Exciting News!

In June, I’ll be going to Washington, D.C. for a conference, National Leadership Exchange and Conference (by the National Center for Creative Aging). Along with doing an overhaul on the WhatGodDoes website, I’m also building a website for Alzheimer Chronicles, Inc.

What is Alzheimer Chronicles, Inc.?

Perhaps you recall a series of blogs about a collection of short stories by people with Alzheimer’s, framed in my observations and commentary. I called it Invisible Poets, and started a Kickstarter campaign for funds to have it printed in bulk. Although the campaign was by no means a flop, it failed to reach the goal, and consequently no one has the Invisible Poets book. Since I believe everything happens for a reason, I did not give up on the idea of sharing the stories of this segregated portion of the population. I shelved the idea for a while. Now, it’s off the shelf again, and it is evolving into something that I think will be much more exciting and meaningful than reading a book.

Why AlzheimerChronicles.com Went Away

The website I built previously, AlzheimerChronicles.com was hosted by a company that, unlike DreamHost (which is awesome, BTW) did not bother to send me a domain name renewal. It looks like someone from China or Japan got ahold of it! I can’t pay $5,000 to get the domain name back, so I’m creating a new website, InvisiblePoets.org.

The Unfinished Website Is Already Live

Instead of unveiling it all at once, I decided to give anyone interested a chance to engage in the website design process by offering feedback and suggestions. That way, I can adjust the direction I take it, if necessary. I hope to have the site completed mid-May. You are welcome to follow the progress and take part in the discussion.

You can also use Twitter and Facebook to offer input.

Website construction for Alzheimer Chronicles (http://t.co/MhsVjvwPf6) will be a collaborative process. Your opinion? http://t.co/teWi6VLDAI

— Alice Dean Spicer (@AliceDeanSpicer) April 14, 2014

Trying out my new camera the other night, I snapped this picture of the moon:

Then my friend Mary Koeditz sent me this article, Sky Watch: April 2014, which has some very specific information about an upcoming lunar eclipse, including a sky map from AstronomyBoy.com.

An eclipse of the moon, though less awe-inspiring, is nevertheless sufficiently so to awaken in the superstitious brain fearful forebodings of impending calamity. Science may demonstrate that there is nothing abnormal in these occurrences, but to the seeker after signs it wilt be throwing words away; for, as Lord Kames says, “Superstitious eyes are never opened by instruction.” (Moon Lore, Timothy Harley)

According to the Spiritual Science Research Foundation,

Eclipses are significant events at a spiritual level. There is an increase in Raja-Tama which has negative effects on humanity. Ghosts take advantage of the heightened Raja-Tama to create a variety of issues that have global negative repercussions. Regular spiritual practice ensures that we are insulated from its subtle (intangible) harmful effects.

In Islam, a lunar eclipse is a sign of Allah’s majesty, and there is a special eclipse prayer called salat ul-khusuf. Here’s the story behind the prayer:

During the time of the prophet, a solar eclipse happened. People hurried to link this to a worldly event, namely, the death of the prophet’s son, Ibrahim. The prophet explained the truth of this matter to them. In his Sahih, Imam Muslim reported that `A’ishah said: …”The sun and the moon are two signs of Allah; they are not eclipsed on account of anyone’s death or on account of anyone’s birth. So when you see them, glorify and supplicate Allah, observe the Prayer, give alms. O Ummah of Muhammad, none is more indignant than Allah when His servant or maid commits fornication. O people of Muhammad, by Allah, if you knew what I know, you would weep much and laugh little. O Allah, witness, I informed them.”

(see this Wikipedia article for the full version)

The Bible references to the moon are about marking times and seasons, “from new moon to new moon,” or used in poetic and apocalyptic language like “the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars” and “the sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood.”

Ancient Greek mythology finds its way into Matthew 4:24 and 7:15. This is what Strong’s concordance has to say:

Here is some more background on lunatic from Jules Cashford’s book, The Moon: Myth and Image:

Lunar eclipses throughout history have given us the opportunity to gather insights into cultures, traditions and beliefs of people in different time periods. Eclipses are visually fascinating and astronomically interesting (pun intended). Between now and very early Wednesday, I’ll be considering lunar eclipses and what spiritual insights we, in this glorious age of scientific discovery and technological advancement, might discover in the shadow of a moon that’s turned to blood.

This blog by “Sis-Lisa” is a reminder to me, in my utter contempt for institutional church, not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I used to read Bible stories to my son, and he would say, “God sure does know a lot of magic tricks.” In reexamining every belief I’d held over the past couple of decades, there are some I haven’t quite figured out, yet. Among them — the power of prayer. You can read about this and more in Learning Magic from Mr. Disney.

They say “life is like an ocean. It can be calm and still or rough and rigid. But in the end, it’s always beautiful.” (Unknown) I’ve been through some rough and rigid, but lately I’ve been finding equilibrium, thanks to my new awesome job. What a blessing it is to be able to put my creative brain to some practical use and get paid for it!

Although I’ve done a lot of writing for websites lately, Stone Advisory Magazine is a platform that allows for more creative freedom, and I thoroughly enjoyed writing for this past issue. I wrote the sidebar entitled, “Adding a Little Romance” in the Designing With It: A Bath of Your Dreams featured article, and I contributed to the Stone Showcase: Soapstone (the introduction paragraph).

Although the magazine has 16,000 subscribers, and that number keeps growing, the magazine needs more feedback from readers. I suspect it is because readers go here to read the magazine, but they don’t know they can go here to leave feedback (under contact). I hope you take a few minutes to thumb through it, and if you like what you see, please provide a sentence or two of feedback.

Tim got me a really good camera for my birthday. At the Combustion and Tangent gig tonight at Red Lion Pub, I took a few practice shots, adjusting the shutter speed in an attempt to pick up the light trails from the light twirlers. I didn’t stick around long enough for the fire twirlers, though. Maybe next time. The band photos are Combustion. I didn’t get any of Tangent, because I was busy singing. I need to write a blog about this place one day when I have more time. There are some really good things happening at Red Lion. I promised the twirlers I would post their pics here on WhatGodDoes.