salvia divinorum
Sun 11.12.23,
You must give up the world,” says the note in the center of the corkboard facing me at my desk. I once smoked a perfectly legal hallucinogenic plant, a shortlived experience,about a half hour journey to the real world. Under its influence I understood that there was really no out there, out there. I was living in the little studio on the Upper East Side at that time, and I remember looking out the windows facing west and 1st Ave., and further on into the heart of Manhattan.
I believe that you must give up the world. Only then can you achieve equanimity, only then can you be in control of yourself and your destiny, only then can you deliver on your promise. You did make a promise to yourself at one time, a secret promise only you and the universe know about, a promise made with some dignity about your truth, about the real world.
If you don’t give up the world, you are prey to whomever and whatever piques your interest. Fact of matter, you are alone, with a raging appetite in an empty world, I want, I want, I want; I need, I need, I need. And then there’s the wolf; he’s at the door panting, and he’s hungry. It doesn’t matter, you have more important things to focus on. What if, in your encounter with the wolf, (you cannot evade the confrontation,) you come with expectations? Then you are bringing the world with you and you will be defeated.
Once you understand that there is only you making it all up, only you attracting situations, pleasant or not, because you need them, (you are not to blame, it isn’t about right or wrong, good or bad, it just is,) then you can choose to live through your beauty, your dignity, your truth. Nothing can be taken from you. But, and it’s a big but, you must live with impeccability, every decision, every action must be impeccable. Your words are your truth, you must follow through, commit yourself completely to your undertaking.
The real world.
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MANHATTAN SEERESS NOW ON EBOOKS
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.
