In Today's World

A quick hello from a new Blog Sister, a 50-something Goddess Geek and natural-born optimist working hard to maintain that status in this world of hyped bad news.

I started my day at the lakeshore. The early morning colors -- the blue herons, the purple coneflowers, the dark brown earth -- these are the features worth reading in today's news.

And on the radio? The BBC's Heart and Soul, a weekly program whose host is doing a series on Goddesses in Today's World.

Updated on Wednesdays and available for listening on the Net, this week's program is an interesting 13 minutes of interviews from the UK to Kathmandu, with goddess lore, temple chanting, current issues and this provocative bit of Hindu cosmology:

Within the cosmology of Hinduism the male is a passive reality. That energy lies there latent. And it's the female energy that brings forth that potentiality.... For example, how does the fire burn? Through Shakti. How does the wind blow? Through Shakti. How do the waters flow in the rivers? Through Shakti, the feminine aspect of the Godhead.

How does the fire burn, indeed. Mine's been burning too low, lately. Two young men dead in my immediate and extended family in the past four months: one a suicide, the other still undetermined -- suicide or homicide.

If depression is a stage of grief, I've just recently begun moving out of it. Finding beauty in the sights and sounds of morning is a sign and a station: healing is happening.