who called with kind birthday wishes and
who I wasn't able to think of at the moment I was creating this page!

It's all the wonderful friends and family like you guys that make each year
worth reaching. I hope we all have many more years in each others' lives.

Dan Stafford

I'm sure there are some of you that I've not gotten on the page, but thank you to all of you!

Dan

By Your Calculation...

The silence of beautiful voices haunts me like a cold winter night,
The stars above call without speaking,
And the faery ring around the Moon is at a quarter this sky,
Just a few hours from the rise of a brilliant Winter Sun.

Still you are swearing black-hearted and frigid,
So busy counting every snowflake in the pile,
Certain your wretched gold must lie beneath the bank.
And the glare of your Antarctic indifference may just kill us all.

Put a good woman away out of work in a dark night,
Silence the warmth of clever-jeweled voices,
For the pennies that lie upon that now bare floor shine to your fingers,
And the despairing silence is the easier course in this blizzard...

By your calculation.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 01/28/2005

Author's comments:
Barnes & Noble corporate has eliminated their Events Coordinator position,
and canceled all events at specific stores that were not meeting an un-specified
revenue volume. Of course it doesn't matter that the store where Plainfield Live Poetry
reads is in a subdivision that is currently building five thousand new homes within three miles of it,
or that they had a wonderful person in the position. I just got the news the day after one of
the best readings we've had, with things poised to begin growing. I'm choosing to look at it
as an opportunity to find a better venue, but it does chafe a bit, and I am holding hopes
that the gal that was handling events there gets a new gig soon.

January's Sign...

I heard it on the radio as the tiny snow flakes fell,
Just as she was singing "Kiss Me," the D.J. broke the news,
Something I can only wish I saw...

The tiny lake effect flakes were dancing,
Road humming under my tires about going home,
Sun was shining behind me East through the thinning clouds...

Cold and clearing,
Salt spray painting my windshield like fog,
I was just about to sing along with the chorus...

"I wish we hadn't missed it,"
She said in her best smooth radio voice,
"...I hear they're very, very rare..."

"The beautiful snow rainbow everyone's been calling about."

Some people complain about January in Chicago,
I just wish I hadn't missed it.

January's sign...

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 01/27/2005

Author's Comments:
True story this morning, listening to The Light, http://www.WLIT.com

To Be A Child of Muses...

Who else could see a dust speck floating in a ray of sunshine,
Single it out and see it as a star in some Lilliputian universe of dreams,
Speak it's name upon the wind even as it was slipped into your whisper ear?

In the shadow mind with your heart-eye open to listen...

Who could see a yellow flower growing alongside tarmac at seventy five,
Tell the whole world of every breeze and raindrop each petal touched,
Whisper out every secret of a life lived in one place all in a single springtime like a child?

Swimming the current of sentimentality like a dolphin racing a great white clipper ship...

Who else could stand upon a flying thistle seed,
Brush a kiss upon the cheek of the amber Moon,
Then spin a pillow story around the crown of a young child well loved?

Seeing strength in the keenest eye of make-believe Paradises...

Yet somehow these velvet visions become real,
Watercolored upon the pages of history where only Love wins in the end,
Breathed out in insight-guided whispers of inner-speak...

Simple things in the world of a child of Muses.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 01/25/2005

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to all the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.

It Was A Fish Floater...


© 01/22/2005 by Daniel A. Stafford

Stars and Stones...

Is it something tribal or just a hint of survival,
A place in the heart so dark and lonely only God could fathom,
That black hole of a missing soul gone too far from heaven,
Just a dream I see when a certain stone tells me to believe,
Wrapped up in silk and flying in the future,
Dancing like a dervish under my silly skin,
A dream of Neptune for children of Uranus, Saturn rising,
Garnets and amethyst in the night,
Polished and shining and forever recorded,
We were poetry whose page burned,
An ancient ritual of the Spring's return,
Whispered in a far too brief dream,
Like the fallen leaf turning scarlet,
Too bright and pretty for forever to bear,
Still, we once were there.

It was written in the stars...

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 01/14/2005

Celebratory Lights...

In the January darkness cold breath is rising away,
God's house is full of candles tonight,
I'll never stop looking up at them,
Stars up on high crisp and clear,
These celebratory lights,
A season of rest,
Sleeping frost,
Silent.


AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 01/14/2005

A Majority of Angels...

Wings aren't all they've been cracked up to be,
Some darlings caught between moments whisper softly,
Dear prayers rise up like smoke in the night.

How many hearts really just want everyone and everything to be alright?

The majority of Angels stand between human heartbeats,
Just one second away, just all around you,
Looking out through the carefully-labeled toughness mask.

It's something you have to count with insight.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 01/13/2005

The Quiet "Why?"

Don't whisper that, or even hint.
It's no place to shine the sun.

I'm half-believing, half fearing.
Unable to admit to myself that, that...

My world isn't that way, it just isn't.
Everything will be just fine, in time.

Don't whisper that, or even hint.
It's no place to shine the sun.

I'm half-believing, half fearing.
Unable to admit to myself that, that...

I refuse to see the reflection off of tin foil hats.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 01/13/2005

Opalescent Aquamarine...

A soft color reminiscent of sea foam,
Gilt with gold-flecked froth and warm as summer rain,
Just as cool as perfection while I float in it's effervescent hue.

Vision of smooth pastel translucence...

I would wear it in a jewel or paint it delicately upon my walls,
Here within my heart I swim in it's incredible peaceful beauty,
I feel the Earth's embrace upon seeing that color.

Warm sands of time washed within it...

Like returning to a tidal pool in a primordial time,
This color is the next to embrace the subconscious of the world,
A gentle persistent splash of healing and clear knowledge.

The ultimate color of teeming life...

The color of unconditional love,
Unending yet always quenched thirst to know,
It is my gently rolling spiritual sea.



AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 01/09/2005

Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to all the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.

Words Of Water...

It was a black wall moving fast,
Surging upon the beach at 500 miles per hour,
Sweeping like the broom of God,
Amidst all the wailing and cacophonous roar,
Driving it's own wind of change.

I could write a thousand words on each of one hundred fifty thousand deaths.

Instead I write these few words on another current,
That after the blackness swirled back out to sea,
Hundreds and then thousands and then millions gave,
Some going and some sharing,
Incredible need reaches incredible numbers of hearts.

There is a wall in another sea greater than a tsunami.

From deep in the Ocean of Hearts a great wave arises,
Lapping the shores of grief over and over,
Common people and un-common people alike,
Hands and hearts extended amidst a sea of tears,
Is a groundswell of sympathy and kindness and compassion.

Words of water indeed...

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 01/08/2005

Oklahoman Minister Speaks Out:

Dr. Robin Meyers, Oklahoma University Peace Rally, November 14, 2004:

"As some of you know, I am minister of Mayflower Congregational Church in Oklahoma City, an Open and Affirming, Peace and Justice church in northwest Oklahoma City, and professor of Rhetoric at Oklahoma City University. But you would most likely have encountered me on the pages of the Oklahoma Gazette, where I have been a columnist for six years, and hold the record for the most number of angry letters to the editor.

Tonight, I join ranks of those who are angry, because I have watched as the faith I love has been taken over by fundamentalists who claim to speak for Jesus, but whose actions are anything but Christian. We've heard a lot lately about so-called "moral values" as having swung the election to President Bush. Well, I'm a great believer in moral values, but we need to have a discussion, all over this country, about exactly what constitutes a moral value. I mean what are we talking about?

Because we don't get to make them up as we go along, especially not if we are people of faith. We have an inherited tradition of what is right and wrong, and moral is as moral does. Let me give you just a few of the reasons why I take issue with those in power who claim moral values are on their side:

When you start a war on false pretenses, and then act as if your deceptions are justified because you are doing God's will, and that your critics are either unpatriotic or lacking in faith, there are some of us who have given our lives to teaching and preaching the faith who believe that this is not only not moral, but immoral.

When you live in a country that has established international rules for waging a just war, build the United Nations on your own soil to enforce them, and then arrogantly break the very rules you set down for the rest of the world, you are doing something immoral.

When you claim that Jesus is the Lord of your life, and yet fail to acknowledge that your policies ignore his essential teaching, or turn them on their head (you know, Sermon on the Mount stuff like that we must never return violence for violence and that those who live by the sword will die by the sword), you are doing something immoral.

When you act as if the lives of Iraqi civilians are not as important as the lives of American soldiers, and refuse to even count them, you are doing something immoral.

When you find a way to avoid combat in Vietnam, and then question the patriotism of someone who volunteered to fight, and came home a hero, you are doing something immoral.

When you ignore the fundamental teachings of the gospel, which says that the way the strong treat the weak is the ultimate ethical test, by giving tax breaks to the wealthiest among us so the strong will get stronger and the weak will get weaker, you are doing something immoral.

When you wink at the torture of prisoners, and deprive so-called "enemy combatants" of the rules of the Geneva Convention, which your own country helped to establish and insists that other countries follow, you are doing something immoral.

When you claim that the world can be divided up into the good guys and the evil doers, slice up your own nation into those who are with you, (or with the terrorists?), and then launch a war which enriches your own friends and seizes control of the oil to which we are addicted, instead of helping us to kick the habit, you are doing something immoral.

When you fail to veto a single spending bill, but ask us to pay for a war with no exit strategy and no end in sight, creating an enormous deficit that hangs like a great millstone around the necks of our children, you are doing something immoral.

When you cause most of the rest of the world to hate a country that was once the most loved country in the world, and act like it doesn't matter what others think of us, only what God thinks of you, you have done something immoral.

When you use hatred of homosexuals as a wedge issue to turn out record numbers of evangelical voters, and use the Constitution as a tool of discrimination, you are doing something immoral.

When you favor the death penalty, and yet claim to be a follower of Jesus, who said an eye for an eye was the old way, not the way of the kingdom, you are doing something immoral.

When you dismantle countless environmental laws designed to protect the earth which is God's gift to us all, so that the corporations that bought you and paid for your favors will make higher profits while our children breathe dirty air and live in a toxic world, you have done something immoral. The earth belongs to the Lord, not Halliburton.

When you claim that our God is bigger than their God, and that our killing is righteous, while theirs is evil, we have begun to resemble the enemy we claim to be fighting, and that is immoral. We have met the enemy, and the enemy is us.

When you tell people that you intend to run and govern as a "compassionate conservative", using the word which is the essence of all religious faith-compassion, and then show no compassion for anyone who disagrees with you, and no patience with those who cry to you for help, you are doing something immoral.

When you talk about Jesus constantly, who was a healer of the sick, but do nothing to make sure that anyone who is sick can go to see a doctor, even if she doesn't have a penny in her pocket, you are doing something immoral.

When you put judges on the bench who are racist, and will set women back a hundred years, and when you surround yourself with preachers who say gays ought to be killed, you are doing something immoral.

I'm tired of people thinking that because I'm a Christian, I must be a supporter of President Bush, or that because I favor civil rights and gay rights I must not be a person of faith. I'm tired of people saying that I can't support the troops but oppose the war.

I heard that when I was your age, when the Vietnam War was raging. We knew that that war was wrong, and you know that this war is wrong, the only question is how many people are going to die before these make-believe Christians are removed from power?

This country is bankrupt. The war is morally bankrupt. The claim of this administration to be Christian is bankrupt. The only people who can turn things around are people like you, young people who are just beginning to wake up to what is happening to them. It's your country to take back. It's your faith to take back. It's your future to take back.

Don't be afraid to speak out. Don't back down when your friends begin to tell you that the cause is righteous and that the flag should be wrapped around the cross, while the rest of us keep our mouths shut. Real Christians take chances for peace. So do real Jews, and real Muslims, and real Hindus, and real Buddhists, so do all the faith traditions of the world at their heart believe one thing: life is precious. Every human being is precious.

Arrogance is the opposite of faith. Greed is the opposite of charity. And believing that one has never made a mistake is the mark of a deluded man, not a man of faith. "War is the greatest failure of the human race" and thus the greatest failure of faith.

There's an old rock and roll song, whose lyrics say it all: War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing. And what is the dream of the prophets? That we should study war no more, that we should beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks. Who would Jesus bomb, indeed? How many wars does it take to know that too many people have died? What if they gave a war and nobody came? Maybe one day we will find out.

Time to march again my friends. Time to commit acts of civil disobedience. Time to sing, and to pray, and refuse to participate in the madness. My generation finally stopped a tragic war. You can, too!"

Call Status as of 02:00 CST 01/06/2005 - Senators:

Akaka, Daniel - D-HI: Mailbox Full
Corzine, Jon - D-NJ: Mailbox Full
Byrd, robert - D-WV: Mailbox Full
Feingold, Russel - D-WI: Mailbox Full
Feinstein, Dianne - D-CA: No voice mail
Baucus, Max - D-MT: Left Message
Cantwell, Maria - D-WA: Mailbox Full
Carper, Thomas - D-DE: Left message
Dayton, Mark - D-MN: Mailbox Full
Chafee, Lincoln - R-RI: Mailbox Full
Graham, Bob - D-FL: Ring-no-answer
Biden, Joseph - D-DE: Mailbox Full
Dodd, Christopher - D-CT: Mailbox Full
Bingaman, Jeff - D-NM: Mailbox Full
Clinton, Hillary - D-NY: Mailbox Full
Boxer, Barbara - D-CA: Multiple busy signals
Dorgan, Byron - D-ND: Left message
Breaux, John - D-LA: No voice mail
Durbin, Richard - D-IL: No voice mail
Harkin, Tom - D-IA: Mailbox Full
Conrad, Kent - D-ND: Left Message
Leahy, Patrick - D-VT: Mailbox Full
Nelson, Bill - D-FL: Mailbox Full
Levin, Carl - D-MI: Mailbox Full
Nelson, Ben - D-NE: Left message
Lieberman, Joseph - D-CT: Mailbox Full
Snowe, Olympia - R-ME: Left message
Inouye, Daniel - D-HI: Left message
Lincoln, Blanche - D-AR: Left message
Pryor, Mark - D-AR: Left message
Reed, Jack - D-RI: Left message
Stabenow, Debbie - D-MI: Mailbox Full
Johnson, Tim - D-SD: Left message
Reid, Harry - D-NV: Left message
Kennedy, Edward - D-MA: No voice mail
Rockefeller, John - D-WV: Left message
Kohl, Herb - D-WI: Mailbox Full
Mikulski, Barbara - D-MD: Mailbox Full
Sarbanes, Paul - D-MD: Ring-no-answer
Landrieu, Mary - D-LA: Mailbox Full
Schumer, Charles - D-NY: Ring-no-answer
Lautenberg, Frank - D-NJ: Mailbox Full
Murray, Patty - D-WA: Mailbox Full
Wyden, Ron - D-OR: Mailbox Full

A Single Voice...

Will there be a sound,
The peal of thunder is just upon the verge,
Lightning flashing all about,
The cracked bell tolling wildly in the gale,
Ghosts swarm the harbor and ride a swift steed,
All about the East headstones twitch and Earth rumbles,
Spinning, spinning so that smoke rises,
Amidst the falling snow,
Shall we hear a single voice?

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 01/05/2005

Calling all Senators to Investigate Voting Fraud in the 2004 Election:

· Voting irregularities have been reported across the country
· Allegations of Voter Intimidation have been filed against members
of both major parties: This is a non-partisan issue
· Ensure that every vote is accounted for and counted
· In a democracy, one flawed election is one too many

For more information visit www.illinoisprogressives.org or contact
info@illinoisprogressives.org or call 309-838-0880

Tomorrow is the day. Congress will meet to either certify the electoral vote or will be forced to debate allegations of vote fraud in the past election. January 6th, 2005, will be a pivotal moment in American history. The sanctity of our vote and the voice of the American People in our political process is gravely at risk. Please add your voice to the request for a full investigation into voting fraud in the 2004 election. It takes one member of the House and one Senator to force a debate and investigation. At least fourteen members of the House will stand. Will ONE Senator stand? Now is the critical time to tell them all to. Please call as many as you can.

Akaka, Daniel - (D - HI) (202) 224-6361	Bunning, Jim - (R - KY) (202) 224-4343	Cornyn, John - (R - TX) (202) 224-2934	Ensign, John - (R - NV) (202) 224-6244
Alexander, Lamar - (R - TN) (202) 224-4944	Burns, Conrad - (R - MT) (202) 224-2644	Corzine, Jon - (D - NJ) (202) 224-4744	Enzi, Michael - (R - WY) (202) 224-3424
Allard, Wayne - (R – CO) (202) 224-5941	Byrd, Robert - (D - WV) (202) 224-3954	Craig, Larry - (R - ID) (202) 224-2752	Feingold, Russell - (D - WI) (202) 224-5323
Allen, George - (R - VA) (202) 224-4024	Campbell, Ben - (R - CO) (202) 224-5852	Crapo, Michael - (R - ID) (202) 224-6142	Feinstein, Dianne -(D - CA) (202) 224-3841
Baucus, Max - (D - MT) (202) 224-2651	Cantwell, Maria - (D - WA) (202) 224-3441	Daschle, Thomas - (D - SD) (202) 224-2321	Fitzgerald, Peter - (R - IL) (202) 224-2854
Bayh, Evan - (D - IN) (202) 224-5623	Carper, Thomas - (D - DE) (202) 224-2441	Dayton, Mark - (D - MN) (202) 224-3244	Frist, Bill - (R - TN) (202) 224-3344
Bennett, Robert - (R - UT) (202) 224-5444	Chafee, Lincoln - (R - RI) (202) 224-2921	DeWine, Mike - (R - OH) (202) 224-2315	Graham, Bob - (D - FL) (202) 224-3041
Biden, Joseph - (D – DE) (202) 224-5042	Chambliss, Saxby - (R - GA) (202) 224-3521	Dodd, Christopher - (D - CT) (202) 224-2823	Graham, Lindsey - (R -SC) (202) 224-5972
Bingaman, Jeff - (D - NM) (202) 224-5521	Clinton, Hillary - (D - NY) (202) 224-4451	Dole, Elizabeth - (R - NC) (202) 224-6342	Grassley, Chuck - (R - IA) (202) 224-3744
Bond, Christopher -(R -MO) (202) 224-5721	Cochran, Thad - (R - MS) (202) 224-5054	Domenici, Pete - (R - NM) (202) 224-6621	Gregg, Judd - (R - NH) (202) 224-3324
Boxer, Barbara - (D - CA) (202) 224-3553	Coleman, Norm - (R - MN) (202) 224-5641	Dorgan, Byron - (D - ND) (202) 224-2551	Hagel, Chuck - (R - NE) (202) 224-4224
Breaux, John - (D - LA) (202) 224-4623	Collins, Susan - (R - ME) (202) 224-2523	Durbin, Richard - (D - IL) (202) 224-2152	Harkin, Tom - (D - IA) (202) 224-3254
Brownback, Sam - (R - KS) (202) 224-6521	Conrad, Kent - (D - ND) (202) 224-2043	Edwards, John - (D - NC) (202) 224-3154	Hatch, Orrin - (R - UT) (202) 224-5251

Hollings, Ernest - (D - SC) (202) 224-6121	Leahy, Patrick - (D - VT) (202) 224-4242	Nelson, Bill - (D - FL) (202) 224-5274	Shelby, Richard - (R - AL) (202) 224-5744
Hutchison, Kay - (R - TX) (202) 224-5922	Levin, Carl - (D - MI) (202) 224-6221	Nelson, Ben - (D - NE) (202) 224-6551	Smith, Gordon - (R - OR) (202) 224-3753
Inhofe, James - (R - OK) (202) 224-4721	Lieberman, Joseph - (D - CT) (202) 224-4041	Nickles, Don - (R - OK) (202) 224-5754	Snowe, Olympia - (R - ME) (202) 224-5344
Inouye, Daniel - (D - HI) (202) 224-3934	Lincoln, Blanche - (D - AR) (202) 224-4843	Pryor, Mark - (D - AR) (202) 224-2353	Specter, Arlen - (R - PA) (202) 224-4254
Jeffords, James - (I - VT) (202) 224-5141	Lott, Trent - (R - MS) (202) 224-6253	Reed, Jack - (D - RI) (202) 224-4642	Stabenow, Debbie-(D - MI) (202) 224-4822
Johnson, Tim - (D - SD) (202) 224-5842	Lugar, Richard - (R - IN) (202) 224-4814	Reid, Harry - (D - NV) (202) 224-3542	Stevens, Ted - (R - AK) (202) 224-3004
Kennedy, Edward - (D - MA) (202) 224-4543	McCain, John - (R - AZ) (202) 224-2235	Roberts, Pat - (R - KS) (202) 224-4774	Sununu, John - (R - NH) (202) 224-2841
Kerry, John - (D - MA) (202) 224-2742	McConnell, Mitch - (R - KY) (202) 224-2541	Rockefeller, John -(D- WV) (202) 224-6472	Talent, James - (R - MO) (202) 224-6154
Kohl, Herb - (D - WI) (202) 224-5653	Mikulski, Barbara - (D -MD) (202) 224-4654	Santorum, Rick - (R - PA) (202) 224-6324	Thomas, Craig - (R - WY) (202) 224-6441
Kyl, Jon - (R - AZ) (202) 224-4521	Miller, Zell - (D - GA) (202) 224-3643	Sarbanes, Paul - (D - MD) (202) 224-4524	Voinovich, George-(R-OH) (202) 224-3353
Landrieu, Mary - (D - LA) (202) 224-5824	Murkowski, Lisa - (R - AK) (202) 224-6665	Schumer, Charles - (D-NY) (202) 224-6542	Warner, John - (R - VA) (202) 224-2023
Lautenberg, Frank - (D - NJ) (202) 224-3224	Murray, Patty - (D - WA) (202) 224-2621	Sessions, Jeff - (R - AL) (202) 224-4124	Wyden, Ron - (D - OR) (202) 224-5244

Call Congressional Operator Toll Free: 1-800-839-5276

- posted by Daniel @ 1:39 AM

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

In a nation where our vote doesn't count, where all that matters is who can control the voting equipment and how people are allowed to "vote", the environment will only receive lip service.

I have been forced by unanswered questions to devote my time to this issue. We must have a voting process that allows all American citizens the right to to vote, and accurately counts and reports that vote. Nothing less is acceptable.

It is my firm belief that if the true voice of the people is heard, environmental issues will get far more of the attention they deserve.

In the interest of hearing the true voice of this nations' people, with their vast impact on environmental issues globally, I ask that those who are concerned about environmental quality and energy policy and all such issues educate themselves on the voting process and the current situation with the US vote. This issue has tremendous ramifications for environmental issues for many decades to come.

Please objectively investigate all sides to this and do what you truly believe is right in the light of that knowledge.

Sincerely,

Dan Stafford.

Thrivin' 2005!

The air is charged with expectation,
Wonder at what might be,
Liquid silver future,
Shimmering...about to take shape.

What vision lands,
It's all in what we see,
Before the clock strikes twelve we reminisce,
Remember all the vanished ones.

As the fateful tick tocks,
The lights go brightly high into the new night,
Cheers and wide open possibility,
Infinite maybe vastly before us.

Let us walk across the threshold of time,
Carrying only visions of joy in our hearts,
As we become what is still to be...

What we choose we will see.

AquarianM

© 12/31/2004 By Daniel A. Stafford

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2005!!!!!

From: Christina Kraich-Rogers
Date: Thu Dec 30, 2004 8:33 pm
Subject: joint call for healing and peace

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
INDIGENOUS ELDERS' CALL:

This is a call for Global Four Directions Prayer for
Peace, a 24 hour effort to end the war and global violence. We are asking all the leaders and peacemakers to join us in this effort.

The start date will be 12 noon, December 31, starting in the Eastern time zones, and continuing through January 1.

On September 11, 2001, as a result of the tragedy, we were all one people and it is time for us to come back together with one heart, one mind, one prayer, one intention to create a more peaceful world for the generations to come and all our relations.

This activation comes as a request from some of the Four Directions Elders and Medicine People as communicated to Grace Smith Yellow Hammer.

We are requesting spiritual leaders all over the globe to call their people together in their sacred spaces so that all people, all colors, all directions are included in this effort.

With all the devastation of war and escalation of terror and environmental harm on the planet, it is obvious why we need to come together at this time.

For those of you who will understand this, there was recently a quarter moon in the morning with two stars within the crescent. This along with the recent Venus alignment, is a potent call for an activation because it signifies both danger and opportunity.

We hope you will be inspired to join us in this call. We are simply asking all people of all races, all faiths, all traditions to pray for peace and healing in whatever way is appropriate during this time and to remember that as we link with one heart, one mind, one intention we can heal the
world one step at a time.

May peace prevail on Earth,

Sincerely,

Grace Smith Yellow Hammer , Dineh [Navajo]
yhammer@cybertrails.com

Grandfather William Commanda, Annishinabe [Ojibway]
Keeper of the Seven Fires Prophecies Belt
www.circleofallnations.com

Grandfather Martin Gasheseoma
Traditional Hopi Elder

Chief Arvol Looking horse {Lakota]
www.wolakota.org

Venerable Bardor Tulku Rinpoche [Tibetan Buddhist]
Karma Triyana Dharmachakra
www.kagyu.org

Roberto Borrero, United Confederation of Taino People
mayohuacan@yahoo.com

Grandmother Sara Smith
Six Nations of the Grand River, Mohawk Nation, Turtle Clan
Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Ontario Canada
nyaweh@sympatico.ca

Grandfather Henry Niese
Eagle Voice Center , North Carolina

Chief Tom Dostou, Waban-aki ( Eastern- Land)Aylnu, Bear
Clan, Midewin
tmpdostou@yahoo.com

Reverend Dr Dave Randle, Executive Director, The Whale
Center
whale@globalhealing.net

World Peace Prayer Society
www.worldpeace.org

Erma Pounds
Director, Arizona Karma Thegsum Choling (KTC) [Buddhist]

Reverend Charles Gibbs
United Religions Initiative
www.uri.org

Reverend Ilfra Halley
Center for the Living Earth
ilfra@wamc.org

Reverend Betsy Stang, Executive Director
The Wittenberg Center for Alternative Resources Inc
www.wittenbergcenter.com
bebird@aol.com

Elizabeth Stinson, Director Peace & Justice Center of Sonoma
County
Santa Rosa, California
http://www.peaceandjusticesonomaco.org/

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clarke survives devastation

AP

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lanka's best-known resident, science-fiction writer and visionary Arthur C. Clarke, said yesterday he and his family were safe, but regretted the lack of a warning system in his adopted home of Sri Lanka. Sunday's massive earthquake and tsunami killed at least 22,799 people in the South Asian nation and injured another 8,815, according to official tolls. Some 4,059 remained missing and nearly one million people were homeless.

"I am enormously relieved that my family and household have escaped the ravages of the sea that suddenly invaded most parts of coastal Sri Lanka, leaving a trail of destruction," said Clarke, the author of 2001: A. Space Odyssey.

Originally from Somerset, England, Clarke came to Sri Lanka, a small island country of 19 million people off India's southern tip, for underwater diving in 1954. Two years later he made the tropical island his home.

"There is much to be done in both short and long terms for Sri Lanka to raise its head from this blow from the seas," said Clarke in an e-mail to friends seen by The Associated Press.

"Among other things, the country needs to improve its technical and communications facilities so that effective early warnings can help minimize losses in future disasters."

Clarke, 87, said that in his first book on Sri Lanka, The Reefs of Taprobane written in 1957, there was a reference to a "tidal wave reaching the Galle harbour," although it was not part of the plot. Galle, in southern Sri Lanka, is the country's second-largest town. It was badly hit by Sunday's disaster.

Clarke predicted space travel before rockets were even tested and foretold computers wreaking havoc with modern life when modems and PCs were not household words.

His 2001: A. Space Odyssey, loved by dreamers and scientists since it appeared as a novel and a movie in 1968, was just one of scores of fiction and non-fiction works produced in a career that began in 1959. In 1997, he produced another bestseller with the sequel to 2001 - 3001: The Final Odyssey.

Clarke said Sunday's tsunami damaged a diving school he runs and his two beach bungalows, but he reported no personal human loss.

"Many others were not so fortunate," he said.

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/Entertainment/2004/12/31/802764-sun.html

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A Soft White Miracle...

A simple write of slight import some might say,
Just a little tiny miracle upon Christmas Day,
Beautiful lights everywhere, everywhere,
Wonderful dinner and festive decorations,
Songs sweet and of good cheer,
Wishes for all the world to be able to share,
This is the Common Man's dream everywhere,
That we all might stand in peace and harmony and caring.

Outside it was the hush of a dark night upon Christmas Eve,
Stars twinkling bright and pretty in a clear sky,
Chill to near zero and breath rising in the only cloud to sky,
Grass bare all across the land,
The Weatherman said Santa would need wheels this year,
Nor a speck of white expected.

Three days of soft-spoken prayer,
Three days of asking God for just enough,
Three days of asking that it not take from another's due.

Who would answer this Christmas wish,
Weatherman or God?

There was a quarter inch by Christmas morning,
Grass peeking from under the blanket,
Soft flakes falling all day and all Christmas night,
Outside the decorated windows and covering the flat iced pond,
White upon the pine trees and bare oaks,
Millions of tiny flakes like Christmas lights under street lamps.

God spoke softly in 2004 my friends,
We should all just listen.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 12/28/2004

Author's Comments:
Every word of this is true. There was to be no snow. I prayed for three days. There was snow.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whispers of Grace...

I see my universe as filled with joy,
I have faith and vision my needs are met,
All I desire in peace and harmony,
I am given faith and riches as is the Divine plan,
According to the law of spirit,
I see truth before me,
I am the wind,
Free,
Whole,
At peace,
In health,
In joy,
In wisdom,
Loving,
Kind,
Lucky,
Caring,
Intelligent,
Sovereign,
Blessed,
Guided by Divinity,
Intuitively receptive,
Filled with faith,
I stand upon the grace of God,
Claiming the life that is mine by Divine right,
My foundation of harmony and peace is unbreakable,
This is the tree and the root of my life,
That I may fulfill my part in the Divine plan.

© 12/04/2004 by Daniel A. Stafford

The Game Of Life And How To Play It - Excerpts from "The Wisdom of Florence Scovel Shinn" (This is NOT a commercial of any kind. It is about a different approach to life. Look past the religious references to the concepts. I know many of you have watched "What The Bleep Do We Know" - this is a path to concrete use of those principles in daily life.) Most people consider life a battle, but it is not a battle, it is a game. It is a game, however, which cannot be played successfully without the knowledge of spiritual law, and the Old and the New Testaments give the rules of the game with wonderful clearness. Jesus Christ taught that it was a great game of Giving and Receiving. "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." This means that whatever man sends out in word or deed, will return to him; what he gives, he will receive. If he gives hate, he will receive hate; if he gives love, he will receive love; if he gives criticism, he will receive criticism; if he lies he will be lied to; if he cheats he will be cheated. We are taught also, that the imaging faculty plays a leading part in the game of life. "Keep thy heart (or imagination) with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." (Prov. 4:23.) This means that what man images, sooner or later externalizes in his affairs, I know of a man who feared a certain disease. It was a very rare disease and difficult to get, but he pictured it continually and read about it until it manifested in his body, and he died, the victim of distorted imagination. So we see, to play successfully the game of life, we must train the imaging faculty. A person with an imaging faculty trained to image only good, brings into his life "every righteous desire of his heart" - health, wealth, love, friends, perfect self-expression, his highest ideals. The imagination has been called, "The Scissors of The Mind," and it is ever cutting, cutting, day by day, the pictures man sees there, and sooner or later he meets his own creations in his outer world. To train the imagination successfully, man must understand the workings of his mind. The Greeks said: "Know Thyself." There are three departments of the mind, the subconscious, conscious and superconscious. The subconscious, is simply power, without direction. It is like steam or electricity, and it does what it is directed to do; it has no power of induction. Whatever man feels deeply or images clearly, is impressed upon the subconscious mind, and carried out in minutest detail. For example: a woman I know, when a child, always "made believe" she was a widow. She "dressed up" in black clothes and wore a long black veil, and people thought she was very clever and amusing. She grew up and married a man with whom she was deeply in love. In a short time he died and she wore black and a sweeping veil for many years. The picture of herself as a widow was impressed upon the subconscious mind, and in due time worked itself out, regardless of the havoc created. The conscious mind has been called mortal or carnal mind. It is the human mind and sees life as it appears to be. It sees death, disaster, sickness, poverty and limitation of every kind, and it impresses the subconscious. The superconscious mind is the God Mind within each man, and is the realm of perfect ideas. In it, is the "perfect pattern" spoken of by Plato, The Divine Design; for there is a Divine Design for each person. "There is a place that you are to fill and no one else can fill, something you are to do, which no one else can do." There is a perfect picture of this in the superconscious mind. It usually flashes across the conscious as an unattainable ideal - "something too good to be true." In reality it is man's true destiny (or destination) flashed to him from the Infinite Intelligence which is within himself. Many people, however, are in ignorance of their true destinies and are striving for things and situations which do not belong to them, and would only bring failure and dissatisfaction if attained. For example: A woman came to me and asked me to "speak the word" that she would marry a certain man with whom she was very much in love. (She called him A. B.) I replied that this would be a violation of spiritual law, but that I would speak the word for the right man, the "divine selection," the man who belonged to her by divine right. I added, "If A. B. is the right man you can't lose him, and if he isn't, you will receive his equivalent." She saw A. B. frequently but no headway was made in their friendship. One evening she called, and said, "Do you know, for the last week, A. B. hasn't seemed so wonderful to me." I replied, "Maybe he is not the divine selection - another man my be the right one." Soon after that, she met another man who fell in love with her at once, and who said she was his ideal. In fact, he said all the things that she had always wished A. B. would say to her. She remarked, "It was quite uncanny." She soon returned his love, and lost all interest in A. B. This shows the law of substitution. A right idea was substituted for a wrong one, therefore there was no loss or sacrifice involved. Jesus Christ said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you," and he said the Kingdom was within man. The Kingdom is the realm of right ideas, or the divine pattern. Jesus Christ taught that man's words played a leading part in the game of life. "By your words ye are justified and by your words ye are condemned." Many people have brought disaster into their lives through idle words. For example: A woman once asked me why her life was now one of poverty of limitation. Formerly she had a home, was surrounded by beautiful things and had often tired of the management of her home, and had said repeatedly, "I'm sick and tired of things - I wish I lived in a trunk," and she added: "Today I am living in that trunk." She had spoken herself into a trunk. The subconscious mind has no sense of humor and people often joke themselves into unhappy experiences. For example: A woman who had a great deal of money, joked continually about "getting ready for the poorhouse." In a few years she was almost destitute, having impressed the subconscious mind with a picture of lack and limitation. Fortunately the law works both ways, and a situation of lack may be changed to one of plenty. For example: A woman came to me one hot summer's day for a "treatment" for prosperity. She was worn out, dejected and discouraged. She said she possessed just eight dollars in the world. I said, "Good, we'll bless the eight dollars and multiply them as Jesus Christ multiplied the loaves and fishes," for He taught that every man had the power to bless and to multiply, to heal and to prosper. She said, "What shall I do next?" I replied, "Follow intuition. Have you a 'hunch' to do anything, or to go anywhere?" Intuition means, intuition, or to be taught from within. It is man's unerring guide, and I will deal more fully with its laws in a following chapter. The woman replied: "I don't know - I seem to have a 'hunch' to go home; I've just enough money for carfare." Her home was in a distant city and was one of lack and limitation, and the reasoning mind (or intellect) would have said: "Stay in New York and get work and make some money." I replied, "Then go home - never violate a hunch." I spoke the following words for her: Infinite Spirit open the way for great abundance for --. She is an irresistible magnet for all that belongs to her by divine right." I told her to repeat it continually also. She left for home immediately. In calling on a woman one day, she linked up with an old friend of her family. Through this friend, she received thousands of dollars in a most miraculous way. She has said to me often, "Tell people about the woman who came to you with eight dollars and a hunch." There is always plenty on man's pathway; but it can only be brought into manifestation through desire, faith or the spoken word. Jesus Christ brought out clearly that man must make the first move. "Ask, and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you. (Mat. 7:7). In the scriptures we read: "Concerning the works of my hands, command ye me." Infinite Intelligence, God, is ever ready to carry out man's smallest or greatest demands. Every desire, uttered or unexpressed, is a demand. We are often startled by having a wish suddenly fulfilled. For example: One Easter, having seen many beautiful rose-trees in the florists' windows, I wished I would receive one, and for an instant saw it mentally being carried in the door. Easter came, and with it a beautiful rose-tree. I thanked my friend the following day, and told her it was just what I had wanted. She replied, "I didn't send you a rose-tree, I sent you lilies!" "The man had mixed the order, and sent me a rose-tree simply because I had started the law in action, and I had to have a rose-tree. Nothing stands between man and his highest ideals and every desire of his heart, but doubt and fear. When man can "wish without worrying," every desire will be instantly fulfilled. I will explain more fully in a following chapter the scientific reason for this and fear must be erased from the consciousness. It is man's only enemy - fear of lack, fear of failure, fear of sickness, fear of loss and a feeling of insecurity on some plane. Jesus Christ said: "Why are ye fearful, oh ye of little faith?" (Mat. 8:26) So we can see we must substitute faith for fear, for fear is only inverted faith; it is faith in evil instead of good. The object of the game of life is to see clearly one's good and to obliterate all mental pictures of evil. This must be done by impressing the subconscious mind with a realization of good. A very brilliant man, who has attained great success, told me he had suddenly erased all fear from his consciousness by reading a sign which hung in a room. He saw printed, in large letters this statement - Why worry, it will probably never happen." These words were stamped indelibly upon his subconscious mind, and he has now a firm conviction that only good can come into his life, therefore only good can manifest. In the following chapter I will deal with the different methods of impressing the subconscious mind. It is man's faithful servant but one must be careful to give it the right orders. Man has ever a silent listener at his side - his subconscious mind. Every thought, every word is impressed upon it and carried out in amazing detail. It is like a singer making a record on the sensitive disc of the phonographic plate. Every note and tone of the singer's voice is registered. If he coughs or hesitates, it is registered also. So let us break all the old bad records in the subconscious mind, the records of our lives which we do not wish to keep, and make new and beautiful ones. Speak these words aloud, with power and conviction: "I now smash and demolish (by my spoken word) every untrue record in my subconscious mind. They shall return to the dust-heap of their native nothingness, for they came from my own vain imaginings. I now make my perfect records through the Christ within - The records of Health, Wealth, Love and perfect self-Expression." This is the square of life, The Game completed. In the following chapters, I will show how man can change his conditions by changing his words. Any man who does not know the power of the word, is behind the times. "Death and Life are in the power of the tongue." (Prov. 18:21.) To find out more: http://www.concentric.net/~conure/shinn.shtml (This is NOT a commercial of any kind. It is about a different approach to life.) We need to bring an entirely different energy to our efforts. I can't say "new" because the energy I speak of is timeless. -- I cast this burden of political corruption upon the divine, and go free to live in prosperity, peace, harmony, grace and choice which are mine by divine right. I speak these words for all who ask it of me by their own free will.

A Driving Need For Christmas...



Looking out the window at the melting fade of Wonderland,

The grass coming through the failing purity of the snow,

Fallen on Thanksgiving Eve it was to the heart more like Christmas.



Covered in white and crystal like a delicate soft dream.



In the restaurant yesterday Thanksgiving dinner was rushed,

Pushed and prodded by staff trying to turn over tables,

In a manner which no subtleties reside commercialism gone rampant.



Still I gave thanks in the face of barely restrained greed.



I find my day after thoughts turning to decorating,

Pondering a pile of bills and a pile of cash waiting a turn to grow,

One definitely being higher than the other at the moment.



Can I find reasons white as snow for canceling holiday dinners or do I see tufts of green?



I hear whispers of war and dead upon the land of civilizations' birth,

Angry voices raised everywhere from here to there,

Praying for success at harm to others in the mistaken belief that violence isn't a circular notion.



Shall we pray for death and destruction from a God of love?



What is driving this unspoken need for Christmas everywhere around me,

Is it the result of what's without us or the flames hidden within,

That need some show of love in stores and snow and lights?



Perhaps we should seek those lights in the candles of a church...



..That remembers Christ's birth was meant as an act of love.



AquarianM



By: Daniel A. Stafford

(C) 11/26/2004

Between Dandelion And Snowflake...

The dandelion has dried up in a puffball state,
Seed released upon the wind - drifting.

The snowflake has evaporated from a backyard pond,
Gathered crystal layers in a cold high cloud,
Fallen down upon the wind - drifting.

In a fluke the dandelion seed was carried in an updraft,
Blasted by the jetstream into the far Antarctic,
Laid deep into a glacier for millennia.

In a one in a billion billion chance the snowflake never fell,
Tumbling over Paris in summer or Madrid in winter,
Chaotic twisting air kept it high in the stratosphere for millennia.

In ignorance the last drop of oil was sucked from the ground,
Burned and blown high to trap the sunlight here.

In the new world that then came,

The last crystal of ice on Antarctica melted,
The last snowflake fell upon the South pole,
Each unique in all the universe.

Between the dandelion and the snowflake the world shrank,
Yet the waters rose.

It was a simple result of what was or wasn't carried upon the wind.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 11/26/2004

Thank You...

Thank You for those who shed light on darkness everywhere,
Who give everything of truth for us to see.

Thank You for the freedom those before left us,
That we have the light given us to see.

Thank You for our needs being met,
In whatever manner that may be.

Thank You for every moment of peace in our lives,
And the many more there will yet be.

Thank You for the gift of snow's pure white,
That replenishes so much life for the coming spring.

Thank You for the love gifted in each moment of kind intent,
The light that we most and truly need.

Thank You,
However we each might know your name.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 11/25/2004 and given in thanks to public domain.

Dime Store Elves:

The Dime Store Elves are busy,
Pitching pumpkins aside,
A Santa here a Snowman there,
Cranberries planted among snowflakes,
Up go the lights,
Pumpkins and turkeys on the sale table,
Santa's takin' over downtown,
Behind the dime store windows tonight!

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 11/17/2004

Last Leaves Drifting:

A quiet leaf falls with a whisper,
Backdrop: bare trees, one red yet,
Grasses all gone to waving yellow and brown,
Skies grow grey and overcast,
Promises of Christmas to come,
The last of the corn stubble being plowed under,
Tractor lights in the early night,
Thanksgiving days away; already careworn,
Make it through until Christmas,
Hold on through the darkness,
The lights and snow will be coming,
Something we all need so deeply,
A star in a future night,
A simple name or word...Hope.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 11/20/2004

Flickers In Silence:

In a quiet small space,
Things that roar in the heart,
Something dream-like and ephemeral,
Still constant and ever-present,
A nuance in the atmosphere like a ghost unseen,
Felt in a word or a glance into the corner,
Lost in staring at the marks on the floor.

Will the world come through allright,
Or are the dreams only smoke,
Rolled up the chimney and blown away?

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 11/19/2004

Drumbeat Windows:

The rain falls striking windows,
I can hear it drumming behind me,
The sky is black nighted the color of lightless clouds,
There is nothing in my eyes save a candlelit prayer,
Something held cherished in memory,
I am in constant effort to see,
Anything alive in these drumbeat windows.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 11/03/2004

Swallowing Lump Coal:

Choking bursting gagging,
Eyes fill and heart breaks,
Coal the lying diamond lies in my throat,
Unmoving uncaring and heartless,
Somehow I must will have to,
Spit it out.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 11/03/2004

AquarianM & the Heart of Winter post 00002:

After class, the four met in the schoolyard, near the Blasted Cherry, as they called it. Transmagic was a long class, as it involved complicated principles and safety techniques for every mode of Spatial translation that was taught, so it was now the end of the school day. This close to the end of the Fall term, there was no homework to do. The four walked out into the quiet of the grounds, into the wooded area in the far distant corner of the estate. There was a small stone canyon there with a small waterfall, one that froze in the Winter. There were deep brown fallen leaves and bare branches everywhere, and the occasionally small clearings with stands of tall swaying tawny grasses from the past Summer. They had long ago concluded that the official color of the American Midwest was “tawny.” There was limestone and trees and shriubs, grasses and cattails and burst milkweeds all in various shades of brown and gold. There were husks of occasional native prairie flowers, and more.

In the canyon, they placed Warn spells at the entrance; they had no intention of any of the more annoying students surprising them in the place. The end of the canyon where the frozen falls were was awash in mejical power, the frozen fall itself shining with the unmistakeable glow of Spiritual energy. This was a sacred place, a place where nature and the divine met. It was here that they had chosen to commit their friendship to a ceremony that was as ancient as the innocence and idealism of youth. They would form a Blood Bond through ritual, cementing their friendship for eternity. Daniel pulled forth from his pocket a small crystal blade with an ornately carved Oakwood handle. Sarah brought forth a beautiful clamshell bowl with a gleaming mother of pearl interior. Beth brought forth four pieces of maple heartwood and bandages of soft unbleached natural cotton. Jamal revealed and lit four candles of beeswax and a single red-tailed hawk feather, a full flight feather.

Jamal placed the candles atop four stones surrounding the blue ice of the falls. As he lit them, golden motes of light began separating from the candle flame. Each tiny point of light flew upward to a point along the canyon, bathing the entire canyon in soft warm golden light. Swarms of motes began spiraling up and down the ice shaft of the frozen falls, giving warm light but no heat. Soon the entire canyon was bathed in a soft light, yet from above it was invisible. To anyone outside the canyon itself, it was dark and cold and empty. Once they were ensconced in their Cathedral of light, Sarah brought out another candle, a small orange pumpkin filled with beeswax and a thin wick. She lit the candle and a small sharp reddish flame rose from the wick. She put a small pewtar wire frame of wrought stars above the pumpkin candle, and set the clamshell upon it. Beth then took a small chip of the pure ice from the base of the falls and set it upon the clamshell, and it began to melt.

At this point, Daniel led with the initial invocation of their ritual chant:

“By the pure sacred water of our homeland, let our bonds be clean and pure, let our blood be joined as family from now and through our lives, by the treasured feather of the hawkwing, let our friendship always soar the clear vision of the heights, and by the blood we share in common bond shall we be as family, now and ever.”

Wthe the last words he nicked his finger and squeezed four droplets of blood into the clamshell bowl, which was now softly steaming rose colored liquid. Each of the remaining friends walked up in turn, nicked a finger, squeezed four drops, and repeated the invocation.


To be continued...

AquarianM and the Heart of Winter post 00001:

It was a chilly December morning, and school was getting out for Christmas tomorrow. Most of the students here were boarding students who lived on the school grounds in the old dormitories. Soft white flakes were falling out of the grey skies and just beginning to cover the grass, which was still a bit green from the last vestiges of Summer. The younger children were playing out in the schoolyard and the older kids were congregated in groups, some small, some large. Anyone looking on from the road might not have noticed much but the gargoyles on the building corners and the old style architecture of the building, unless they just happened to see a snowball curve in mid flight to miss it’s target, or perhaps a passing glance at a child wearing a non-human face for a moment. Magic was generally forbidden outside of school buildings, but sometimes the temptation was just too great to resist, especially for the younger students.

Everyone was hugely excited today, because not only of the holiday tomorrow, but tomorrow was also the day that the graduating students would be told their wizard names. Everyone has a common name given by their parents at birth, or perhaps even a very goofy name, but their whizzyrding name was something else all together. A proper whizzyrding name was not only a mage’s signature in magical circles, but also the key to many of the advanced spells he or she had been taught in the last year. Without a Truename ceremony, most magic users who failed to graduate became not much more than gifted Commons. Oh, they might know parlor tricks and be invulnerable in snowball fights with Commons, but they would almost never manage higher spells. And most that had did so through becoming Singularity mages, or wizards so dark that the very light seemed to vanish anywhere near them.

Four friends were sitting watching the rest of the children from beneath their favorite tree, and old huge cherry that had been hit by lightning many, many years ago. The lightning scar on the tree incredibly looked like a perfect spiral, as if the lightning had swirled as it burned into the tree. The four often referred to their small group as the Spiral Arm Band, a sort of club name one of their number had come up with after studying galactic structures in Astronomy and Advanced Astrology. Sometimes the spiral burn in the wood glowed softly at sunset, but no one now living knew this, and it’s subtle appearance could easily be mistaken as a trick of the light.

“So do you think all of us will be Named tomorrow, Sarah?” asked Daniel Neilsen. Sarah had the habit of knowing things that would be forthcoming, as in Knowing. She was considered by the staff at the school to be the best student in Prescience that had come along in over a hundred years. Her near white blond hair and ice blue eyes gave her a very cold appearance, and she seemed to see through to the core of anyone she looked at with her pale gaze. Sarah VanRossen was tall for her age and very slender, almost willowy, but much stronger than most gave her credit for. The first time they met her, that is. Daniel appeared to come from similar stock, but he had a more earthy appearance relative to Sarah. He was very tall with dark blond hair and steel grey blue eyes, and a keen and quiet intelligence was unmistakable in his gaze. Very seldom did he ever have difficulty with learning anything in his classes, but he was often interested in things far removed from what was happening in his immediate vicinity, which gave him the reputation of being a daydreamer. He had the feeling that if the teachers at the school knew of the theories he ran through the grey matter between his ears, their hair would curl up on their heads, smoke, and shrivel away to nothing. “All I Sight at the moment is white snow swirling, Dan. Every thing I See now is snow and ice everywhere. I do not understand this vision.” A puzzled expression instantly appeared on three faces and troubled glances were fleetingly exchanged. “That’s all right, Sarah, I’m sure we will be, we’ll just have to practice what the Faith teacher taught us this fall.” Dan replied.

Beth Pritchard spoke up. “She’s probably just seeing the blizzard approaching, which will blanket the grounds tomorrow to hide the ceremony. You know they have to hold that under the stars and outdoors, and they call a blizzard every year, and put an Eye of Calm out to hold a clear zone over the school so the stars are out here during the ceremony.” Beth was petite and had coal black hair and eyes, like looking into the night. They absorbed everything they took in and only gave a trace of reflection at the pupils.

Jamar Westhaven laughed and put an arm around Beth in a friendly hug. His dark eyes twinkled with merriment and a keen wit, he was usually the jovial one in the group, and this was no exception “Beth, you have to watch it here, you might turn Sarah into the weather lady on Rockford TV!” He was tall, not quite as tall as Daniel, but close. They both gave the basket ball coach the Hebegevis curse one year at the local Common high school when he saw them playing in mid-air. The effect of the curse was rather funny, because it changed the memory of the person to seem as if everything was actually ordinary and the curse victim had just had a strange waking daydream. The only known side effects were a severe case of goose bumps and spine tingles for several minutes after the spell dissipated.

“Hey, Dan,” said Jamar, “You going to show us any whiz-bang in Technomagic today?” “You being the top student on record an’ all.” Daniel smiled an enigmatic smile and said “You’ll just have to wait and see with the rest of the class, Jamar, but I promise you that you will not be bored at the finals project display.” North American Whizzyrds had a pride in their ability to magic Common technological items and blend the technology with whizzyrding to conserve the use of the world’s magic. It was not uncommon in lower level classes to see things like rulers that would control the actions of pets, or even electronic hand held games that brought their games to seeming life in the middle of the room for all to see. One of the first things that the students learned was to craft items that required the wielder to input just a small flicker of magical energy to the item before it would react by fulfilling it’s intended magical function. This kept any Common who might stumble across it from discovering it’s extra-normal nature.

The Technomagic teacher in Seventh level had learned early to keep close tabs on what Daniel was doing when he had magicked a Common magnifying glass so that it would absorb all the sunlight within the bounds of the horizon one could see. It would then concentrate the light into a beam the size of a pencil lead that would vaporize through any non-magical material that could be found, including diamonds. They had discovered his toy when the sky suddenly went pitch black one afternoon. They had discovered Daniel with a hasty Seek spell. The young whizzyrd had had a look of utter concentration on his face while cutting a diamond, the engagement ring it belonged in, the floor, the ground under the floor, and who knows what else below that in the library. That particular toy was now on display at the North American Whizzyrd College library under the strongest Ensconce spell the Dean could muster. Thirteen additional whizzyrds had also added Ensconce spells as well. It would take a whizzyrd’s dozen to unlock it for use, and if any of them were to die, the key to the Ensconcement would pass out of the world with them. The college was located in an abandoned military base somewhere out in the desert that had a reputation for strange things flying it’s skies, which allowed a greater freedom for the college to experiment undetected. It was the Spiral Arm members agreed upon wish to all attend there after graduating in order to advance their magical skills. Secretly, however, they also hoped to advance the art of Whizzyrdry through their contributions to magical knowledge.

Daniel reached into his jacket and pulled out a package folded in a cloth Tarot card wrap. “I have a present for each of you here.” he announced. All the other three looked at him curiously, in this case even Sarah didn’t know what he had. “What is it, Dan?” asked Jamar. Daniel carefully unwrapped the cloth and uncovered four beautifully carved wooden spirals on leather thongs, gleaming in even the grey wintry sky’s muted light. Each was covered with tiny runes and Celtic knots, forming a spiral that led to a single crystal in its center. Sarah gasped as she saw the crystals. “Those are Witness Tears!” she breathed. Each crystal was the solidified tear of an honest witness of an act of devotion, solidified with a touch of Earth magic and very rare. Whatever magic they were employed in could not be corrupted by any means, magical or non. “Yes, “ said Daniel. “Should any of us ever be in dire peril and need, they can be invoked by the owner and cause all four of us to appear at the Mill Pond raceway. Their secret place had been a small cave near the old Mill Pond in the countryside, just out of the city on highway 81.

You see, the Chandler School of Whizzyrdry was located on the grounds of what had once been an old orphanage in the countryside of Wisconsin, just west of a small town called Beloit. As far as the Commons in the small cities around the area knew, a rich eccentric had bought the old place and remodeled it to appear like an old English country house, and opened a boarding school for gifted students on the property. It was set back off the road a bit and the huge yard was bordered by a rural route and a line of large trees on one side, and a stand of dense trees and brush on the other three. A small creek ran past the back of the property just inside the tree line, and a stout and well maintained limestone wall ran along the road, the old trees growing over it. At night, Weredogs patrolled the property, scaring off any curious youngsters and keeping the school’s true nature quite secure. The school was commonly rumored in Beloit to be so exorbitantly expensive that no local family had attempted to enroll a child. That is, until Daniel Neilsen. He had been born into a Beloit family during the Grand Stellium in Aquarius in February of 1962. His early Astrology master had looked very curiously at his chart, then at the young boy standing in front of him. “Seven planets in Aquarius at birth, and we shall see what we shall se, young Daniel! In the last 250 years of planetary revolution, seven planets in one sign, what I term a Grand Stellium, has occurred only nine times.”
Daniel had of course walked away determined to find out what that meant.

The four were walking inside to attend their final Transmagic class, and passed by an open door. Beth Pritchard heard a brief snatch of conversation waft out into the hall. “…before there is never Winter again, Stanley. Dean Whithers at the NAWC has called an All Whizzyrds official board gathering for three days from now on the subject. It is of the gravest nature, Sir!” Beth heard an unfamiliar voice coming from the school administrative offices, and whoever it was must have been talking to the school principal, Stanley Segrenth. “One moment, let me..” she heard the principal say. Then they all felt the unmistakable small hum in their stomachs and the slight bending of the light called a Serge that accompanied the use of nearby magick. Clearly the Principal had used a Muffle spell to cover the conversation, because even the small background noises from the offices stopped. The other three stopped talking and looked around upon feeling the Serge as well. Beth resolved to tell them what she’d heard immediately after class, but they had to go now before they were late. None of them wanted to jeopardize their chances of getting Named tomorrow!

They arrived in Transmagic just in time, and the door was still open and unwarded. Mr. Sailings was usually quite intent on closing the classroom when the class bell struck. His personal pet peeve was being late for anything, and he considered being tardy every bit as atrocious as being absent, so if a student didn’t arrive precisely on time, they would find the door locked and magically warded from entry. Most students figured this out one of two ways. They either found themselves locked out of what often was a young whizzyrd’s most interesting class, or they found themselves in the Principal’s office facing their last school reprimand before their parents were brought in to the situation. The latter was extremely rare. You see, Transmagic was actually short for Transportation Magic. It was quite the whizzyrd’s equivalent to the Common schools’ Drivers’ Education classes, but it started at a much earlier grade and lasted through several years of schooling. And since Mr. Sailings’ specialty was Transmagic, his reputation had always been hinged on the skill of timely arrival, which made a certain sense of his punctuality peeve. He also had a certain fondness for leather coats, cardigan scarves, slicked back hair, and aviator glasses. One could say that winter was definitely his time of year. He also was quite a favorite of most students, as not only did he teach a subject that granted the students much greater freedom of movement in their lives, he also was quite kindly aside from the punctuality peeve. His choice as favorite teacher was not an exception of the Spiral Arm Band, either.

Jamar smoothly swung into his seat, looking forward to the last day of his favorite class, as were the other students. Daniel and Sarah slid into seats behind him and next to each other, Beth found herself one seat removed and to his right, making it certain she couldn’t pass a note to any of her band mates. For seated directly between Beth and Jamar was the most hideous gossiping popular snoop, Lisa Syzens. Lisa Syzens, with her big red hair, blue eyes, big letterman’s’ sweater, and loud red nails, and wicked rumors. She had once started a rumor that Beth was sweet on one of her teachers, and the whole school had teased her for weeks, asking silly things like if she was hiding apples in various places about her person, and other unmentionable trash. All because she had kindly offered her help when the teacher had asked for volunteers to help clean up the lab. No, she certainly was NOT attempting anything while Miss Megaphone was anywhere within half a mile. Then the usual happened. Lisa turned her big red head towards Beth, and sneered. “It’s so kind of you to consent to join us, Miss Last Minute Betty Preacher.” Beth just gritted her teeth and did her best to act like there was a dust speck occupying the seat next to her. A couple of Loud Lisa’s yes-bunny friends heard and sniggered nastily. She was saved as Mr. Sailings began his end of term speech.

To be continued...



By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 01/2002

Fallen Leaves:

It was in the chill of a dark night,
I was walking alone up on Barrows Hill,
The wind was a flicker of cold breath,
Dancing with whispers through the reaching trees and brambles.

It caught my eye faint but persistent,
A soft glow off in the distance,
Toward the biers and hummocks and stones,
In the quiet place where leaves have fallen,
Naught to pick them or rake,
Great drifts whirling in the lonely dark.

I slowly edged through the night,
Pulled in the direction of a soft reflection,
As I broke through the darkness under giant oaks,
The clearing of the stones rose above me on the hill,
Markers parading up to the sky,
Occasionally one fallen,
Cut out a dark line through the stars,
There wheeling over the top.

It was a lonely little Jack O' Lantern,
A tenacious little candle flame whickering aflutter,
Perched atop the stone of one named Rose,
An artful wreath of fallen leaves and withered dry roses,
Round about the marker's cold base,
A soft glow amidst the kingdom of sightless dark,
Even the moon was fallen from the sky.

A soft glow alone in the night,
Surrounded by cold stones named and fallen leaves,
A yellowed parchment envelope sitting wax sealed,
Atop the marker under the glowing gourd,
Whose smile was carved wistful with no malice,
I dared not break the seal in such a place,
Yet I couldn't help but see it's tender address,
"To Darling Rose my tender leaf,
Who fell on All Hallows Eve,
With love eternal."

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C)_ 10/30/2004

Author's comments:
This one fell out of imagination and into prose.

Last Ride Of The Black Hat...

It was the last dregs of twilight in a bloody season,
Too many scalps hanging from the saddle,
Pale ones too it didn't matter with this hombre,
He'd shoot the fingers off a baby of it would turn a buck,
Look forward without sweating,
Practiced in the art of denial,
He'd repeat the story until even he remembered the lies,
Walking under the stars alone,
He'd rode his nag into bones in the desert,
No firewood it was frigid out here,
Even the rattlesnakes were ducked under the dunes,
But there were rumblings beneath his feet,
The Earth opened underneath him,
Searing at four thousand degrees pardner,
The voices you'd thought delivered to damnation,
Howling for your blood,
Even the shrieking sheiks you'd tussle with,
Welcome to the Hell you tried to create.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 10/29/2004

Author's Comments:
Trick or treat! Anyone come to mind?

Bwaaaahahahahaaaaa!!