Daily Archives: November 25, 2019

Shoals

Part 5: Helen Keller & Muscle Shoals – The Journey (part 1part 2part 3, part 4)

The next morning 11/14/19, I woke before dawn, my usual morning headache, worse than most days. Was I feeling the weight of the ‘Trail of Tears’, a constant underlying strain in the symphony of living waters – a true counterpoise to the joyful music of the likes of Etta James & the Swampers?

Was that my mother Betty Mae hanging at the edge of my dreamscape, or maybe it was Columbia, the Spirit of America, calling from the heights & the depths? I can’t quite remember. I got up & did my eurythmy, Chi Gong & morning meditation with the waning moon shining in the west.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Southern-tour-2019-tuscumbia-altar-rotated.jpg
~hag

In the light of day, Deb went out for a morning walk with the aim of finding the water’s edge. She returned having triumphantly reached her goal, hungry as an hawk. After coffee Angela set up an altar with her potent ‘Soul Soil’- potentized samples from various sacred sites that she has collected since 2013. (read about her adventures here) We circled up, did a check-in, invoked the Spirit of place, the Being of Columbia, & Anthroposophia; said the Foundation Stone Meditation & did the Hallelujah in eurythmy.

~hag

Then we packed up, drove out of the Liberty Bell, & made our way, 1st to Ivy Green, the birthplace of Helen Keller, not far, in Tuscumbia, Alabama.

~hag

The stories from the docent, & the feeling of being in the home of this amazing human being & the women who dedicated their lives working with her, was uplifting & humbly awe inspiring.

~hag

Standing at the water pump where Helen had her break thru in understanding language was very powerful – This connection with the spirit of water speaking clearly & living strongly in us.

~hag

I was fascinated by what they called the ‘Moon Tree’ stretching up to the slow moving clouds, throwing a blanket of pine needles on the hallowed grounds. Was it really grown from a seed that went into outerspace?

Related image

Also on the property is the Lions Club of America, a sort of Masonic lodge. In 1925, Helen attended the Lions Club International convention & challenged the organization to “become the knights to the blind in the crusade against darkness.” Ever since, they have played a key role in service to the visually impaired. They commissioned this statue carved from the local white marble. We marveled at this image of Helen’s open throat chakra!

~hag

From there it was a hop skip & a jump to the famous ‘Fame Studios’ in Muscle Shoals, where music runs through the hills, the river, & the spirit of the people. It is a place where, even before the Civil Rights Movement really took shape, the color of your skin didn’t matter inside the studio.

~Photo by Angela Foster, a nod to EB’s General Store!

Angela & Deb had lunch in a local eatery where the helpful inn keepers name was ‘Groovy’. I took a walk, feeling the need to listen for the song of the river.

~hag

Together we walked the banks of the Tennessee River, giving homage to the spirit of the water.

~hag

Next to the Singing River we did the Hallelujah in a stunning pine grove before we made our way to Memphis…

Tomorrow we explore our meeting with the Kings of Memphis…

***

~William Blake

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~And then 1 day it happens
The pattern breaks
A healing happens
Just when you think
The pain is fathomless, swallowing all the light
A crack in the sheen of obsidian
Opens the hollow inside
Allowing a trace of fresh born stars
To trail over tears
& apply hope to the color palate of the future
~hag

***

~William Eckhardt Kohler.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day