Nonnie, Gnomes, and Jesus Christ in the Northern Lights

Nonnie and me

Nonnie was the first person that ever talked to me about gnomies.  She was my father's mother, and according to Nonnie, gnomies most often lived in the country, away from civilizations, though most people rarely saw them anymore, not even people who lived in the country.

Nonnie grew up in Sweden and walked through the woods to get to school every day, which I would imagine is where she first started seeing the gnomies.  Perhaps that is why Nonnie and Gramps had gnome statues around their house and yard in Chicago, and also up at the cottage in Wisconsin, to help educate people about the existence of gnomes.  And maybe the gnome statues also to helped Nonnie feel more at home.

Gramps and me

Nonnie and Gramps lived in a big house on Chase near Sheridan in Chicago, and they rented out parts of their house to mostly people who had just come to America from Sweden.  I imagined that a lot of those renters already knew about gnomies too, being from Sweden and all, where there must have been lots of gnomies to see.  However, Nonnie and Gramps were the only ones I remember ever talking about gnomes while I was growing up.  That is, until one summer at the cottage when I was a teenager...

Our cottage in Spread Eagle, Wisconsin

One quiet summer night at the cottage, while sitting in a boat drifting in the middle of the lake in the company of my dear friend whom I will call Penelope, watching the sky aglow with colorful northern lights, Penelope started telling me about her recent Outward Bound "solo experience."  She started out by asking if I would promise to never tell her parents what she was about to tell me, because she was certain they would think she was crazy and may even send her away to an insane asylum because of it.  I promised that I would never tell her parents.

Penelope then proceeded to describe how, on the third day of her solo experience, while she was sitting at the top of a hill, looking down on a stream of water, at the water's edge she saw what she described as small people washing small clothing and small dishes in the stream of water.  Being very familiar with the existence of gnomes (though never having seen one myself), of course I believed her.  Penelope said that she spoke with the little people, and they said (just as Nonnie had said years earlier) that most people could not see them, and it was because of some kind of veil they had over their eyes and ears and other senses.  I had no doubt that what Penelope told me was the truth, and I felt quite privileged to hear about her experiences.  She and I surmised that on the third day of her solo experience in the woods, her veils had been lifted, and that was why she was able to see the gnomies.

Right about then, Penelope and I returned to looking up toward the sky to see a colorful configuration of the northern lights in the silhouette of Jesus Christ.

True story.

Photographer John Hilmarsson, from abcnews.go.com

PS ~ It's important to note that areas of transition, from field to forest, or shore to water, are natural doorways to the other-worlds, where encounters with other dimensions may be more likely.

PSS ~ Penelope's parents have both passed-on, and I would imagine they know all about the gnomies by now.

Listening, Healing, and Change

Interesting... my last post was on a Friday the 13th, and we just had another Friday the 13th.  Thirteen represents change to me, and indeed, things have changed.

This is a description of my journey into the gap of common medical knowledge; from food sensitivities, to topical steroid use, to real healing.

After twenty years of not knowing why I had so many food sensitivities, and five years of using topical steroid cream to mask the symptoms of  the food sensitivities, I am done with the steroids and well on my healing way.

When eczema first developed on my face, about twenty years ago, I narrowed it down to a reaction to milk products.  For a while, as long as I avoided anything containing milk, my face remained clear.  But then wheat started causing a reaction, then citrus, then...  At some point I lost track of all the foods I needed to avoid to keep my skin clear.  I tried all kinds of things also: different diets, different fasts, different detoxes, different supplements, yet none of it cured the eczema.

Food sensitivity tests showed that I had dozens and dozens of them.  I had even gone to a reputed clinic and all they had to offer was experimental shots at $300 a piece that insurance would not cover and had no guarantee of actually working.  So I said, "No thank you," to that!

A few years back I was talking to the woman selling pasture raised chicken, beef and eggs at a Farmer's Market.  Telling her about all my food sensitivities and using the topical steroids, she insisted that I was never going to get rid of the sensitivities until I healed my gut.  She told me about a book on how to do that, and eventually I bought and read the book.  What a life-changing blessing that has been!

A damaged, or "leaky gut," allows undigested food particles into the blood stream, which causes an immune response because the body looks at those large, undigested food particles as invaders.  For me, the immune response manifested as eczema on my face.  Eventually just about anything I ate caused a reaction in the form of eczema on my face.  That is why about six years ago I started using topical steroid cream, to mask the symptoms.  And I used it regularly for about five years.

Topical steroid cream was a quick and easy "fix," but not without consequences.  Unbeknownst to me, my skin became addicted to the steroids, and when I stopped using it in May of 2014, the withdrawal process was horrendous.  The skin on my face quickly became so bright red and swollen that I refused to leave the house for about two weeks during the worst of it.

About that same time I had started a form of channeling, and I was desperate for answers to what was going on with me, so I asked for help.  My Team lead me to the ITSAN (International Topical Steroid Awareness Network) web site, which totally explained what was happening.  I found out that the "Red Skin Syndrome," as it is called, would not last forever, and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of other people had gone through the exact same process of topical steroid withdrawal.  Despite my flaming red and swollen face, I literally cried for joy when I read about how this condition was only temporary, and was a detox symptom from topical steroid addiction.  It takes about three years for topical steroids to be completely eliminated from the body, I read, but the good news is that the first "flash" is the worst.  Since then, I have had a few recognizable "flashes," but nothing in comparison to the first one.

Back to the gut!  How does the gut get damaged and leaky?  Lots of ways, but for me it was probably a number of things: Lots of rounds of antibiotics when I was younger, plus a few years of birth-control pills, plus stress, plus a huge sweet tooth, and the topical steroid cream use was like the icing on the cake.  Antibiotics kill beneficial microbes in the gut, as do birth-control pills.  Pharmaceutical drugs damage beneficial microbes in the gut also, and I had been taking thyroid medication for a number of years as well.  Plus, I had a huge sweet tooth, and sweets feed opportunistic microbes in the gut.  Opportunistic microbes can damage the gut wall, causing a leaky gut.

Finally, after about twenty years of dealing with food sensitivities and eczema, I had the answer to what was going on in my body.  I had a leaky gut, and needed to heal it.

In May of 2014, after taking my time reading the GAPS book, (GAPS stands for Gut And Psychology Syndrome), and backing my way into the very strict Intro Phase of the diet, I started on my journey out of the gap of common medical knowledge, and into real healing.  And once through the worst part of topical steroid cream withdrawal/Red Skin Syndrome, and strictly following the GAPS diet (also called GAPS healing protocol), my skin looks better than it has in twenty years.  I am now able to eat just about anything, including some milk products, with no reaction!  And for this, I am truly grateful.

Blessings!

Tonight, Ashling would not get into the car. She usually jumps right in with little or no hesitation. But not tonight. She did not want to get into the car. So we tried again. A few more attempts, and she just didn’t want to get in. So we took a little walk away from the car, and tried again. This time she hesitated, but then jumped in. Moments later we pull onto a major road and we see, just ahead, first one, then another, then another, then a fourth deer, running across the road, probably exactly where Ashling and I would have been had she jumped right into the car.

I am reminded that everything happens for a reason.

I am humbled, and grateful.

A fawn

Look upon a fawn,

Then two!

Peering through the leaves and dew.

Feel my love, my warmth, my light,

as I the same of you.

"Live with a dancing spirit.

The stars in the heavens are dancing through space,

the Earth never ceases to spin.

All life is dancing:

the trees with the wind,

the waves on the sea,

the birds,

the fish,

all are performing their own dance of life.

Every living thing is dancing,

and you must keep dancing too,

for the rest... of your life! "

Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda

Love & Joy

"Choosing to live your life in joy is a revolutionary decision. The mind, however, is a stubborn old machine. All those synapses doing one dance for so long are now being asked to learn another. Daily practice is the key to retraining these connections, and it can be done. A meta-decision helps--to live your life in joy. Then the small forgettings, the automatic return to negative thought patterns become gentle modifications you make along the way.

It's time to try this out seriously. Thinking about it, agreeing with it intellectually, keeps you stepping in place. The way to persuade your head that life can be lived in joy is to practice, practice, practice. Join the Olympics of the Spirit, where everyone gets the gold."

~M.Kennedy

I see your beauty in the half-moon shining bright

Peeking through the clouds tonight

And I am transported elsewhere

Only knowing this when I return.