There are two mistakes one can make along the road...
not going all the way and not starting.

Gautama Siddhartha

Night night all .. enjoy XX

Suddenly had a craving for cardamon coffee.
Mixed cardamom grains from pods together with coffee in cafetiere
Poured into favourite gold rim coffee cup
A treat for the old taste buds
Lovely smokey chocolatey taste.
Perfect.

Chocolat , the film is on TV - perfect for Friday night viewing. Sensuous and magical. Methinks 80% dark chocolate might be good in bean stew.

Chocolate and chillies ..chocolate and cardemon .. chocolate and peppermint ..mmmmm

Freya was the goddess of love and beauty. She was the sister of Frey and from Vanaheim. The gods and goddesses of Asgard thought her to be so beautiful that they immediately accepted her and gave her own realm and palace. She was the most beautiful and beloved among all the goddesses. Freya sometimes joined the Valkyrs in battle and in collecting the dead after the battle. She carried weapons and armor and only wore feminine clothing from the waist down.

Freyja (sometimes anglicized as Freya or Freja), sister of Freyr and daughter of Niord (Njǫrðr), is usually seen as a Norse fertility goddess.

Freyja means "lady" in Old Norse (cf. fru or Frau in Scandinavian and German). While there are some sources suggesting that she was called on to bring fruitfulness to fields or wombs, she was a goddess of love, beauty, sex, and attraction. Freyja was also a goddess of war, death, magic, prophecies and wealth. Freya is cited as receiving half of the dead lost in battle in her hall Folkvang, whereas Odin would receive the other half.

Freija gives her name to our FRIDAY

Our Friday is also VENUS day .. French "Vendredi"

TGIF

Belly full of bean stew now . Flippin eck that was good Shipscook ! Must have a lie down now and have a snoooze
Cheers !

x

With thanks to Shipscook's and leading wench Mrs F's recipe.... it's going to be a stew rather than filling for tortillas. Mira can't help but adapt a recipe straight away.. necessary since no potato at home .. or tortillas ..fortunately rest of ingredients were lying around !

Into the cauldron go :
lentils
Kidney beans
(+ white beans which just happened to be soaked from last night )
Chopped up onion
Loads of chopped up garlic
ground cumin ( a couple of shakes )
tomato chilli passata ( its got quite a STING to it )
chili powder
Some oregano ( now that was a nice touch )
tomato puree
Some vegetarian stock ( shakes in a bit of stock powder ) .....
and its all simmering away quite nicely now filling my home with delicious aromas.
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm what to do while it's cooking ?
Patience needed now

Thanks ,Shipscook and Mrs F ! Cheers XX

On the meaning of: OM MANI PADME HUM
"The jewel is in the lotus or praise to the jewel in the lotus"

(by His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso The Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet )
*

It is very good to recite the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM, but while
you are doing it, you should be thinking on its meaning, for the
meaning of the six syllables is great and vast. The first, OM, is
composed of three pure letters, A, U, and M. These symbolize the
practitioner's impure body, speech, and mind; they also symbolize the
pure exalted body, speech and mind of a Buddha.

Can impure body, speech and mind be transformed into pure body,
speech and mind, or are they entirely separate? All Buddhas are cases
of being who were like ourselves and then in dependence on the path
became enlightened; Buddhism does not assert that there is anyone who
from the beginning is free from faults and possesses all good
qualities. The development of pure body, speech, and mind comes from
gradually leaving the impure states and their being transformed into
the pure.

How is this done?
The path is indicated by the next four syllables.
MANI, meaning jewel, symbolizes the factor of method- the altruistic
intention to become enlightened, compassion, and love. Just as a
jewel is capable of removing poverty, so the altruistic mind of
enlightenment is capable of removing the poverty, or difficulties, of
cyclic existence and of solitary peace. Similarly, just as a jewel
fulfills the wishes of sentient beings, so the altruistic intention to
become enlightened fulfills the wishes of sentient beings.

The two syllables, PADME, meaning lotus, symbolize wisdom. Just as
a lotus grows forth from mud but is not sullied by the faults of mud,
so wisdom is capable of putting you in a situation of non-
contradiction where as there would be contradiction if you did not
have wisdom. There is wisdom realizing impermanence, wisdom realizing
that persons are empty of self-sufficient or substantial existence,
wisdom that realizes the emptiness of duality (that is to say, of
difference of entity between subject and object), and wisdom that
realizes the emptiness of inherent existence. Though there are may
different types of wisdom, the main of all these is the wisdom
realizing emptiness.

Purity must be achieved by an indivisible unity of method and
wisdom, symbolized by the final syllable, HUM, which indicates
indivisibility. According to the sutra system, this indivisibility of
method and wisdom refers to one consciousness in which there is a full
form of both wisdom affected by method and method affected by wisdom.
In the mantra, or tantra vehicle, it refers to one conciousness in
which there is the full form of both wisdom and method as one
undifferentiable entity. In terms of the seed syllables of the five
conqueror Buddhas, HUM is the is the seed syllable of Akshobhya- the
immovable, the unfluctuating, that which cannot be disturbed by
anything.

Thus the six syllables, OM MANI PADME HUM, mean that in dependence
on the practice which is in indivisible union of method and wisdom,
you can transform your impure body, speech and mind into the pure
body, speech, and mind of a Buddha. It is said that you should not
seek for Buddhahood outside of yourself; the substances for the
achievement of Buddhahood are within. As Maitreya says in his SUBLIME
CONTINUUM OF GREAT VEHICLE (UTTARA TANTRA) all beings naturally have
the Buddha nature in their own continuum. We have within us the seed
of purity, the essence of a One Gone Thus (TATHAGATAGARBHA), that is
to be transformed and full developed into Buddhahood.

(Taken from a lecture given by His Holiness The Dalai Lama of Tibet at the
Kalmuck Mongolian Buddhist Center, New Jersey.Transcribed by Ngawang Tashi (Tsawa), Drepung Loseling, MUNGOD, INDIA )

*mira makes note to herself *
" Do remember to take out rubbish containing prawn shells straight away !!!"

Cor blimey ... the PONG !!!!

*lights joss stick after taking out the rubbish *

Oh I'm such a slut !

The group's message this month is about SEXUAL ENERGY. The group says that comming soon is an increase in sexual energy for each one of us humans.

A very inspirational, moving video - in 3 parts - a short meditation - sexual energy - a song. About 20 minutes - well spent .

"The spirit down here in man and the spirit up
there in the sun, in reality are only one spirit,
and there is no other one."

-- The Upanishads

We regard our lives as made up of an infinite
number of separate bits and pieces. That is how our
senses perceive our universe.

But science has now affirmed what the sages
always knew. The life force is the foundation of all,
unseen and untouched though it may be. It flows
through everyone and everything. It is impossible
to exist separate and apart from the source of
all creation.