Linda Cohen's Luminous Lotus Blog

Thursday, October 27, 2011

New Moon Reflections on Turkish Delights

Photo by Linda Cohen


New Moon Reflections on 10/2011 Travels to Turkey Istanbul, Ephesus, Bodrum, Kas, Antalya…Istanbul ~~~Home…

Temple Cherry 6:09 am New Moon in Scorpio Wednesday 10/27, 2011

-Excerpt from travel diary…Bodrum, Turkey, El Vino Hotel 10/17/2011 ~~

I’ve had more quick changes in Turkey then anywhere in a long time, maybe since Miami in the early 90s…
It looks one way

Then a nano-second later…

It’s all completely changed

In a fashion

You wouldn’t have imagined.

Pounding rain sheets, startling sun -
Boggle-eyed fish wriggling in nearby quays

That most likely you’ll have for dinner. Gladly!

Wonders of color and whimsy,

Everywhere laughter mixes

With soul-deep calls to prayer. Islam…

A gentle Islam, of which Abraham, Moses and Jesus

Were among the prophets leading up to Mohammad. 6th C AD
A luscious fertile land whose

Human history goes far far far back~~

Where The Great Mother Goddess

Cared and cares for Her whole Creation.


Traveling in Turkey was wonderful not just because there is so much history, culture and “native” color …. Sixteen million people live in sprawling Istanbul. Ahhh the twisting winding impossible to follow labyrinths of the ancient Grand Bazaar (oldest market in the world), The Spice Market’s twinkling neon bubble-pinks, fuchsias, aquas, golds and rainbows of streaming light enhancing every corner where every manner of fresh intoxicating spices – many golden grades of precious saffron! – sing out of their sweet and pungent natures. Richly textured and brightly colorful clothing, unusual musical instruments, sumptuous woven goods, sexy belly dance attire, exotic teas and herbs, and the ubiquitous Turkish Delight treats… Vendors enticing all with offers of Turkish coffee and “special” teas who want to bargain with you as much as to sell! The haunting calls to prayer countrywide five times a day starting at 6am (can you believe this early siren was music to my ears!), inviting believers to the magnificent mosques, 246 in Istanbul alone, to take spiritual time-outs and be part of a living breathing holy sea of peaceful worshippers…. the radiantly clear essence of the Mediterranean Sea (of course there is The Black Sea to the North and the Aegean and The Sea of Marmara and the delicious Bosphorus Straight with its bustling Golden Horn Harbor flowing through and connecting Istanbul’s European and Asian land masses). In Istanbul, one can lunch in Europe – amid hookah smoking celebrants and kababs - and Asia, an hour later, for an afternoon tea, the country’s national drink! MMMMMMMMmmm there are the handsome, friendly, vibrant Turkish people, the marvelous diversity each new day offers, the cosmicality of such a fragrant babbling international crossroads. The joy of life sizzles! Amid blooming hibiscus and wild flowers and massive friendly olive groves. There is the endless delicious licoricey Raki to drink and tickle you warm inside, golden and black sunshine-filled fresh figs and honey, the hustle, the street raps, the elegant come-ons (“Come into my carpet shop lovely beautiful lady, I would love to offer you tea, love to make fresh fish for your dinner tonight, please allow me to cook for you.”), the pure mystery and far back to time’s beginning history, the strength of the dollar to the lira, the incredible music spots and fish eateries of the Taxim district. There is the underbelly of a middle eastern rhythm and flow to carry you from day to night to day… to new dreams within you and ten thousand more details that paint beautifully unique soulful scapes…not only this and more….

BUT also because travel challenges one/me, opens me up like a curious iridescent pink and orange topaz or sapphire pupil of life, and allows me to truly be in the present, in the sweet tangle of the day’s and night’s foreign details along with the perfect freedom to flow solo or connect…There is the visceral missing of my loved ones allowing me to appreciate “home” that much more. There is the pride in “achieving” proficiency in maneuvering through the strange and healing connections – so long sought for - of a far off face of Mother Earth brought near….tides of personal longing fulfilled in being a cosmic traveler… To soak up what I can of it all and give back a thousand percent of who I am and am becoming…til I’m filled up with the give and take, the sun and moon, silver and gold, the yummy unpredictability of journeying…learning to be more adept and independent as a planetary citizen.

There are events, places and people I shall remember always, thank Goddess. The beautifully painted wooden dolls “hiding” five babies of exact likeness inside to be discovered one by one which I brought home for Bee and my mom. Most impressionably, on me of course, remarkable Ephesus, the main reason for my journey…inhabited some say since 20,000 BC, but within recorded history since the Amazons in 6,000 BC. Home to one of the world’s seven ancient wonders, the now much ravaged Temple of Artemis (come from Cybele an “earlier” goddess). The most amazing ancient city ruins one might conjure up in a lucid dream. Home to the final home of Mother Mary, brought to Efe from Jerusalem by Saint John the Divine, to protect her in a rapidly changing and violent beginning to a new age, Piscean. The wall of multi-colored wishes written and attached by travelers to this mystic site of Mary’s house for her blessings and divine interventions….My new glorious Scorpio Sister, Ilke, more goddess in every aspect, one could ever know…running her marble-tiled Sultan Park villa on the distant and beautiful peninsula of Kas…. Sultan Park, with its roosters, chickens, turtles, laughing English schoolmates on vacation playing all-day water games in the massive sparkling sapphire sea-salt water pool overlooking the most azurite private beach I have encountered anywhere! and adorned with every manner of goddess bloom and olive branch. There is the marvelous old town section of Antalya in the south where one can traverse the narrow chaotic streets to arrive at a “hidden” private beach with jovial terraced restaurant overlook to satisfy tastes galore. And more. Much more.

I won’t forget Jackie, my plane-mate home to the states. I’d run out of Advil and asked if she’d any. “No. But would you like a couple of Percosets?” Would I!
And knowing I will return to Istanbul to the exotic Taxim district and blue mosques and Egyptian obelisks and serpent columns and street vendors selling fresh hot grilled corn on the cob and roasted chestnuts. And of course to The Sultan Park and Ilke…to celebrate life and love. And to revisit Ephesus, where I felt stirrings of the Goddess as rich as ever.
Tesekkurler Turkey! Thank you Anatolia.

I carried with me only a few essences: FES Dogwood for grace of body, mind and Spirit. Alaskan Chalice Well for the support of all Nature. Pretty Face to feed my inner and outer beauty and one large bottle of Five Flower formula which I gave to Tyson, a marvelously strong and handsome Turk on military “assignment” from Australia, sitting next to me, on the other side from Jackie, who got fretfully plane sick and was instantly soothed by the essence…which he gratefully accepted as a gift to carry with him. I also carried Kate’s Magic Isis and Rebirth oil along with Blue Lotus oil from Thailand, exquisitely exotic and healing
I did, more than in the past, use my healing crystals…especially Tibetan Quartz and Apache Tears for staving negativity, Serpentine for Kundalini energy support and opening and Malachite for protection, vibrant life energy and inspiring love within through emotional balance.

Affirm:
I’m doing it! I am here, present.


Photo by Linda Cohen

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