WAITING FOR GANDALF

by Barbara Blue, July 6, 2009
Dedicated to Bettye Johnson

At least since the times of ancient China, fireworks displays have been used to highlight, or to give emphasis and power to was or to commemorate events. Thus, when I attended a friend's 4th of July Life Celebration, and sat overlooking a field beyond that was set up and ready for dusk to fall, my mind wandered to the early scenes of "Lord of the Rings," as Gandalf rode his pony cart full of explosive potential into the Shire. I like the way he was puffing on the ember in his pipe carrying with him the latent spark of fire, the magic still contained.

Everyone was in a celebratory mood, anticipations in the air. People, like Hobbits, are very fond of their creature comforts, and sometimes it takes a pretty big bang to get our attention, to jar our senses out of the velvet-lined boxes we create for ourselves. This was going to be one of those freeing, awesome evenings. The food was great, the wine plentiful, and the guests all happy to be there. Children had a special interest in what they knew or had been told was coming, and as the light faded, the ember glowed, the spectacle began.

Eyes grew wide as tiny rockets flashed apart into bursts of color, amazing mid-air bouquets of fire and noise. Volley after volley shot up in the air, veils of smoke forming in curtains around the spent combustion. Ooo's and Ahhh's were hurd amid the deafening waves of pops and booms, fizzles and sighs. On and on it went, with little delay and constant surprises, until everyone was on the verge of saturation. When the finale started, the best had been saved for a last glorious statement from the Wizard, and no one was disappointed.

Pleased with himself, Gandalf suckled softly, knowing with special delight what he had done. As the air cleared, he departed to his further business, contented with the day. The children felt their tiredness and did not resist going home, being tucked into their beds to sleep and dream of lights in the night sky. Fill with wonder and possibility, the Shire had been renewed. As our friend's life was reflected back to her by all the people who'd come in appreciation of her love and wisdom, she felt a surge of inspiration, a new wind to sail on into the next adventure.

A TRIBUTE TO WOMEN

The following was given to me in celebration of my many years of wisdom. This was written by Mark Leyner, a husband, father, son and a brother as well as the author of 8 books and a co-writer of the movie "War, Inc. When he was asked what he knows for sure, he said the following:

"This sage knowledge of and ability to abide the inherently fugitive nature of happiness somehow accounts for the extraordinary beauty of women as they age.

"In their most casual offhand sisterly moments, women are capable of discussing sex in such uninhibited detail that it would cause a horde of arousing cossacks to cringe.

"Women are for all intents and purposes indomitable. It really requires an almost unimaginable confluence of crushing, cataclysmic forces to vanquish a woman.

"Women have a very specific kind of courage that enables them to fling themselves into the open sea, whether it's a new life for themselves, another person's life, or even what might appear to be a kind of madness."

Leyner says, "One last thing he knows with a certitude that exceeds anything, is that men's final thoughts in their waking days and in their lives are of women...ardent, wistful thoughts of wives and lovers and daughters and mothers."

EMERGING WOMAN

Emerging Woman from Shadows of History

A Workshop with Bettye Johnson
Saturday, June 13 2009 from 9:30 a.m. ~ 2:30 p.m.
Olympia Center,
222 Olympia St., NW
Olympia WA 98501

Bettye has long been an advocate for the status of women and is bringing together a dynamic workshop using her experiences as a Federal Women's Program Coordinator for a government district of 5 offices, a holistic health center program coordinator, an ordained minister of Divine Science, a wife and mother and now a self-published author of four books, two of which are award winning Independent Publishers Book Awards.

Bettye will lead the participants through:
~ Why the female power was subjugated to male power.
~ Moving out of the Shadow into the 21st Century.
~ Reweaving the past into the future.
~ Creating your personal Life Map.
~ Balancing your unique personal power.

Cost is $50.00 and there is pre-registration on-line using Paypal by going to http://www.magdalenescrolls.com and clicking on Bookstore.
Or, sending a cashier's check or money order to:
Bettye Johnson
P.O. Box 97
Rainier, WA 98576
Cash at the door and please bring a sack lunch.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I AM WOMAN

I am woman.
I am awakened to my greatness.
No longer do I hold anger, hatred or condemnation.
No longer do I hold jealousy, envy or greed.
I give up sickness and blame.
I am woman.
I am awakened to my power.
I have always been powerful.
I have always been genius.
I am a Keeper of Wisdom.
I am woman.
copyright Bettye Johnson
excerpt from Mary Magdalene, Her Legacy

A RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS

The Great Depression of 1929 was taking its toll with so many people unemployed people, which were mostly men who were the breadwinners for their families. I was three years old and with my family, living in Dallas, Texas. My father had been out of work and finally secured one of delivering blocks of ice. Few people at this time had electric refrigerators. Most of the people had what we called iceboxes. The ice deliveryman would load up his truck with 25 or 50 lb blocks of ice and drive to houses on his route where with a leather pad on one shoulder, he would take large tongs and grip the ice block between the points and hoist the ice up on his shoulder. He would then deliver it to the house and place the ice in the icebox. This year my father had injured his back while delivering ice and was laid up for for a long period of time.

My family and I were fortunate because we had relatives in Dallas who supplemented our income until my father could find another job. There was no welfare during those days. There were ‘poorhouses’ for the destitute people who were primarily the elderly and disabled. Those who could physically labor were forced to do so on ‘poorhouse’ farms. This gradually faded away after the Social Security Act of
1935. I also learned later that my mother’s family who were in better financial situations also sent money or clothes.

My sister and I were secure in the love of our Dallas grandparents, aunts and uncles. We were the only children on my father’s side of the family and they doted on us. My grandmother worked as a seamstress in downtown Dallas and my grandfather was on a small state pension due to an injury he received while working for the Texas Highway Department. One aunt and uncle who were not married lived at home. To make ends meet, two rooms were rented. This meant my adult aunt, uncle and grandparents all slept on a ‘sleeping porch’ that was an addition to the house.
Another aunt had married and she was a shrewd businesswoman. Her husband had a garage where he repaired automobiles and always smelled of oil and grease. Aunt Jewel invested their money in apartment houses and usually had a nice income coming in. She was the mainstay of the family during these hard times.

Christmas of 1932 was upon us. We were given a tree and we had some beautiful ornaments that had belonged to my mother’s mother. The tree sparkled and I know I felt secure and excited that Christmas morning would be the time to wake up and run into the living room to see what Santa Claus had left. Then this would be followed by the unwrapping of presents. Later we would drive over to my grandparents’ home for Christmas dinner.

This Christmas morning Santa had left my sister and me each a china tea party set. When we opened the presents, we found we each had received another china tea party set. Of course my sister and I felt very fortunate to have received two sets! Then Mother suggested that Gloria and I take the extra sets next door where a family poorer than we were lived. They had two little girls almost the same ages and Gloria and me.

We learned that the family had to wait until Christmas Eve to get a leftover tree and when we took our gifts to them, we saw there were no gifts. I can even now remember standing and gazing at their tree. They had made balls out of cotton and strung popcorn around the tree. In my childlike wonder, it was the most beautiful tree I had ever seen.

I learned at this early age the reward of a random act of kindness. My gift was and is the memory of that beautiful tree. This is not the Christmas season; however it is always a season for Random Acts of Kindness. Each of us in our own way can reach out and do a random act of kindness. We can even do it for our self.

When was the last time you treated yourself with kindness? Did you forgive your neighbor? Did you forgive a parent, a relative, a co-worker, an employer for deeds you thought were detrimental to you? Forgiveness cleanses the past and is a kindness to one's self. Why not make every day a Random Act of Kindness beginning with self?

REGARDING MARGARET STARBIRD

Today I received a comment posted on the Guestbook of my website www.magdalenescrolls.com. The one who posted the comment asked if I had read the books of Starbird and saying that she lived in Washington State. The guest commenter went on to ask why don't I get together with Starbird - or something to that effect.

This brought up a memory reaching back to 2005. I had just published the first edition of Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls. I listed Starbird's book "Woman With the Alabaster Jar" in my bibliography. I met another author who suggested that she, Starbird and myself create a documentary regarding our views and research on Mary Magdalene. Each of us had different approaches. Starbird was approached and thought it was a good idea, however after asking her publisher, Inner Traditions, she declined following the dictates of her publisher.

Yes, I knew Starbird lived in Washington State and I admire her for what she has written. The commenter wrote that Starbird was a student of divinity. I am a retired ordained minister of Divine Science and for those of you not familiar with Divine Science, it was founded by three women in the early part of the last century. There were a number of great teachers and books that were spawned by Divine Science, i.e. Dr. Joseph Murphy who authored The Power of the Subconscious Mind to name one.

I have done extensive research on the background of Mary Magdalene and Jesus, and also the Bible. I have also written articles on my research and my research uncovered a different history than what the traditional so-called authorities found. I submitted my 2nd edition of Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls to The Writers Digest competition and although I was not a winner, I was a winner - the reason being that the judge gave me a hi-5 in all five categories and had this to say in answer to questions posed:

What did you like best about this book?
"Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls is a tantalizing story depicting the discovery of ancient scrolls about Mary Magdalene and Jesus. Though it covers some of the same ground as the Da Vinci Code, the writing is infinitely better and far more believable. The heroines in the story are more realistic and the adventures described in a truer voice along with a possible time-line--something very much lacking in Dan Brown's tale. Whether the reader choose to believe what is revealed in story form or not, the book is entertaining from beginning to end."
How can the author improve this book?
"No suggestions--the author knows how to write and tell a compelling and convincing story. Hopefully the promotion for this book will be enough to make those who read the Da Vinci Code want to read the Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls."

Having received awards for Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls and Mary Magdalene, Her Legacy, I don't know if having been part of a documentary with Margaret Starbird would have benefited me. On the other hand, the book could have been made into a movie or a mini-tv series. However, I am not ruling it out as anything is possible.

RITA LEVI-MONTALCINI – A TRIBUTE
This Nobel Prize winner for Medicine in 1986, truly deserves high praise and a tribute. On April 22, 2009, she reaches the century mark of 100 years. Levi-Montalcini is still working and to quote her, "At 100, I have a mind that is superior—thanks to experience—than when I was 20." That is quite a statement and it is also encouragement for women and men to seek knowledge and expand their minds.

From her autobiography, she writes that her twin sister Paola and she were born in Turin, Italy on the 22 of April 1909 – the youngest of four children. Her father was an electrical engineer and gifted mathematician. Her mother Adela Montalcini was a talented painter. She goes on to say that she and her siblings grew up in a wonderful family atmosphere "filled with love and reciprocal devotion." Although her father had a great respect for women, he felt that his three daughters should not pursue studies that would lead to a professional career.

Levi-Montalcini writes that at age twenty she realized she could not "possibly adjust to a feminine role as conceived by my father, and asked him permission to engage in a profession career. In eight months I filled my gaps in Latin, Greek and mathematics, graduated from high school and entered medical school in Turin." In 1936 she graduated from medical school with a summa cum laude degree in Medicine and Surgery. She then enrolled in a three-year specialization in neurology and psychiatry.

One would surmise that the way was clear at that point, however in 1936 Mussolini issued the "Manifesto per la Difesa della Razza, " which was signed by ten Italian scientists. What followed were laws barring academic and professional careers to "non-
Aryan Italian citizens" – in other words, Jews. She then moved to Belgium as a guest of a neurological institute and return to Italy just before the Germans entered Belgium.

Not to be defeated in her desire to pursue her chosen career, she created a research unit in her bedroom. In her autobiography, Levi-Montalcini goes on to describe living in Italy during the bombing by Anglo-American forces and when in 1944 the Anglo-American forces forced the Germans out, she was hired as a medical doctor by the Anglo-American Headquarters, and assigned to a camp of war refugees keeping busy by epidemics of infectious diseases.

This outstanding woman continued her studies and career after the end of the war and an invitation to work with Viktor Hamburger Rita Levi-Montalcini to join him at Washington University and investigate what seemed to be substantial differences in trophic effects on embryonic sensory and motor neurons. This collaboration led to the first identification of a developmental growth factor, Nerve Growth Factor, which is essential for the differentiation and survival of many sensory and sympathetic (but not motor) neurons. This opportunity led Rita into a new direction leading to her Nobel Prize award.

In her words, "I should thank Mussolini for having declared me to be of an inferior race. This led me to the joy of working, not any more unfortunately, in university institutes, but in a bedroom. Above all, don't fear difficult moments. The best comes from them."

A HYMN TO WOMEN

The following is from the book “Jesus in India” by Nicholas Notovitch. His book was published in1854 after his trip to India. While there, Notovitch gained access to manuscripts in a Lamasery at Himis. He had journeyed there because he had heard of Saint Issa, which was their name for Jesus. Jesus was revered in India and many of his teachings were written down.

The manuscripts at Himis were only a few that had been held in other lamaseries in India and possibly in Tibet. I find it sad that these have been hidden away in lamaseries for hundreds of years and only a few of the privileged knew of them. The Christian world has been kept in ignorance that Jesus actually traveled to India and lived there for 18 years before he returned to Jerusalem. These are teachings that the world needs to be aware of. Here are his teachings about women:

“It is not good for a son to push away his mother, that he may occupy the place which belongs to her. Whoso doth not respect his mother—the most sacred being after his God—is unworthy of the name of son.

“Hearken to what I say to you: Respect woman; for in her we see the mother of the universe, and all the truth of divine creation is to come through her.

“She is the fount of everything good and beautiful, as she is also the germ of life and death. Upon her man depends in all his existence, for she is his moral and natural support in his labors.

“In pain and suffering she brings you forth; in the sweat of her brow she watches over your growth, and until her death you cause her greatest anxieties. Bless her and adore her, for she is your only friend and support on earth.

“Respect her; defend her. In so doing you will gain for yourself her love; you will find favor before God, and for her sake many sins will be remitted to you.

“Love your wives and respect them, for they will be mothers of tomorrow and later the grandmothers of a whole nation.

“Be submissive to the wife; her love ennobles man, softens his hardened heart, tames the wild beast in him and changes it to a lamb.

“Wife and mother are the priceless treasures which God has given to you. They are the most beautiful ornaments of the universe, and from them will be born all who will inhabit the world.

“Even as the Lord of Hosts separated the light from darkness, and the dry land from the waters, so does woman possess the divine gift of calling forth out of man’s evi8l nature all the good that is in him.

“Therefore I say unto you, after God, to woman must belong your best thoughts, for she is the divine temple where you will most easily obtain perfect happiness.

“Draw from this temple your moral force. There you will forget your sorrows and your failures, and recover the love necessary to aid your fellow men.

“Suffer her not to be humiliated, for by humiliating her you humiliate yourselves, and lose the sentiment of love, without which nothing can exist here on earth.
“Protect your wife, that she may protect you—you and all your household. All that you do for your mothers, your wives, for a widow, or for any other woman in distress, you will do for your God.”