Archive for October, 2009

To Plutoize

Seeds XI, 44

Seed: To Plutoize

In 1930, Clyde Tombaugh discovered the planet Pluto. For 76 years, it was considered the 9^th planet in our solar system. In 2006, however, Pluto got a demotion. It was declassified from planetary status to dwarf planet status, the second-largest after Eris.

Rev. Jesse Jennings writes of the creation of a new verb in Science of Mind Magazine. He says, “to pluto something is to dramatically and suddenly reduce it in significance.” Who knew?

I know astrologers who are up in arms about this, and I think there’s a spiritual lesson to be had here. Anybody else a zero-to-sixty reactor to events? A catastrophizer, as a friend of mine used to say? An end-gamer?

Here’s where plutoizing is helpful. Know your own tendency toward dramatics, and then call the problem—whatever it may be—a dwarf planet. How many times have you over-reacted only to sleep on it, and find that problem is far less significant than you’d originally thought?

One of my favorite astrologers, Melissa Stratton, says that Pluto is also associated with the esoteric symbol of the Phoenix Bird, that mythical creature who self-immolates, then rises triumphant, transformed into new life from its own ashes.

Plutoizing is highly recommended for a life lived in flow, harmony, serenity and elegant peace.

Be joy,

Susan Corso

Dr. Susan Corso

Seeds are remarkable gifts. Sown in consciousness, they bring you to the most important part of your being—your Divine Spark.

Check out the Seeds Archive for past messages of inspiration.

 

When you have friends you would like added to the Seeds e-mail list, send their addresses to me at susan@susancorso.com.

For spiritual nourishment, please visit my website www.susancorso.com

and my blogs Seeds for Sanctuary, God’s Dictionary,

Ode Magazine, and The Huffington Post.

Follow me on Twitter @peacecorso

Chalk It All Up to Experience

My title is a lyric from the delicious musical Legally Blonde. Elle Woods sings it after her boss makes a pass at her and she thinks he only hired her because she’s a gorgeous blonde.

Then this quote appeared on my Google page today: “Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him.” Aldous Huxley. May I paraphrase?

Experience is not what happens to a person. It is what a person does with what happens.

In my case, one of the persons involved is a woman. Me. I often rewrite quotes to suit my own gender.

I’m in the midst of a huge ouch—there’s no other way to put it. Almost a year ago, I met a young IT wizard through the good offices of my wonderful assistant. They were friends, and she recommended him highly. I hired him to do two tasks. The first was to function as my home IT person. We negotiated a rate. Done.

The second was to upgrade susancorso.com to Web 2.0, an Internet protocol that makes websites much more searchable to search engines. That was in February. Part way through the year, I mentioned that I hadn’t “seen” any of his work, and that he rarely finished any of the IT work on my home computer. He walked out of my office in a huff. Then he had a temper tantrum via email; there’s no other way to put it—he even agreed with me when I said so to him. Things devolved from there.

One of the last emails I received said, “Please do not email me again.” I went to bed mad at myself and hurt. Wakened in a worse condition. So mad I wanted to cry.

And the matter was still NOT concluded. He still owned a domain name that I needed—for which I’d paid; for some unexplained reason, he’d put it in his name. I needed it transferred and put in my name so I could use it.

We initiated the transfer and he had to change the contact info and release the domain name. I paid the $8.99 to transfer it on top of the $1,800.00 for work the young man did not do and certainly did not complete. I looked into the process to initiate a legal action. I don’t wanna.

What finally happened? He changed the contact info so I received the “do you want to transfer this domain name” email, and released it as required.

To me, the most interesting thing about this process is that the domain name is for my new website, currently under development, called ToMePeaceIs.com.

As she was leaving this morning, my sweetie said, “Use this, baby. What’s in the way of peace?” as she sailed out the door. Her question flooded me with a feeling of power.

What IS in the way of peace?

Apparently, plenty. What I can tell you is what’s not in the way any more.

A young man, allegedly a former drug addict, but still behaving like a user, who took my money and did not fulfill his side of the bargain. Karma happens, dear one. To all of us.

The coolest thing is I can use my free will .… As an act of my will, I give him the money. It wasn’t an expensive lesson. I give it to him, clear the karma completely, and bless him to his own life. This is the way of forgiveness and release a.k.a. real-ease.

Once I did that, it was easy to find a new web designer and we’re right on schedule to launch just after Thanksgiving. So thanks be to God for showing me what was in the way of ToMePeaceIs.com and please expect an announcement some day in the not-too-distant future.

P.S. This came in the day’s emails as well!

Setbacks and failures mean little or nothing in themselves. The whole meaning of any setback — or any success, for that matter — is in how we take it and what we make of it. No mistakes!

Texas, Here I Come … Home

I wrote this long before I left, but I’m posting it the morning after I returned from Edna, Texas to officiate at a wedding. I love doing weddings. It’s one of my favorite parts of being an ordained minister.

Ideally, a wedding, like this one, is a happy occasion. Sometimes, however, they’re not. Those are the painful ones where someone in the family disapproves, or someone wants to ‘speak now’ but chooses instead to hold her peace.

I have done weddings in all sorts of places on the planet. Once I officiated in a family-owned Laundromat. The bridal aisle lay between a wall of washers and a row of dryers! I’ve done a wedding on a mountaintop. In churches, in the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. In penthouse apartments, on porches, indoors, outdoors (nearly melted at one it was so hot!), dead of winter, height of summer. You name it.

This wedding is particularly sweet as these two lovebirds had a child together four years ago. I was the officiant for their baby-naming, and now four years later their friends donated the funds for me to go to Texas and marry the couple. I know plenty of the folks who will be there. It has to be a grand old time.

Anyway, it got me thinking about ceremonies and how there are so few in our lives any more, and the deeper truth of the matter is that we need ceremonies. Ceremony is the opportunity to “hold everything.” To stop. To notice. To think. To observe. The slow beginning of true ceremony invites everyone there to become present to the event.

About nine months ago, I officiated at the memorial service of a dear friend whose wedding I had also celebrated. I also christened her two children. All those ceremonies as well as our ongoing conversations made our connection particularly juicy. Ceremony is about that, too.

One of the things I always do around weddings is to make sure the bride and groom, or bride and bride, or groom and groom choose what will be said. I am doing a wedding, but they are about to embark upon a marriage. (Very different.) They should promise each other what they want to promise, not just hear the words that have been said for decades. They’re the ones who have to/get to live out those promises.

So I just spent the weekend on the way to, being in, celebrating a wedding in, and returning from Texas. My wedding anniversary is October 31^st; this year will be five years. My sweetie and I practice the Wiccan way of weddings, so we marry each year for a year and a day. On All Hallow’s, we revisit the last year, and renew our vows. So far, we’ve chosen to re-up every year. Some years our wedding anniversary conversation is six minutes; others, it’s six hours. We do our best to look at our promises to one another with Zen eyes and clean up any unfinished business from the year behind us.

I wish our Texas lovebirds a very happy marriage, and I invite you to get in touch if you’re ready to tie the knot!