Dear Friends,
When I was 13 years old, I knew what I wanted to be in my life. I wanted to be an Entomologist. I loved insects. I loved bugs so much I made a collection which I had started when I was about 9 years old and continued to work on until the Science Fair when I was in Junior High.
Mr. Holt saw my project and went crazy. He was fat. Really fat. He jiggled and waddled and oozed and snorted and threw me out of the fair.
I got an “F” in Biology, even though I had perfect grades. Why? I had included in my demonstration a Praying Mantis, which, even in 1964, was a protected species. I had not known that, and I was crushed. I threw my project away, and thus ended the dreams of a budding insect scientist…
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What does this have to do with the postponed workshops?
For the past three months I have been displaced from my home and office due to sewer flies. These are nasty, but essential, little flies that eat – well, you know. It seems that every single sewer fly between my village and Pasadena has been hanging out in my pipes and plumbing, which, because my house is 75 years old, has split, broken, busted, and provided a delicious haven for these little guys. So, bit by bit, my patient but frustrated landlords and I have been dealing with this. One wall opens, we see a horror show in terms of the plumbing, only to open another wall to see something worse. These flies live in drains and pipes. They are not like regular flies. And they are almost impossible to swat.
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Then there was the shower. It crumbled. Like, it fell and crumbled, since the walls and floor were leaking. LEAKING!!!!
What about the dishwasher? Seemingly unrelated? Who knows?

BUT OH MY GOD IT HAS BEEN SO DIFFICULT AND EXPENSIVE AND FRUSTRATING!

From a 5 Element perspective we could look at it this way: The shit could represent the end of the cycle, Metal, (Lung/Large Intestine) which is called the Shaman’s Death, and now we are being bathed in Water, (Kidney/Bladder) And this represents new birth, a new beginning.

Let’s hope so!

At the beginning of COVID my daughter sent me a beautiful piece of writing which said, in effect, we were never to forget what was happening to us and the lesson it brought. We were to remember the animals walking safely in city streets, birds flying everywhere, and the crystal-clear skies. We were to be guests on this earth, but never the earth’s master.

Remember. Please remember.

Love, Gopita