Supernova
darkstaronline.com Newsletter
Issue # 9 |
 Sagittarius
November/December 2004
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Hello
Here we are again. Imagine. Already we are in our 9th issue. We’ve gotten some wonderful feedback on Supernova. Thank you for your comments. It’s nice to get a pat on the back.
Rock Your World
The Stone Lady is back! She has written some great stuff about Amber. I have listened to Terry talk about stones, and about Amber, for quite a few years now. She has some new stuff in this column that I have never heard before.
“Technically, Amber isn't a stone, but rather a fossilized resin. It is rich in lore and legend. Many cultures have considered it to be extremely precious, in terms of both monetary and spiritual values.”
You will enjoy reading about Amber in this month’s Rock Your World very much!
Upcoming Dark Starry Nights:
| Terry Milton, The Stone Lady |
Wednesday, December 1st
Starting at 7:00 pm |
My good friend Terry Milton, The Stone Lady, will be at Dark Star Philosophia on Wednesday, December 1st. You know Terry from her column at darkstaronline.com Rock Your World. Terry has spent 25 years working and meditating with each of the stones on her beautiful tray.
Terry does readings with these stones. People pick stones, and she tunes into them through the stones that they pick. I have watched her readings grow and deepen over the years. Her insights are amazing, interesting (to say the least), and enlightening. She leaves her clients with new insights into their lives, insights that leave them empowered to handle life in new ways, if that’s what’s appropriate. And a reading with Terry is always fun.
There will be toasty warm refreshments available as you snuggle around our woodstove and find out more about yourself. Bring a short gift list, with a brief description of each person on it, so that Terry can recommend the ideal holiday token for each of your favorite people.
So mark your calendar for Wednesday, December 1st, at 7:00pm. Maybe Terry will give you a free reading!
Click on the picture to enlarge.
| Book Signing - Rizwan Virk |
Saturday, December 11th
1:30 to 5:00 pm |
 Rizwan Virk is the author of Zen Entrepreneurship, which we are proud to offer at Dark Star Philosophia. Zen Entrepreneurship is a unique tale of spiritual awakening set in an unusual place: the business world. When Riz Virk was in his early 20's, starting a high tech business, he was exposed to a series of techniques to bring the magic and mystery of the "hidden worlds" into his work. His book chronicles his experiences of starting and growing a company, while bringing these techniques to life to show each of us how to bring spiritual awareness into the business world.
Rizwan Virk is an entrepreneur, author, teacher, and computer scientist.
He started his first company on a shoestring budget at the age of 23 and rapidly grew it into a multi-million dollar operation with offices around the country. He has been featured in Inc. Magazine, The Boston Globe, and has written numerous articles on and given speeches on meditation, entrepreneurship, and spirituality. Riz Virk is a graduate of MIT. Some of his writings include Zen Entrepreneurship: The Path of the Career Warrior, Using Dreams to Find a More Soul-ful Career, Myths for Financing a Company, and the Dreaming Practices of the Maricopa Indians.
Chatting with Rizwan Virk promises to be interesting to business people - as Riz is a very successful entrepreneur - as well as to “Terra Novans” (people interested in Spirituality in all its forms) - who will find encouragement in Riz’s success in bringing Spirituality into the business world.
On Saturday, December 11th, from 1:30 until 5:00pm, Riz will be autographing copies of Zen Entrepreneurship here at Dark Star Philosophia. This is not exactly a Dark Starry Night, as he will be here on a Saturday afternoon. We will be sending you an announcement. There will be plenty of opportunity to talk with Riz. (And we will serve tea.)
Zen Entrepreneurship is no longer available.
| Book Signing - Bill Montague |
Sunday, December 19th
1:30 to 5:00 pm |
 Bill is a good friend of mine. You have met him before in this column. In fact, he was the force behind the creation of our website, www.darkstaronline.com. Well, Bill wrote a book a few years back, Little Mouse. We have carried Little Mouse at Dark Star Philosophia for a couple of years now. It’s a story for children – of all ages – about the mouse that lived with Henry David Thoreau on Walden Pond. Click on the picture for more information.
Bill published Little Mouse in 1993. A couple of years later, outside his shop in Concord, Massachusetts, he noticed a little mouse, and decided to take its picture. He ran all around outside trying to get a good shot of this little mouse, but it would not stay still long enough. Finally, he gave up and, in frustration, asked the mouse “Will you sit still?” Well, what do you know, the mouse did. It turned around, sat down and posed for him. Then this little mouse ran off and disappeared.
So Bill went back inside to see what his picture looked like. Something about the picture was familiar. He took his new picture over to the Little Mouse book he had written a couple of years earlier, and – lo and behold – that little mouse had posed for him in exactly the same position as the mouse on the cover of Bill’s book. As Bill says, “Now tell me there isn’t something going on here!”
That was back when Bill still had his Concord MouseTrap storefront. Bill may have changed his storefront, but he still has his Concord MouseTrap website: www.concordmousetrap.com, featuring the Wee Forest Folk. Tiny little handpainted mice from a small family business in the nearby town of Carlisle, Massachusetts. Highly collectible. Cute as can be.
Bill will be autographing copies of Little Mouse here at Dark Star Philosophia on Sunday, December 19th, from 1:30 until 5:00 pm. Again, this is not exactly a Dark Starry Night, as Bill will be here on a Sunday afternoon. We will be sending you an announcement. We will have tea, and you will have plenty of opportunity to talk to Bill.
Turquoise & Amber Bracelet
(Charles Albert)
Turquoise, a stone of protection and of Spirit-Mindedness, and Amber – stone of emotional balance and wisdom. How can you lose?
A beautiful combination.
No longer available.
Hindu Altar: Lakshmi
(Created by Nancy Strisik)
My friend Nancy Strisik’s Wonderful Hindu Altar for Lakshmi is now at Dark Star Philosophia. Click here to learn more (and to find out which Nancy Strisik created them): Hindu Altar: Lakshmi
Click on the picture for more information.
Having a Tibetan monk come and talk in your Philosophia has funny side effects. One of them was that he helped me to resolve a personal matter without even really talking to me about it. Secondly, he set me to thinking. Almost a week after Geshe Gendun’s Dark Starry Night, my thoughts are drawn to his comments about seeing things from the other person’s point of view. One of the things he talked about was the other person being worse off than you are (or I am, as the case may be).
In my childhood I understood things that sometimes got lost along the way. One of the things I have kept from childhood is a knowing that it makes no difference if the other guy is better off, or worse off. When you are in a conflict with someone, it may be difficult to get past the disagreement unless you can see the pain the other person is in. That is definitely true. But just exactly what is the point in comparing? What is the idea that we must decide who is worse off? Suddenly we have no compassion for the other’s plight if we see ourselves as being in worse shape? But we will be more than compassionate if they are worse off? That’s silly. (Besides, who can ever really know all about another’s situation anyway?)
Compassion for ourselves, compassion for others. Geshe Gendun talked about both of these things, and how we need them both. When we have compassion for ourselves, I think then we find that we do not need to draw comparisons with others. We do not need to decide who is worse off.
It’s not a competition, after all. We tend to feel defensive and need to stick up for ourselves when we see ourselves as the injured party. Ah, that one just hit home. I do that far more often than I like to admit. Do we then feel “superior” when we see the other as worse off – not always, but sometimes. Or then we may be perceived as thinking ourselves superior. Well, it gets kinda complex.
Man, if we would just relax, and take things for what they are. How much trouble we could avoid. Which brings me back to another (wonderful) comment of Geshe’s: it went something like... do you get bored just being happy all the time? Geshe Gendun, a very happy monk, is anything but bored.
Woodland Faerie -
Belaine of the Hawthorn
 The second in our series of Bronze Resin Woodland Faeries: Belaine of the Hawthorn - equally beautiful in your house or in your garden. She comes with a Faerie Coin of her own, and a poem. Click on the picture to enlarge.
More of Belaine’s companions to come...
Terra Cotta Sea Horse
(Artist: Hubert Leopold)
Our friend Hubert Leopold’s Terra Cotta Sea Horse.
Terra Cotta Sea Horse is no longer available.
Mirrors
May I talk a little bit about the ego? My friend MaryEllen, a Rockport Tarot Card Reader who at one time did her readings at Dark Star Philosophia - she now has her own “Tarot Shop” in Dock Square – MaryEllen and I have had lots of discussions about the ego. The prevailing view in many Spiritual circles is that the ego is bad – something to be overcome, or even something that does not, in fact, exist (a Buddhist perspective).
My take on this subject has always been different.
I think we all need good, healthy egos. A distorted ego (is it shrivelled and inadequate? is it over-inflated?) indicates a distorted view of one’s self – usually some kind of sense of inferiority. Astrologically speaking, I have a Sun in Leo, the sign of the Lion. This is the quintessential sign of Self, and so I am at home with my subject matter. One must feel adequate to deal with the world and with other people. People must feel strong enough and free enough to express their true natures. No amount of negating the ego will get you to greater spiritual levels – you must heal your ego instead.
These thoughts on the matter were about as far as I got until recently. But now I have had myself an insight, and I would like to share it with you. I have understood something about our true nature. Many people have understood this before me, and expressed it and taught it and written about it. Recently I “got it” - and I got it in my own way. Isn’t that the only way, in the end?
We are like coins. We have 2 faces. One looks inward (tails), the other outward (heads). You know the expression “two sides of the same coin”? That’s us. We are also like mirrors.
Let me explain, if I can, and see if I can tie this all together. One of the current lessons we are learning is that “we create our own reality”. Many wonderful books are now available on this subject, and - if this concept is new to you, or even if it isn’t - we will be happy to recommend some of them. You are in for quite an adventure in reading.
I believe that we each create our own reality out of who we are, on all levels – most of which are subconscious. (Was it Freud who compared our minds to icebergs, with only a small percentage of the ice above the surface of the water? An incredibly apt analogy.) So what we look at and see in the outside world is a reflection of who we are within. And what happens to us in that outside world, and how we handle it, in turn creates – or re-creates (or even co-creates) – who we are within. So in a sense, we are like coins – with 2 sides.
How do we do all this creating? We reflect it. More than anything, we are like mirrors. We are like spherical (or tubular) mirrors. We reflect outward the incredible and vast imagery that is within us. We are actually filled with Fantasy, and we reflect that Fantasy outward to become our Reality. The Hindu concept of the World as Illusion suddenly makes sense to me. It’s one way of defining that reflection.
So it seems to me that the outside world is a wonderful way to see what otherwise would lie buried and hidden within my psyche.
I want my mirror to be clean, and its surface flat and undistorted. I want to see my reality as clearly as possible. Ah, back to the ego – I want a healthy ego!
One comment further. It seems so often that truth is paradoxical. Indeed I do want a good, healthy ego. But if I am indeed a mirror, then, in a sense, I do not exist at all in my own right. Another very Buddhist concept. And so it is.
Addendum: There is an old Tibetan saying: If you are too clever, you could miss the point entirely. I believe I just did just that. After all that thinking, the point is actually quite simple. With all that reflecting (sic) going on, it is suddenly oh so obvious that all one really needs to do is to just BE. Relax, and simply be. This is the simplest, most satisfying, most enjoyable, and most important thing a person can do. To do nothing more than to be just who she or he truly is – this is the single most important thing a human being can do. This is how to create the world you want to live in. It was Gandhi who said “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” Or, from ancient Greece (I think): “This above all else, unto thine own self be true.” I may have an abstract way of thinking about the nature of our reality, but my conclusions seem to be in good company! What a relief it is to know that all I really have to do is to be myself, and I will reflect back into the world an honest and creative reality. This is an elegant and simple truth.
Handblown Glass Rosebud
 You may already have seen this lovely piece in our catalog, but oh how different
it looks now that I know a bit more about taking pictures! (still learning...)
We only have 3 of these (2 reds and a yellow),
and re-ordering time depends on our glassblower’s backlist -
which is longer at Christmas time. Please order early.
No longer available.
Crystal Impressions Dove of Peace
Also not a new item. But perfect for the times and for the Holidays!
No Longer Available.
Sun Hawk & The Angel
The Stone Lady and I have a friend, Lourdes Carmichael, who, with the help of her sister Fatima, has just opened up a shop in Melrose, Massachusetts: Sun Hawk and the Angel. I went to the opening. When I saw her window, my mouth fell open. I knew Lourdes would do a good job, but she has created something that took my breath away. She has some of the most exquisite stones! And some excellent jewellery, too. My companion bought herself a striking sterling silver bracelet. I found her book section, as yet quite small. Still, I found amongst her books a real treasure. (When I have finished reading it, we’ll add it to our own catalog, and I’ll be sure to let you know about it!)
Lourdes also has several readers at Sun Hawk and the Angel. An angel reader, 2 Tarot card readers (including local favorite Beverly Anderson), and Terry, The Stone Lady!
If you are in the area, you cannot go wrong by stopping in at Sun Hawk and the Angel, at 414 Main Street, Melrose, Massachusetts. Sun Hawk and the Angel is a division of the Melrose Therapeutic and Wholistic Center, at the same address.
Click on the picture to enlarge.
Rockport Through the Seasons
The fun part of this month’s pictures for Rockport Through the Seasons is the Goddess Gowns. We just got them in, and we’ve been trying them on. We’ll be sending out pictures to you soon. In the meantime, we got a couple of shots of ourselves at play. Sorry, Laurel’s gown is not for sale – she bought it (though we do take special orders!).
We’ve also got pictures of our firewood piled up in the street, and, of course, pictures of the sea and of the woods. You will especially like the shots of Annisquam’s old foot bridge.
Rockport Through the Seasons
Finale
Your comments on our newsletter, Supernova, are always welcome. Send them to info@darkstaronline.com.
This concludes the 9th issue of Supernova. Thanks for listening. Namaste.
~ gera
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