Hello All, Today I have been thinking about changes, well more like this week I have been. Today I left a group I dearly love and have for a long time because we both have changed and the fit wasn't comfortable anymore. It has been a while coming but it still made me want to cry when it happened. I know some are going to be hurt by my leaving but I hope they understand why I had to do so. A friend has also decided I need to learn the tarot so is teaching me. Maybe this time I will get them because I have tried a number of times in the past and nope it wasn't happening. I'm learning a card per day so we will see. The interesting part is each day's card does reflect on the day. Real rain has finally come to my corner of Iowa, the little bit we have had in the past weeks hasn't been nearly enough. Yesterday we finally had a good soaking rain. My herbs shot up another several inches and the garden is a lot greener. (Or at least my section of it.) Anyway I guess that is it for now. Until next time, Sheila K. Watkins Editor: Whispers of a Stone Circle See last page of this newsletter for submission guidelines, forwarding guidelines, where you can subscribe to Whispers and copyright information. ~*~*~*~ "Stone Walls" By Stonne Wall pressing in or are the holding out? Those nightmarish dreams of reality, Those things that torture the soul of what is, Those things that tell us what. What is, What shall be, What to be, Who we are, Or what they think is right. Are they shelter? Or a prison, Holding us as an image. That image of what is moral, What they say is right. Those things that tell us what. What is, What shall be, What to be, Who we are, Or what they think is right. We are each bound by them, Those walls, They hold us all, Those walls, They hold us, but some not so firm, Those things that tell us what. What is, What shall be, What to be, Who we are, Or what they think is right. Some of us dare to dream, To go against what is, Against what? Those stone walls We reach out past it now and again, Those of us that don't give in, Not to be held by what. Not listening to naught. We are those that don't conform, We are those that others scorn. Why you may ask, do they? They are yet bound by the what, The how and the way, By the stone walls that hold, Which they think protect. What is, What shall be, We are who we are. ~*~*~*~ Cool Link(s) of the week: American Folklore http://www.americanfolklore.net/ "contains retellings of American folktales, Native American myths and legends, Tall Tales, weather folklore and ghost stories from each of the 50 states." ~*~*~*~ Meditation: air By Sheila K. Watkins As always dress in a comfortable manner and find a comfortable place to sit. Close your eyes and run through the colors, seeing each one as you do so. It doesn't matter how long you see them but make sure you do see them. Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Violet or purple See yourself step out of the purple and into a hallway. Start walking down it partway down you notice pillars are part of the wall. You could them starting at 19 and working your way down. 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 At one, the hallway opens up to an open area. As you step, out you feel the wind caress your skin. Smell the scents it carries on its breath, your eyes close as you hold out your arms and feel it. Listen quietly, is the wind whispering any words to you? If so what are they? Spend some time listening and learning what the wind and the air have to teach you. When it is time turn to head back Enter the hall and start counting the pillars 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Continue walking up the hallway and enter the purple (or violet) light. See the colors once more. Purple Blue Green Yellow Orange Red As the red fades away open your eyes and you are back.awake. ~*~*~*~ Announcement(s): Poetry challenge: At any rate, I think the entries are wonderful this time, but we still need more of them. Give it a try! The next working title is "Pictures". The next contest will begin as April 4, 2002 and will end on the 20th of April. We'll do a slight overlap in timing this time around. I'll have the next title for you on April 15th for the poem to be finished by the 30th. Remember, this is all just for fun. Rules: The challenge begins upon your receipt of this newsletter. You have until April 20, 2002 to send your work back to Kate at her email, which is madrigel@avalon.net. Please contact Kate if you have any questions. You may not show your work to anyone until after the challenge date has passed. (In other words, not until April 21, 2002.). All authors retain their copyright of their work. Its only publication will be among the contest participants. Any further publication of your works may occur after the challenge date only, and only by each individual poet's choice. (Editor's note: I reserve the right to beg for the poems to be submitted to this newsletter.) There you have it.... Regards, Kate ~*~*~*~ Writer's Biographies: Stonne is from Oklahoma City and is a part time poet who enjoys cars of all types and watching his son play baseball. Sheila K. Watkins knew from the time she was 15 that she wanted to be a writer but did not really start writing until she entered college where she worked on her college newspaper and also worked as the editor of the feature section for one semester. She was also introduced to the love of writing poetry at this time. Fortunately for all of us most of the poems have been lost to the world of men. After college she worked several jobs during the next few years but none included writing. It wasn't until after both of her children had started school in 1998 that she went back to her love of putting words on a computer screen. Her first submission was accepted by publication by the IOWAN newsletter and it started her on the path of truly honing her work. In October of 2000, she founded and became editor of Whispers of a Stone Circle. ~*~*~*~ Submissions are always welcomed and can be made to: Zeliziw@netins.net In submitting materials writers are agreeing that if accepted I may post them in the newsletter and on the web page (whenever I finally get back to work on it.) Works submitted must be the writer's own work and they must still retain the copyright OR it must be verifiably public domain. Works can have been published before but please nothing that has been around over and over again. Copyright remains in the author's possession. The Author also realizes that they will not be paid. (If I had money I would be hosting this on something other then Yahoo.) If a submission is accepted, I will check for punctuation, capitalization and spelling in submitted articles. I will fix minor errors if they are present. I will NOT reword things (except for an occasional "an" for "a" and vice versa.) Poems are published as submitted. Forwarding information: If you chose to forward this newsletter, do so in its entirety, including copyright and contact information. People may subscribe to Whispers of A Stone Circle at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WhispersOfAStoneCircle/ All articles, poems, etc, except where noted are copyrighted by the writers and are used with permission. They are not to be republished without the express permission of the writers. Contact information may be obtained by contacting the editor of Whispers of A Stone Circle at Zeliziw@netins.net Copyright (c) 2002 Sheila K. Watson. All Rights Reserved