Posted a thank you on here to the awesome people who helped with the health stuff. It's very, very much appreciated. Here's hoping things will be better in the next year, treatment-wise. Love you guys.

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

From Essential Rumi
by Coleman Barks

Via Cute Overload: A fawn, its mother killed by a car, nursed to health by a family! Lovely pics. Dunno why they didn't make them clickable, but you can right-click and "view image" to see them bigger.

http://www.ironmountainjewelry.com/FawnFolio.html

I've noticed lots of my flisters having those annoying Snapshot preview bubbles on every sodding link, and been wondering why in the hell you guys keep those things on, because I, for instance, find them bloody irritating--I want to read the journal entry, not look at a snapshot!

Here's how you can disable the buggers: Go to Viewing Options and untick the box that says "Enable graphic previews on external links within your journal".

I'd also recommend you set your Privacy Options tight. Untick the Weblogs.com thing, since their site mines data, much like LJ is soon going to do--i.e. meaning they'll find out who you are, what your interests are, to spam you with adverts. And you're better off unticking that Facebook box as well. And if you want even tighter privacy, tick the top two boxes that say "Minimize your journal's inclusion in search engine results"
and "Exclude your entries from site explore areas" because any random surfer can see some unlocked entries from your lj.

And now we come to that bloody annoying Navigation strip. If you are using a S2 layout, go to the Customize Journal Style page. And untick the appropriate boxes.
It's rather unnecessary, IMHO, and clutters up the page--especially if you want your journal to have a pretty header graphic, for instance.

If you're using one of the old layouts, the Viewing Options will display the Navigation strip options.

Hope this helps, ask me if you need more details.

Ja suomeksi saa kysyy myos, mutta mina en pysty selittamaan yhta hyvin koska omat LJ-selausasetukseni ovat englanninkieliset ja nuo suomalaisten tekemat kaannokset LJ:n sivuista ovat mita ovat. Mutta jos apuva tarvittette, niin... mytsis? Tuossa on nyt rautalankaa:).

Now, the Aghori (name means "non-fearing") sect of Tantrik Hinduism is often looked down upon by most hardcore Hindus, because it's very extreme. Its practitioners use the most extreme methods to reach enlightenment, because their tradition (and even Brahmanical Hinduism) states that Everything Is God/dess--the genderless Brahman. Thus, they are often vilified for it, because Brahmanical Hinduism, in its contradictory way (the Vedas are as contradictory as any other religion's holy scriptures), has its taboos.

So, the Aghori even eat human flesh, cooked and fresh from funeral pyres. I find them intriguing, because taboo-breaking and non-dualism and the fact that God Herself is everywhere in the cosmos, even the most "dirty" things. I'm paraphrasing Starhawk: "when we eat, shit, make love, we manifest the Goddess".

And now, FINALLY, I managed to track down a documentary I saw on the Discovery Channel about Indian Sadhus (i.e. ascetic holy men and women). This particular Sadhu practices Aghori.

The documentary can be found on YouTube, split into six parts:

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWgW9kh_NjQ

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkMpZ1uszNs

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXFwzqE28ZI

4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjscXcrTdbQ

5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG0Vra5cDw0

6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLCpNQGIMzY

I haven't watched it in ages. I might just watch it after I've finished this post. I won't spoil it for you, but I'd love to hear your comments on it.

Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls: Popular Goddess Worship in West Bengal.

This book looks very, *very* interesting. Just from the sample pages alone, it's quite intriguing from an anthropological perspective. *ponders* Seems to be decent academic research as well (going by the fact that it's published by the Oxford University Press).

Have to ask for the city library to get it or something. So often you just get to read about the Brahmanic traditions, whereas the Goddess worship in Hinduism so often springs from pre-Vedic, pre-Brahmanic traditions. So this is closer to the roots and how the common people see their Goddesses, about living faith not bound to Vedic ritual patterns. Hmmm...

I'm not dead! Yet, at least.

This has been a pretty damn good year:). In all sorts of ways. Mostly because my fannish madness has *really* picked up again, so I mostly ramble about that on the other LJ.

Spirituality-wise... not much to talk about either. And RL has been pretty non-eventful.

But anyway, hugs to you all, and yay for the lengthening days and more sunlight!

Eikö se riitä
siellä aukeavat
kultaiset portit päivään uuteen
ja vielä pyörii maa
Eikö se riitä
sinua rakastetaan
paljon ja aina enemmän
ja sinuun luotetaan
Eikö se riitä
että joskus harvoin
kätesi piirtää rajan
kestävän ja todellisen
--
Eikö se riitä
Vielä pakahtuvat
tunteesi monta kertaa
rikkinäisen kauneuden edessä
--

Yksinkertaista. Mutta taas osuu Yrkki niin etta sattuu. Iski jo kun biisi tuli ulos mutta jotenkin viela enemman nyt.

Olisiko kukaan tulossa Ammaa kattomaan 25.-26. lokakuuta? Viime kerralla jai valiin... Espoon LansiAuto-Areenalla talla kertaa.

Jurppii kun jai valiin viime vuonna, vielakaan en ole halia saanut.

Happy birthday, mielikkik!