Sacred Circles

I've put together a webpage on the subject of Sacred Circles.

This webpage provides links, bibliographic citations, resources, quotations, notes, and comments on medicine wheels, henges, labyrinths, neopagan sacred circles, holy circles, the symbolism and myths about circles and spheres, sacred circle gardens, the four elements, and related topics.

This webpage includes information and photographs of our sacred circle garden at our home in Red Bluff, California.

Those folks who walk the circle in labyrinths, walking meditation or baguazhang might find some of the information in sacred circles to be of interest to them.

Here are a few pictures from our sacred circle garden.  They were all taken a few years ago.  Everything is the same today, except all the trees and shrubs are larger.  

Home Improvement Focus

Karen and I have been very busy with home improvement projects.  Little time or energy for other interesting research, studies, practices, and projects.

Two Campers Return

We returned to our home in Red Bluff yesterday afternoon.  Dry and hot (105F). 

We had been camping at Tugman State Park, 10 miles south of Reedsport, Oregon.  We explored the beautiful Umpqua River valley down to the boat docks at Winchester Bay.  Lovely cloudy skies and cool daytime temperatures (low 70'sF).  Eel lake was quite lovely.  

We hiked up the huge sand dunes along South Jetty Road, below Florence, Oregon, at the Siuslaw River terminus at the sea.  West of the dunes was the beach and breaking shore waves.  Lots of shells.  We were the only persons visiting the beach at that time.   

The sand dunes by the ocean in Oregeon are the largest ocean dunes in the USA.  They stretch for 60 miles from Florence to below Coos Bay, Oregon, along the Central Oregon Coast.  At some points the dunes are 20 miles wide.  

Even the Little Finger Remembers

   “The body uses its skin and deeper fascia and flesh to record all that goes on around it.  Like the Rosetta stone, for those who know how to read it, the body is a living record of life given, life taken, life hoped for, life healed.  It is valued for its articulate ability to register immediate reaction, to feel profoundly, to sense ahead.
        
     The body is a multilingual being.  It speaks through its color and its temperature, the flush of recognition, the glow of love, the ash of pain, the heart of arousal, the coldness of nonconviction.  It speaks through its constant tiny dance, sometimes swaying, sometimes a-jitter, sometimes trembling.  It speaks through the leaping of the heart, the falling of the spirit, the pit at the center, and rising of hope.

     The body remembers, the bones remember, the joints remember, even the little finger remembers.  Memory is lodged in pictures and feelings in the cells themselves.  Like a sponge filled with water, anywhere the flesh is pressed, wrung, even touched slightly, a memory may flow out in a stream.

     To confine the beauty and the value of the body to anything less than this magnificence is to force the body to live without its rightful spirit, its rightful form, its right to exultation.  To be thought ugly or unacceptable because one’s beauty is outside the current fashion is deeply wounding to the natural joy that belongs to the wild nature.”

-      By Clarissa Pinkola Estés,  Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, 1996  


Body-Mind Practices, Somaesthetics

The Five Senses

Touch, Skin, Feeling, Hands, Tactile

Rejoice, and Men Will Seek You

"Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone.
For the sad old earth must borrow it's mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air.
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go.
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all.
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life's gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain."
-  Solitude by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 1850-1919

How to Live the Good Life

Virtue Ethics

Hedonism and Epicureanism

Dao De Jing, Laozi, Chapter 24

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
Chapter 24

"He who stands on tiptoe does not stand (firm);
He who strains his strides does not walk (well);
He who reveals himself is not luminous;
He who justifies himself is not far-famed;
He who boasts of himself is not given credit;
He who prides himself is not chief among men.
These in the eyes of Tao
Are called "the dregs and tumors of Virtue,"
Which are things of disgust.
Therefore the man of Tao spurns them."
-  Translated by Lin Yutang, 1955, Chapter 24

"By standing on tiptoe one cannot keep still.
Astride of one's fellow one cannot progress.
By displaying oneself one does not shine.
By self-approbation one is not esteemed.
In self-praise there is no merit.
He who exalts himself does not stand high.
Such things are to Tao what refuse and excreta are to the body.
They are everywhere detested.
Therefore the man of Tao will not abide with them."
-  Translated by Walter Gorn Old, 1904, Chapter 24

"It is not natural to stand on tiptoe, or being astride one does not walk.
One who displays himself is not bright, or one who asserts himself cannot shine.
A self-approving man has no merit, nor does one who praises himself grow.
The relation of these things (self-display, self-assertion, self-approval) to Tao is the same as offal is to food.
They are excrescences from the system; they are detestable; Tao does not dwell  in them."
-  Translated by Dwight Goddard, 1919, Chapter 24   

"Those who are on tiptoes cannot stand
Those who straddle cannot walk
Those who flaunt themselves are not clear
Those who presume themselves are not distinguished
Those who praise themselves have no merit
Those who boast about themselves do not last
Those with the Tao call such things leftover food or tumors
They despise them
Thus, those who possesses the Tao do not engage in them"
-  Translated by Derek Linn, 2006, Chapter 24  

企者不立.
跨者不行.
自見者不明.
自是者不彰.
自伐者無功.
自矜者不長.
其在道也, 曰餘食贅行.
物或惡之.
故有道者不處.-  Chinese characters, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 24 


ch'i chê pu li.
k'ua chê pu hsing.
tzu chien chê pu ming.
tzu shih chê pu chang.
tzu fa chê wu kung.
tzu ching chê pu ch'ang.
ch'i tsai tao yeh, yüeh yü shih chui hsing.
wu huo wu chih.
ku yu tao chê pu ch'u.
-  Wade-Giles Romanization, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 24 



"Standing tiptoe a man loses balance,
Walking astride he has no pace,
Kindling himself he fails to light,
Acquitting himself he forfeits his hearers,
Admiring himself he does so alone.
Pride has never brought a man greatness
But, according to the way of life,
Brings the ills that make him unfit,
Make him unclean in the eyes of his neighbor,
And a sane man will have none of them."
-  Translated by Witter Bynner, 1944, Chapter 24  


"He who stands on tiptoe is not steady,
He who holds legs stiffly cannot walk.
He who looks at self does not see clearly.
He who asserts himself does not shine.
He who boasts of himself has no merit.
He who glorifies himself shall not endure.
These things are to the Tao like excreta or a hideous tumour to the body.
Therefore he who has Tao must give them no place."
-  Translated by Isabella Mears, 1916, Chapter 24  

"Quien se sostiene de puntillas no permanece mucho tiempo en pie.
Quien da largos pasos no puede ir muy lejos.
Quien quiere brillar
no alcanza la iluminación.
Quien pretende ser alguien
no lo será naturalmente.
Quien se ensalza no merece honores.
Quien se vanagloria
no realiza ninguna obra.
Para los seguidores del Tao, estos excesos son como excrecencias
y restos de basura que a todos repugnan.
Por eso, quien posee el Tao
no se detiene en ellos, sino que los rechaza."
-  Translation from Wikisource, 2013, Capitulo 24  

"Standing on tiptoe, you are unsteady.
Straddle-legged, you cannot go.
If you show yourself, you will not be seen.
If you affirm yourself, you will not shine.
If you boast, you will have no merit.
If you promote yourself, you will have no success.
Those who abide in the Tao call these
Leftover food and wasted action
And all things dislike them.
Therefore the person of the Tao does not act like this."
-  Translated by Charles Muller, 1891, Chapter 24


Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything  By David Bellos.  New York, Faber and Faber, 2011.  Index, notes, 393 pages.  ISBN: 9780865478763. VSCL.  



A typical webpage created by Mike Garofalo for each one of the 81 Chapters (Verses, Sections) of the Tao Te Ching (Daodejing) by Lao Tzu (Laozi) includes over 25 different English language translations or interpolations for that Chapter, 5 Spanish language translations for that Chapter, the Chinese characters for that Chapter, the Wade-Giles and Hanyu Pinyin transliterations (Romanization) of the Mandarin Chinese words for that Chapter, and 2 German and 1 French translation of that Chapter.  Each webpage for each one of the 81 Chapters of the Tao Te Ching includes extensive indexing by key words, phrases, and terms for that Chapter in English, Spanish, and the Wade-Giles Romanization.  Each webpage on a Chapter of the Daodejing includes recommended reading in books and websites, a detailed bibliography, some commentary, research leads, translation sources, a Google Translate drop down menu, and other resources for that Chapter.   

Chapter 24, Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

Chapter and Thematic Index (Concordance) to the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

English Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index

Spanish Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index

Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices

Taoism: A Selected Reading List

One Old Daoist Druid's Final Journey  

Drag Me Down Damn Hot

For the past 10 days, we have had daytime temperatures from 105F to 112F. 

Other than 6 hours in the morning (5:30 am - 10:30 am), it is just too damn hot for me in the afternoon.  I get all my gardening chores, watering chores, and outdoor chores done in the early morning.  

As I get older, the extreme heat is much harder for me to tolerate.  

It has sapped my energy and interest in just about all activities.  

I did enjoy, yesterday afternoon, sitting in front of a fan and watching a DVD recording of the opening day of the Tour de France, and sipping iced tea.  

You Are One of the Few

If the world's population was only 100 people, how would the current demographics and economics translate from 7 billion to 100 people.  

A Power Point Presentation on World Demographics and Economics

Click on link, then on subsequent pictures in the presentation.

Sobering facts!  

Retired Now ... Yes

I retired from my position as Technology and Media Services Manager for the Corning Union Elementary School District on July 1, 2016.  I had worked for this school district for the last 16 years.  I retired as a Library Administrator from the County of Los Angeles Public Library in 1998.  I have always enjoyed working, and may do so part-time in the future.  

I resigned from my position as a fitness instructor (yoga, taijiquan, pilates, spin, personal fitness trainer) at the Tehama Family Fitness Center in Red Bluff, on July 1, 2016.  I will no longer be teaching at the TFFC.  

I will no longer be teaching taijiquan privately at my home, because we will be traveling quite a bit and moving.  

Karen and I are now selling our home in Red Bluff, and moving to Vancouver, Washington.  Both of our children and their families live in Vancouver.  We also desire a change in location from the rural North Sacramento Valley to a more metropolitan environment in Southwest Washington.  

We are now busy prepping our house, moving items to Washington, and looking for a home to rent or buy in the Vancouver/Portland metro area.  

My websites and blog will continue, albeit at a reduced level, until we get settled in Vancouver.  

I will resume teaching Taijiquan and Yoga in the Vancouver and/or Portland area in the future.  Also, I will be looking for a good Taijiquan School in that area.  Suggestions??

I retired at the age of 70.