GOING GODDESS™

BASIL

Basil is a delicious culinary herb, originally native to Iran, India and tropical regions in Asia, which has been cultivated for thousands of years and in many varieties. It can be eaten raw, used fresh in cooked recipes, added to drinks and desserts, and used for medicinal purposes.

A popular addition to Italian recipes, Basil offers a list of healing benefits to the mind/body system. Commonly used in Ayurvedic treatments, this wonderful herb has a beneficial effect on the heart and kidneys, strengthening both organs with regular use. Basil leaves can be a helpful treatment for many skin ailments including insect bites, minor abrasions, ringworm, and mouth ulcers. Macerating the leaves and applying the fresh juice to the affected area can relieve symptoms with regular use. Chewing fresh leaves has been known to have a healing affect on the teeth and gums, provides protection against stress, and purifies the blood.

Thai basil is an excellent addition to fresh salads, offering a sharp warm element to the palate and an overall refreshing aroma. Eat a pocket pita stuffed with fresh basil leaves for a quick mental lift and anxiety relief. In cooked foods, add leaves toward the end of cooking as heat destroys the flavor of basil. Dried basil does not have the same flavor and benefits of the fresh herb, so using it fresh is best.

It is very easy to grow your own Basil. Purchase seeds from your local garden center and plant in the ground or a planter/pot. I used potting soil and organic Basil seeds for my plants. These photos show the plants after a few weeks of growth that are ready to be transferred to the garden or permanent container. Transplant the seedlings about 6-12 inches apart to give them enough space to spread. Once they are about 6 inches tall you can pinch off the top leaves to encourage leaf growth. When harvesting basil, you can cut single leaves or cut a whole stem right above a pair of leaves.

Enjoy!

I have fond memories of picking dandelions and daisies in some vast country field during the warm spring days of my childhood. Skipping through the knee high grass, searching for the perfect flower, I mastered leaping, hopping, and jumping over patches of white and yellow blooms until I found that special flower. It had to be brilliant and perfectly round, like the sun, since this was to be my center piece for a string of daisies headdress. After the crown was made and placed on my head, I would slowly sift through the area looking for the best parachute ball to serve as my sceptre. When found, my ceremony could begin.

A procession of imaginary friends would lead me down a secluded path to my throne which was fashioned as a fallen tree or stump or rustic boulder draped in vines and moss. Once seated, I was entertained by butterflies and bumblebees whirling about the dancing leaves with music played by birds and breeze singing through the budding trees. Sooner than later, I would leave my throne, join in with the fun and twirl myself around my queendom, until I'd fall flat in a drunken stupor. While on my back, clouds swirling above me, I would raise my sceptre to my lips and blow magic wishes out onto the wind, until every bit of the parachute had been released.

I can't remember what followed the blowing in the wind other than heading back to the family car for the long ride home, but those few memories still bring a warm sensation of joy to my heart and a smile to my face, and I'm still chasing dandelions.

Once a woman, twice a child.

In ancient Kemet, the phrase 'Wep Renpet' meant 'opening of the year', and it represents the beginning of a new year, marked by the rising of the star Sirius. This event was recognized as being very important because the reappearance of Sirius after a period of seventy days' invisibility originally marked the emergence of the New Year and later was thought of as the ideal rebirth of the land. It seems fitting to spotlight the Egyptian Goddess Renpet, the goddess of spring, fertility, and youth, as the earth rebirths itself this season, bringing forth new vegetation, rejuvenation, and beauty, recharging our energy and perspective.

Hawaiian Songsters

Interpreting our lives through the process of story-telling and analogy allows a clearer view of our journey as human beings, and is nothing more powerful to move our consciousness than a song?

So if you can now compare your life to a song or a series of songs, like a musical play, pause and ask yourself, "what notes am I playing?" Is it a series of flats, rendering your life dull, lacking luster and vigor? Or are you consistently sharp, cutting your way through life, wounding and injuring circumstances and relationships around you? Are you creating a harmonious piece (peace), unified and balanced with your environment? Or maybe you just drum a steady beat, hypnotized by your own pointlessness.

Whatever songs we decide to play our lives to, it is certain that they will come to an end, so let's create and enjoy while we still have the stage!

A Few Gifts

From Our Earth

Thank You!

Practically every earthly system, natural and man-made, is in trouble. From the smallest microorganisms breeding in the soil to the massive world financial structures, all are struggling to stay alive in the current environment. We are beyond the point of grasping the facts of our degenerative condition; now is the time for transformative action. Part of the solution to our problem is to honor the 'hand' that feeds us.

As a collective unit, humanity must respectively return the love earth gives back to her by working to keep the planet alive. We must get off the fast track of destructive living by reducing and eliminating chemical pollution, waste, deforestation, animal cruelty, war, and human oppression.

Individually, we can advance our awareness of our human constitution, commit to holistic health, and employ a self sustaining lifestyle which is in harmony with the earth's evolution.

A simple initiative of learning how to grow one food crop is incredibly empowering by increasing the exchange of nurturing between an individual and the earth.

Our world changes are snowballing downhill at an exponential rate but humans have the power to put the brakes on a complete breakdown. When we see things as they really are, we will learn the truth about ourselves and the earth which guides us to the reconstruction of a better life.