Inyan

Stone

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Inyan, the fourth creation of Wakan Tanka

is the force of equilibrium.

On earth Inyan is stone.

Sun 7.24.22

  Tell me Sister (or Brother), did you wonder as you were on point of making your commitment, about the door forever shutting behind you as you entered your new life, the narrowing of it to this particular situation or person, and what's more, about the life you will now build?  Before this situation or person came into your life all doors were open, all possibilities.  Sure, you were never going to explore most of your potential.  But were you losing all those possibilities?  Were you shutting the door on the person you had been before this one came along?  You were happy weren't you, having a pretty good time, and doing creative things? 

      This could be a trap?  Think of the story told by Carlos Castaneda about being in a taxi with a girlfriend who is in the process of abandoning her home, moving to other parts.  He is accompanying her to the animal shelter where she plans to drop off 2 cats to be euthanized (killed) most likely.  He waits inside the car as she gets out with one of the cats, and in the melée the other cat, his name is Max, escapes, runs out of the car to his freedom.  Don't you want to be Max, to know the trap and run?  Run, run, run, in the fields, in the gutter, untouched, uncommitted.  What is the trap, the life before this situation or person came into your life, or the life you have now?  And don't bullshit, what you lose is forever; don't dismiss so easily the Spirit that brought you here.

      Did you mull it in your head, Sister?  You know about the prison don't you?  That's where you are fed ersatz pleasures, ersatz relationships, and then you die in a cold hospital room with the overhead TV playing Dialing For Dollars.  Maybe you thought you could escape the decision, you could spend your life exploring avenues, one after another. And now your life is becoming circumscribed streets, the laundry, the pantry and the scheduled diversions.  This situation or person supports you, and somehow enriches your life, gives you pleasure and yes, stability.

      Then there are break-ups.  Does one ever break up?  The truth, rather, was that you were never fully there.  The problem with commitment is that there is so very little that you would ever care to commit yourself to or anyone else for that matter.  Let’s own up to it commitments are really short term arrangements . . . for now.

      There are times when major changes are called for. Did you mull all that over before you took the plunge, Sister, Brother?

Eight o'clock Sunday morning, the police arrive at her apartment in Greenwich Village, "How long have you been living here?" The roommate Elizabeth, after having accepted her half of the deposit money and rent for their new apartment, has called the police. 

New York City doesn’t open its arms to welcome her, but she’s arrived and the adventure of her life is about to unfold.  She’s come from Maine with an invitation from Sarah Lawrence College to participate in the graduate writing program.

How one becomes a seeress is what this memoir explores. Stories have been specifically selected to illustrate, from the sublime to the practical, a spiritual journey introduced in each chapter by an atout, the Tarot’s major archetypes.   From the Fool, to The World, our human journey with its risk and folly unfolds. There is also an artist here alive to her new world seeking inspiration among artists on the Lower East side, learning the ways and foods of her Chinese neighbors, falling in love.