12.27.2008

quickie!

sublimefemme unbound is penned by a "high femme queer theorist, who critiques politics and culture wearing a sheer black peignor and pink marabou stilettos."

any questions?

{discovered via creative xicana's blogroll}


12.26.2008

why don't they just give her a scarlet letter?

sigh.

this speaks to so many levels of sexism, dominance, oppression, spiritual fraud and misogyny that it's difficult to even know where to begin.

if she'd committed murder, or stolen from the children's hospital, or abused an elder...ok.

but exercising her right as a grown woman in her bed and her house?

nah. you coulda handled that in the pastor's office.

michael k probably got it right: somebody's mad they got turned down...


in memoriam



the shack would like to take a moment to mark the passing of a bastion of sensuality, eartha kitt.

her talent allowed her to turn a strife and rejection filled beginning into a life brimming with elegance, glamour and class.

enjoy your rest, mama eartha. may you be welcomed in the next realm.

12.25.2008

in the waiting room...




john mayer
"slow dancing in a burning room"


It's not a silly little moment,
It's not the storm before the calm.
This is the deep and dying breath of
This love that we've been working on.

Can't seem to hold you like I want to
So I can feel you in my arms.
Nobody's gonna come and save you,
We pulled too many false alarms.

We're going down,
And you can see it too.
We're going down,
And you know that we're doomed.
My dear,
We're slow dancing in a burning room.

I was the one you always dreamed of,
You were the one I tried to draw.
How dare you say it's nothing to me?
Baby, you're the only light I ever saw.

I'll make the most of all the sadness,
You'll be a bitch because you can.
You try to hit me just to hurt me
So you leave me feeling dirty
Because you can't understand.

We're going down,
And you can see it too.
We're going down,
And you know that we're doomed.
My dear,
We're slow dancing in a burning room.

Go cry about it - why don't you?
Go cry about it - why don't you?
Go cry about it - why don't you?

My dear, we're slow dancing in a burning room,
Burning room,
Burning room,
Burning room,
Burning room.

Don't you think we oughta know by now?
Don't you think we shoulda learned somehow?
Don't you think we oughta know by now?
Don't you think we shoulda learned somehow?
Don't you think we oughta know by now?
Don't you think we shoulda learned somehow?
Don't you think we shoulda learned somehow?
Don't you think we shoulda learned somehow?
Don't you think we shoulda learned somehow?
Don't you think we shoulda learned somehow?

bliss manifestation

what it look like, y'all?

on this morning of the sun's rebirth, we wanted to offer a ritual that could be helpful in ushering in 2009. this touch of hoodoo is a good way to help maintain your bliss, or open your road to it.

bliss is a journey; it takes work to get there and stay there. it is glimpsed in moments--sometimes minutes, seconds and less-than-seconds. this glimpse is no guarantee against bad days, potholes, or stumbling blocks. but once you've held it, you know it, and you look for it in everything around you.

to begin, you will need to know the phases of the moon each month. you can use a virtual moon phase tracker or paper calendar for this. {don't forget to look for post consumer recycled paper!}

also, know that this practice tends to put some serious change in motion, so be sure you're ready for that before you begin.

new moon: write down any obstacles you feel are standing in your way. think: outdated ideas, habits, ways of being. this is not about the broad in accounting you can't stand. it's about how you might be standing in your own way. if you find it difficult to list obstacles, you may want to use the vow break* as a template.

after you've listed your obstacles, get rid of them. you can burn them, bury them, rip them up and flush them down the toilet...whatever feels permanent and releasing to you.

full moon: give thanks. that's it. express gratitude for the lifting of your obstacles--even if you feel it hasn't happened yet. be thankful the bunion on your pinky toe didn't drive you nuts when you broke in those new pumps. say a prayer of thanksgiving you already use. be grateful for the random compliment from that stranger. nothing is too large or small, as long as you're truly thankful for it.**

that's it!

if you have a sister circle or similar group, you may find it helpful to do this together to keep each other on task each month.

...oh, and give it time. this is akin to birthing, so mind the gestation period.

happy bliss crafting!


*the vow breaker is a VERY powerful mantra. be very specific and remain clear around what you're attempting to rid yourself of.

**note that some traditions reverse the cycle, purging at the full moon and giving thanks/renewing with the new.

12.24.2008

quickie!

good for canada!

can somebody show me an american health-related site with this kind of inclusivity (colleges and unitarians don't count...)?


in the waiting room...



david ryan harris
"if i had a dime"


You come to me and I hear a sound busy like traffic
Headed out of this town.
You seem to bring dear heaven so close I almost can grab it
And head on out of this town.

Chorus:
If I had a dime for every time
I thought of you, I would be through.
Scraping for crumbs behind the sun.
You would be mine if I had a dime.

You look at me and I put my faith in something the eye can’t see
Yes, I believe.
Without a sign, let's steal away
Each tempting charm to please, entice or appease.

Chorus

You’d no longer be above me on the high road that I can’t get to.
Can’t you feel me at the gateway? Let me come through.
If I had the change…
If I could trade my reverie for something real…

Chorus

You come to me and I hear a sound busy like traffic
Headed, out of this town.

12.23.2008

sexy news

typically we don't like to highlight the negative, but these two things bore mentioning this morning...

apparently turning gays straight is like saving the rainforest. really?

because that always "turns" 'em...doesn't it? lesbian gang raped in california.


the P word

ok. remember the footnote in this post about linking to porn? well, here's the long version of that. with more footnotes!!

you may have already noticed that we provide several links to other sites and blogs that contain adult material. however, linking to sex workers, erotic photography, sex toy sellers and other adult-themed bloggers is not necessarily the same as sending you to videos of folks gettin' it in.

this particular blog was conceived with the intent of being tongue-in-cheek, informative, and gynocentric. most mainstream pornography is none of those things*. it is hoped, however, that some of the content here would empower womyn and those who love them to begin or continue their exploration of their personal pleasure points--an enterprise that could most certainly be facilitated by other bloggers, personal toys, erotica, etc.

whether or not you and your partner(s) enjoy porn, some of you might agree that all the "see this brown bitch get rammed in two holes!!" stuff can be, at minimum, cringe-inducing when you're just tryin' to get to the good stuff.

we won't even delve into the near constant fetishization of colored bodies, or this will turn into a book.

similarly, erotica is explicitly sexual, but most of it is written with women in mind--often by women--whether the characters are engaging in hetero activity or not.

furthermore, many--if not most--sex workers are women. challenging the pervasive image of these women as mentally ill, chemically addicted "whores" worthy of abuse, degradation and ridicule** instead of full fledged human beings who provide a necessary and obviously lucrative service is part of the reason sex positive feminism, sexology, and similar ideologies/disciplines {not to mention this blog and others like it} exist.

when we find women who are doing this sort of work--particularly when they have transitioned from the "unacceptable" {e.g., porn} to the acceptable {research, advanced degrees, etc}--we think it's important to link to them as a means of disbelieving the hype***.

so, to summarize, we don't link to explicit, hardcore pornography out of respect for those queens who may be offended by the general, mainstream portrayals of women in that genre. if you love it, keep on loving it. you just won't find it here.

{google is your friend! there are also LOTS of free porn blogs on blogger...but you didn't hear that from us...}

feel free to weigh in on the comments section...remember that we love it when you read, but we simply go to pieces when you talk to us!


*well, maybe tongue-in-cheek. the "acting" can be downright hilarious. no one believes it. i mean, really. let's not even get started on some of the extended rap videos certain "urban" smut directors are aiming for these days...

**that is not to say that prostitution motivated by addiction and mental illness is not problematic, but we'd do well to examine the issues behind why these women are addicted/ill and not simply focus on how they support--and i use that term very loosely in comparison to, say, call girls, porn actors and exotic dancers--themselves. it's layered, complicated, and messy, and binary thinking gets us nowhere.

***see annie sprinkle's brilliant whores are my heroes. darkdaughta is another blogger who has some great writing around sex work and related issues here and here. furthermore, sexology may sound funny, but why shouldn't we study the ways we love and enjoy each other? isn't that how we all get here?


in the waiting room...



black star
"respiration"


[spanish speaking woman] escuchela.. la ciudad respirando
(translation of spanish: listen to it.. the city breathing)

[spanish speaking woman] escuchela..

[mos def]
The new moon rode high in the crown of the metropolis
Shinin, like who on top of this?
People was tusslin, arguin and bustlin
Gangstaz of gotham hardcore hustlin
I'm wrestlin with words and ideas
My ears is picky, seekin what will transmit
The scribes can apply to transcript, yo
This ain't no time where the usual is suitable
Tonight alive, let's describe the inscrutable
The indisputable, we new york the narcotic
Strength in metal and fiber optics
Where mercenaries is paid to trade hot stock tips
For profits, thirsty criminals take pockets
Hard knuckles on the second hands of workin class watches
Skyscrapers is colossus, the cost of living
Is preposterous, stay alive, you play or die, no options
No batman and robin, can't tell between
The cops and the robbers, they both partners, they all heartless
With no conscience, back streets stay darkened
Where unbeliever hearts stay hardened
My eagle talons stay sharpened, like city lights stay throbbin
You either make a way or stay sobbin, the shiny apple
Is bruised but sweet and if you choose to eat
You could lose your teeth, many crews retreat
Nightly news repeat, who got shot down and locked down
Spotlight to savages, nasdaq averages
My narrative, rose to explain this existence
Amidst the harbor lights which remain in the distance

So much on my mind that I can't recline
Blastin holes in the night til she bled sunshine
Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline
Heard the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
I can't take it y'all, I can feel the city breathin
Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening
Sigh before we die like the last train leaving

[talib kweli]
Breathin in deep city breaths, sittin on shitty steps
We stoop to new lows, hell froze the night the city slept
The beast crept through concrete jungles
Communicatin with one another
And ghetto birds where waters fall
From the hydrants to the gutters
The beast walk the beats, but the beats we be makin
You on the wrong side of the track, lookin visibly shaken
Taken them plungers, plungin to death that's painted by the numbers
With crime unapplied pressure, cats is playin god
But havin children by a lesser baby mother but fuck it
We played against each other like puppets, swearin you got pull
When the only pull you got is the wool over your eyes
Gettin knowledge in jail like a blessing in disguise
Look in the skies for god, what you see besides the smog
Is broken dreams flying away on the wings of the obscene
Thoughts that people put in the air
Places where you could get murdered over a glare
But everything is fair
It's a paradox we call reality
So keepin it real will make you casualty of abnormal normality
Killers born naturally like, mickey and mallory
Not knowing the ways'll get you capped like an nba salary
Some cats be emceeing to illustrate what we be seeing
Hard to be a spiritual being when shit is shakin what you believe in
For trees to grow in brooklyn, seeds need to be planted
I'm asking if y'all feel me and the crowd left me stranded
My blood pressure boiled and rose, cause new york niggaz
Actin spoiled at shows, to the winners the spoils go
I take the l, transfer to the 2, head to the gates
New york life type trife the roman empire state

[mos def and crew]
So much on my mind I just can't recline
Blastin holes in the night til she bled sunshine
Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline
Yo don't the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
I can't take it y'all, I can feel the city breathin
Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening
Sigh before we die like the last train leaving

[common]
Yo...on the amen, corner I stood lookin at my former hood
Felt the spirit in the wind, knew my friend was gone for good
Threw dirt on the casket, the hurt, I couldn't mask it
Mixin down emotions, struggle I hadn't mastered
I choreograph seven steps to heaven
And hell, waiting to exhale and make the bread leavened
Veteran of a cold war it's chica-i-go for
What I know or, what's known
So some days I take the bus home, just to touch home
From the crib I spend months gone
Sat by the window with a clutched dome listenin to shorties cuss long
Young girls with weak minds, but they butt strong
Tried to call, or at least beep the lord, but didn't have a touch-tone
It's a dog-eat-dog world, you gotta mush on
Some of this land I must own
Outta the city, they want us gone
Tearin down the 'jects creatin plush homes
My circumstance is between cabrini and love jones
Surrounded by hate, yet I love home
Ask my God how he thought travellin the world sound
Found it hard to imagine he hadn't been past downtown
It's deep, I heard the city breathe in it's sleep
Of reality I touch, but for me it's hard to keep
Deep, I heard my man breathe in his sleep
Of reality I touch, but for me it's hard to keep

[mos def and crew]
So much on my mind I just can't recline
Blastin holes in the night til she bled sunshine
Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline
Yo how the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
I can't take it y'all, I can feel the city breathing
Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening
Kiss the ides goodbye, I'm on the last train leaving

12.22.2008

know thyself

today we felt compelled to share this beautiful discourse on love by ms. b.l.u of organik b.l.u.

this was originally posted on myspace, but you can also find this collective and its creatrix at organikblu.com or join their ning network.

~*~~*~*~~*~*~~*~*~~*~*~~*~*~~*~*~~*~*~~*~*~~*~*~~*~*~~*~*~~*~*~

You cannot fully experience love in this life until you know what love is. To "Know Thyself" means to know it at every level, not just your physical and emotional levels. From this foundation you can then truly begin your journey towards a fulfilling relationship with one or many souls.

Every single one of you is a perfect being of love within. We are equal and loving beings who hold the potential to share this love with anyone we so choose. This being understood, let's erase a universal mistake in human thinking: "To have love, we must find love." There is no finding love, only expressing love! To find love suggests we are currently without it, and this is impossible for we are light beings, which are all love.

Let me give you an example of this. We all wake up from time to time and feel happiness or joy at the world (some people feel this all the time, and some once in a lifetime). We bounce out of bed and greet people with more love expressed. Now, we really know the world certainly did not grow more beautiful overnight! What happened is you allowing yourself to let your love flow from within. That is all.

Two or more people do not create love, only express it, depending on their own ability to let love flow from within themselves. You cannot create what already exists in its entirety. What appears to be created is really just two people sharing what is already within themselves and the end result is called a relationship. Ịf one is unable to feel love, it is because he or she is blocking what is within them. Then they mistakenly blame the other person for not being lovable or for creating this block.

The highest mind shares their inner love and takes responsibility for their own inability to feel that love. Do not confuse unlovable behavior with your own inability to express love. The people around you are always doing unloving behavior for they are not aware of their own inner love to some degree. This is why we were given the ability to have children. For this was as close as many of us would get to dealing with unlovable behavior (not following rules, outbursts, unreasonable behavior, etc.) and still expressing love! We could start to see what the expressing of unconditional love looked like. But you create this same situation in a relationship between adults, and bam, the "love" is seemingly gone. It is never gone, just utterly repressed and blocked. We were also given Spiritual Masters in order to observe their unfettered expression of love: Christ and Buddha are two examples. Their ability simply came from seeing all of us as "children" of God. While they may not love our behavior, they never stop loving us. This is Christ Consciousness love.

The reason that the term soul mate is skewed in concept is that people think they can only feel that love with one special person. In fact, they go through life looking for this soul mate and often end it in grave disappointment and reflect this disappointment with less than loving behavior towards their current mate. If we were unfettered with all of our veils, we could love completely anyone. When I go out in public, I do not say, "I will not treat this person with love because they are not my friend, family, or lover." I treat them with the same respect and love as I would my dearest friend, for underneath it all, and at the highest level, they are.

If we were to speak of something that feels like a soul mate love, or a split apart, it is generally this: People can spend many lives and dimensions together by choice. Through these lives they start to resonate more closely with each other. A history is created, and deeply seated emotions are built. Each subsequent life, their ties grow stronger and their desire to be with each other builds and it subconsciously returns. Because what we resonate with we attract, we inevitably will be thrown into each other's paths on this plane. Best friends, extremely close siblings, and yes, even your closest lover, are often these people. I refer to these people as being from the same "soul group." Clusters of souls that resonate with each other, and seek their own company over and over. And within these soul groups can be the closest thing to a soul mate, which is two souls holding the highest desire to express their inner love with each other. You could say this is a soul group within a soul group.

I am speaking ideals here. This is what I, and all of us, hope to aspire to. Do I make mistakes? Or course, and I still do in abundance. But I keep these ideals in my heart and strive for them daily. I am constantly adjusting myself to reflect my higher self. I like to say I'm a Work In Progress! I do get to witness the success of this every so often. I have this girlfriend by the name of Trina that was and is in my soul group. The moment we met, we resonated like I had never resonated with a human being. We chose to be together in every way, including working in the same office at Microsoft for three years! I loved her with no conditions and no blocks. No matter what she said, did or didn't do in our relationship, I loved her. Because of her own blocks and feelings of guilt, she withdrew from much of her circle of acquaintances (including me) and I have not seen her in years. My friends always ask why I keep her picture around the house for she has abandoned me, but I tell them that I love her without conditions. It doesn't matter what she does, only that I love her. Now, while she has shut me out on a physical level, she cannot do this on a subtle level. Her awareness is not yet developed, but mine is. I see her all the time in the higher planes and we talk for hours and she tells me what she is doing. Our desire to be together, as a soul group member, supersedes any conscious block that she has created. And when I come back from a visit with her, I will hear through the grapevine exactly what she was telling me personally in these other places. So you see, her love is always there, but her ability to let it flow became restricted. And yes, I may never see her again in this life, but I know for sure we will in the next....

So remember, you are a being of light comprised of love. To know love is to know thyself. If you seek outside of yourself, it should be to share, not to find.


alternative solstice celebrations/meditations

light and love, y'all.

we know our readers walk a myriad of paths, worship in all forms and fashions, and love abundantly. so why just be confined to carols and egg nog--not to mention the deadly black friday crowds--when you can enjoy a variety of solstice celebrations?

our good friend at incredible juju cited some interesting reflections on this year's solstice.

the wonderful women of casa atabex ache have also offered some lovely alternatives:

Convey love to family, friends, and everyone in your world, feasting together and exchanging home made presents. Continue this custom by visiting, entertaining, giving gifts, and sending greetings by mail and/or phone. Consider those who are and/or have been important in your life and share appreciation.

Reclaim the holidays, celebrate life. Honor the Goddess as Great Mother. Place Mother Goddess images around your home. You may also want to include one with a Sun child, such as Isis with Horus. Goddess forms traditionally linked with this time of year include Atabex  (Puerto Rico, mother of creation), Yemaya,(African goddess of home, fertility, love, family and the New Year), Tonantzin (Native Mexican corn mother), Holda (Teutonic earth goddess of good fortune), Bona Dea (Roman women's goddess of abundance and prophecy), Ops (Roman goddess of plenty), Au Set/Isis (Egyptian/multicultural All Goddess whose worship continued in Christian times under the name Mary), Lucina/St. Lucy (Roman/Swedish goddess/saint of light), and Befana (Italian Witch who gives gifts to children at this season).

Honor the new solar year with light. Do a Solstice Eve ritual in which you meditate in darkness and then welcome the birth of the sun by lighting candles and singing chants and women power songs. If you have a indoor fireplace or an outdoor fire circle, burn an oak log as a Yule log and save a bit to start next year's fire. Decorate the inside and/or outside of your home with electric colored lights. Because of the popularity of five pointed stars as holiday symbols, this is a good time to display a pentagram of blue or white lights.

Contribute to the manifestation of more wellness on Planet Earth. Donate food and clothing to poor in your area. Volunteer time at a social service agency. Put up bird feeders and keep them filled throughout the winter to supplement the diets of wild birds. Donate funds and items to non-profit groups, such as women healing spaces and environmental organizations. Meditate for world peace. Work magic for a healthier planet. Make a pledge to do some form of good works in the new solar year.


for you history honeys out there, here are a few links discussing the origin of christmas, from the christian, pagan, and scholarly points of view.

however you choose to celebrate this time of year, may the season and the new year bring you peace, joy, and all your heart's desires.

in bliss,

your devoted proprietress


12.21.2008

you are normal*. really. we mean it.

note: this blog links to sites containing explicit nudity of the female form and other adult material. click responsibly.

while doing some general web surfing, your devoted proprietress came across sexy labia.com, which contains an article detailing why playboy does not use models with "protruding" labia.

that might also explain why you don't see a lot of non-european women modeling for them, no?

also, while visiting the luminous goddess glory, anti-bra.com was discovered. unfortunately it appears that the pages are no longer updated, but if you've had issues with bras in the past {or have them now}, it's a good place to start researching alternatives.

even your loving author would have thought her girls were horribly droopy and non-compliant had she not been exposed to national geographic at an early age and realized she actually had african-looking breasts. who'd have thought it?

the details surrounding female infantilization and how we're taught what's "normal" for our bodies--not the least of which involves hairless yonis, perfectly taut boobs and safely tucked labia--would take weeks to unravel.

please know that whatever you have, you are normal because your body is your gift. if you're a C on one side and a B on the other and wanna get that dealt with, by all means, do so. just make sure you do it for YOU.

plus, you're grown. barring a bout of alopecia, you're supposed to have hair down there. if you prefer your gateway to heaven bald as a newborn's bottom, go for it. but if you don't and somebody wants to give you hell for it, tell 'em to go find a new one.

and, if all that wasn't enough, go watch some amateur movies**. that oughta teach ya.


*whatever that means...

**google it yourself! {there's plenty out there...}

due to the differing schools of thought on pornography--amateur and pro--we made an executive decision not to link to explicitly pornographic sites from this blog. hm. that sounds like another post...