“…Inspiration finds you when you’re willing to see and speak the truth.”
This is how chaotically intense the vortex in #santacruz is:
I’d been deliberating about how to deepen my #qigong #tcm studying in earnest for the fall after a summer of lax #baduanjin, most consistently done IN Santa Cruz .
Directionals. Which area to focus on, what qi gong to lean into form-wise, asking God questions.
I went to bed ( after the impromptu margarita party that was full of deep dives on everything due to running with another #kismeticvierge) saying I’d “knooow what to do in the morning.”
I woke for an early latte run, pulled down streets I’d walked all month in a neighborhood replete with #littlefreelibraries.
I got paused groggily at this shallow box of books someone had sat out 2 houses before a lil library casually perused each time I’d been on that block .
Now there are quaint lil bespoke
cabinets of books all over & I sleepily balked a bit- I like the whole “opening lil dollhouses to find books” aspects of it.
I got popped in the back of the head.
“Those are put out for YOU-” the ether growled.
I made a few faces… went alright & leaned in to see:
#lidongyuan #treatiseonthespleenandstomach
&
traditional acupuncture: the law of #thefiveelements by #dianneconnelly.
I looked up at the sky like “wtf?!”
It growled “told you lol. Take the-“
Spooked, I grabbed the 2 books and darted twds coffee.
It’s the clip of the #spiritofthecity lol- I feel it’s volatility under the surface and it brings all the #ceryneianhind energy in me. This was Before I found out about “the Big One”.
It let me get my latte, feeling it’s dark deep eyes on me through the veil as I woke more.
“They only put out 3 books. I told you to take them All. Get the last one on the way back-” it whispered almost menacingly.
“okokok,geez!maaan~thanks…tho.”
I warily went back past it- there really was only the one book left. I’d left it because it had no imagery on the cover. . . & I hadn’t wanted to connect to it without knowing what it was. Can’t explain that. Those who understand…understand.
“Read the spine-” the spirit of Santa Cruz purred over my shoulder.
#tonguediagnosisinchinesemedicine.
..a topic I’d always been curious about.
I grabbed it, looked at the house that they’d been sat out in front of warily, bopped a curtsey and went home & saged the Fuck out of them because That was a holy assed experience .
“…happy birthday.” The spirit of the city grunted bashfully & bounced.
What makes this…deeper and sweeter is since my birthday in 2018 hand in hand with mandarin study I’d been taking TCM classes online along with cultural courses at Chinese universities. Casually, just like the casual study with the medicine woman in Taos. She specifically specialized in TCM, having even studied in China for a year or so.
It’s woven through the second triplets, TCM. & I had access to her library & the courses.
…But these are my first in hand specific TCM treatises of my own.
The spirit of that place started MY traditional chinese medicine Library in earnest for my birthday.
…and then!
Then- It led my friend & I to spend our last afternoon – my Birthday Eve- sprawled at Bad Animal, an amazing bookstore…and It William Blake’d the fuck out of me.
The spirit Knew I was giving up anchoring my thoughts on Blake’s words with his art the next day…so he had the dude at the counter pull out two gorgeously illustrated books on him while I looked for an all poetry, no imagery one.
…just so I could soak in the art one last afternoon before abstaining from it.
But it’s that It did that AS he did the Very same thing to my friend regarding a writer she’d been feeling called to study.
She walked in, bent down & was Right in front of a clutch of books by this Jewish writer from the Hungarian town her family had escaped from right before the entire area was decimated. This guy wrote extensively on the area.
Just…Casually. Wham.
To her too.
& she grew up there.
That? That… I’d say … is fucking HOT.