How's That Metamorphosis Working Out? Kinda Slow...

Not long ago, I bought a Christmas ornament at a local thrift store - it cost 50 cents or something like that... I thought it was a cute little handcrafted piece and, after fixing a couple of things that were loose, I decided it needed to be radically altered into something more personal, so I changed the kitty's color to match my little black cat Nancy who passed away this past April.

Before transformation...

Although she's no longer here in the physical world, she's still with me in spirit. I miss you, Cat.

...and after - voila! Happy Holidays, sweet Nancy

Here's the back-side (the pads were pink)

The Path of Transformation

Technically speaking, the process of transformation occurs in three stages, according to the ageless wisdom. The terms used to describe these progressive stages of unfoldment are: transmutation, transformation, and transfiguration. Lifetimes are required to complete the metamorphosis that culminates at the stage of transfiguration, when the light of the Soul pours down upon the outer persona and changes it — permanently.
Those who have approached this stage on the Path depict the process as a harrowing one, portraying an experience that is light-years apart from popular notions of the spiritual path.  In advertisements for books, workshops and conferences, the quest is often portrayed as an exciting travel adventure that can be made luxuriously comfortable and pleasurable. “In actuality,” as we wrote in When the Soul Awakens, “the spiritual path is never pleasant or comfortable, though joy is surely among its ultimate rewards.” 
What makes the process painful is the “task” at its core: blending spirit and matter. To forge a state of unity out of this exteme polarity, that which is of a material nature must be purified and refined in order to fuse with that which is spiritual. The divine spark immersed in matter, the “unit of consciousness” that is a soul, incarnates repeatedly in a threefold form — or personality — to grow in and through material plane experience. As a result of untold lifetimes of experience, a mysterious spiritual alchemy occurs in which the lower self or persona (sometimes called the human soul) becomes vaguely aware of its higher counterpart — the higher Self (also called the spiritual soul, the soul on its own plane). When this awareness reaches a certain kindling point, awakening occurs. Not long thereafter, a seeker of light is born.
 
(Source: http://whenthesoulawakens.org )

Yet another concept for me to wrap my mind around! In a future posting, I'll share my musings about how I imagine Nancy's "transfiguration" process is going... anything's possible, I suppose!


 

No Calm After The Storm

Here's a great way to start the day: 

It's a wet and windy November morning. Put on a HAZMAT suit, show up at my house at 8:15 and start up both leaf-blowers and the giant riding mower and attempt to blow leaves around that are wet and sticking to the pavement, the ground and each other. Begin with the neighbors' property on either side, leaving us for last (so I can relax to the high-pitched whine of the machines), and make sure you create big, muddy ruts all over our wet, soggy lawn that will be there until next fall. The entire procedure (which in drier weather would only take 30-40 minutes or so) should take 1.75 hours, nearly three times longer than usual, shattering any kind of peaceful morning rituals - including sleep. 

Good Morning! Did I wake you? These leaves are more stubborn than usual...

The grass hasn't grown much since the Yard Monkeys were here a couple of weeks ago because it's been frozen, thawed, snowed on and clobbered by wind and rain... and it's now mid-November, so it won't grow much more until April. And it's windy, so why do we need our leaves blown around, when they will blow right back? It's not like they're ever bagged up and removed... Oh, and make sure you blow them all into the runoff stream next to us so it will become even more clogged than it is now, since no one ever cleans it out. I think I will have to buy a rake and do it myself.

I know they have a job to do, but enough already... See you next year!