hey Joe,
I had a few difficult tasks to take care of since last night, so didn't get back to read here til late, but your story above posted stayed with me all the while, like some dreams do, you know?
I still can't put into words what got carried by it, but thanks for telling it, really, very much
I still haven't located the retrocausality study I had been thinking of, that I had referenced previously, I'll find it eventually, but this one is good too:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/292 ... guy15.html
since I stepped away from the board I've lost track of where some threads are and were and where certain posts were ... but pendulums seems hospitable enough to mention a couple unrelated things:
you mentioned Opus Dei, and while I know that is a very ... big and enigmatic subject, I did want to let you know, if you don't already, that new mexico has a very old, as old as the hispanic settlement of the area (15th c) network of "penitentes" - men who flagellate themselves as a spiritual practice
it's very old school and closed off to anglos, but still very strong
there are both men and women who still make the pilgrimage to the shrine at chimayo on their knees, for miles
modern new mexicans are the descendants of the original spanish settlers (rather than being in any way from mexico) and the original land grants are often still intact: the deal was if they came and stayed, they became "hidalgo" - nobles; there is such a thing in nm as "hidalguismo" - pride in one's nobility, identifying with it
new mexico also has many descendants of "conversos" - sephardic jews who outwardly converted (to christianity) and then went from south america thro mexico to new mexico to escape the inquisition
guess you could say it's a place awash in ancestor spirits of all kinds
not sure why I felt prompted to tell all that, but I did
maybe someone wanted their story told, or a bit of it, anyway
you spoke of talking to the land, it made me think of this book, that you might like:
Talking to the Ground
Douglas Preston
In 1992 Doug Preston and his family rode horseback across 400 miles of desert in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. They were retracing the route of the Navajo deity Naayéé' neizghání, the Slayer of Alien Gods, on his quest to restore beauty and balance to the Earth.
also, you mentioned that both your dad and wife had been ill some while back, and I just wanted to express the hope and wish that they are both now well
Everything in nature has a power in it.
-Thomas Banyacya