Settled !

Long time no write... But here I am, in New Mexico. settled.

I found my land, my home, my dream...

It s strange when you think of it : I planned this trip from France more than a year ago, and I had never set a foot in New Mexico before. but I fell in love with Santa Fe and the area while researching Zuni fetishes (did I say in a previous post hat it s a Zuni Fetish of a bear, bought in Colorado, in a Grand Canyon Art shop, in 1987, that lead me here ?!?), and I was pretty sure I would find my happiness somewhere on the a turquoise Trail...

Well, here I am !

I found the house I wanted, negotiated it, bought it, furnished it (economically, I am an artist, don t need that much !)

And I am now a proud New Mexican in my new land of adoption.

God, how it love it here. The sky changing all the time, with its cloud rushing away in the most peculiar forms

(Oh, here is my Bear again!)

The storms that wash the ground and make the trees sing in the wind.

The dawns and the sunsets all different (and without a trace if pollution)

The neighbours who say hello to each other on the road and stop to get the last information about the mountain lion in the area ...

The kids who can play outside, shout, jump, run, and be real kids...

Yes, I love it here. The fifth wheel trip was a great way to make sure I found the place I really wanted : I have spent time in the meadow, in the plains, in the desert... And I have chosen the mountains I fell in love wih at first glance.

And I have even a friendly visitor now, nearly every morning...

He is a bit shy, and not that much talkative,

But it s such a nice fellow

I work here, in my sunny living room, drawing or writing (did I tell you my book Lion or Liar is available in English now ? Yes I think so )

And here comes my little friend, obviously curious to know more about French immigrants - or pastel drawing, I am still not sure

My parrot (of, did I tell you that Rio, my African Grey Parrot, finally made it through the US custom and quarantine and is now there ?) has a crush on this little fellow and greets him of the nicest and softest "coucou"a French word that's part Hello part Pickaboo and that he uses to say hi...

("Coucou !")

I am settled, and I am in love with my new place. So is my son Noe, who has spent the month of July there.... 

(Yes, we do water the surroundings of the chimney before we enjoy the fire on the patio)

So, now that the house is found,

"Place au travail"

Back to work !!!

Road runner

I just saw a road runner ! I had never seen one before.

It s funny because when I was ten, my parents took me a few times to a restaurant in Geneva that was called the road runner, and I was fascinated by the drawings and pictures of this bird there.

But when i asked my mother about it, 

She told me very seriously that it was an Australian bird and that he was anyway nearly totally extinct

And I have watched for years the coyote chase the road runner in cartoons, a bit wondering why this coyote had to chase a bird down there in Australia ... But we'll, with cartoonists you just don t know,

And at that time I trusted my mother

It s only last year while preparing my trip that I realized that in fact this bird lives here. I was so happy. It has always been such a special bird to me !

I just crossed the path of one. Ooops they are fast. But what a nice, colorful, delightful bird.

I am smiling like a child :-)

By the way, do you know that pretty Apache tale about road runners - I say pretty, but in fact it s the wisest way to describe the problem we have to find good leaders : from the proud with empty heads to the dumb or even worse the clever telling good words but with bad values ... In a "child tale" everything is said 

This story is about a time when birds were still like people. The birds got together to talk. "The different clans (animals) all have leaders, but we do not," they said. "We are good for nothing. It would be good for us to choose a leader also. He could then speak for us about our activities," they said. 

So the birds selected the oriole first. They said, "His feathers are very nice." Because of his feathers they thought they wanted him to be their leader. They discussed this for some time. "Well, never mind him after all," they said. "His long clothes are pretty, but he doesn't speak very much. If he becomes our leader he might not speak well for us in the future." They put him aside. 

Then they chose the mocking bird. But they immediately said, "He is too talkative. He always speaks bad and mocks things. It would not be good for him to become our leader. He might speak even worse for us in the future." They put him aside to choose again. 

The next time they chose a bluejay. "What would it be like for us if we chose him to be the leader?" they asked. "He is also like the other one. He talks too much. It would not be good for him to speak for us. He's too stubborn, and he also brags about himself. There would be a lot of mocking." They also set him aside. 

"In that case, should it be the roadrunner?" they said. "He's good for sure. He would be fast for us in running to meetings. And he also talks well. It would be good for us if he became our leader." 

Therefore, the roadrunner became the leader. Nowadays, roadrunner is the leader of all the birds. 

Well. I am on the road, so I am just waiting for the runner !

Las Vegas !!!!!

But not the Las Vegas you think of . 

God knows I hate Las Vegas Nevada - where I have spent a few trips for the (supposedly professional ) CES (I say supposedly because I have rapidly enough understood that my fellow French Internet professional were much more into casinos, night out and ... Eh, yes, hookers, than into work down there. Exactly the kind of things you just don t want to know about your boss when you meet his wife at work often-  for myself it was more a way to get in my beloved West for some time in the desert, all expenses paid, and for some strange meeting with a coyote that I will tell you sometimes)

So we are obviously not in Las Vegas Nevada 

but 

in the much more interesting Las Vegas New Mexico - this part of West that once was a terrible territory full of fight and fury - Billy the Kid, Indian wars, miners, I think this earth has seen about anything a poor earth can see from the worst of humanity.

But today it is, viewed form the highway (hum, probably quite a superficial view, I admit that easily) a peaceful place with gorgeous mountains , ranches where horses can be seen pacing gracefully, and an interesting city where I plan to spend a few days with Noé , my son, to introduce him to the Wild West history.

We are in an rv park , still a bit tired of the trip from Pojoaque - yes I must admit that sometimes, when you hook, drive in the mountians (and there are work on roads everywhere ! What a stress when you are huge and the road is narrowed everywhere with workers near you fifth wheel on the right and holes in the road on the left !) , unhook, 

you don t feel like rushing out immediately to discover the land you have arrived in.

But we will hang in Las Vegas tomorrow, and maybe find a place to listen to some good music. I want to listen to some country music and see my son experience the "live sound" for once - in France there are nearly no place where you can listen to a live band play, apart from the huge pop stars concerts-

Want to take a French tourist and his son out for a ride ? Applications welcome, I would love to discover this place with the help of some American Cowboy or Indian...

. 

"Il est venu" - he has come

I don't paint or draw or sculptor really like what us described in books or learned in classes. Neither do I write like I have been taught to, actually.

I don t decide. I ask. And people, or animals, or characters, they accept and come. Or not.

I know I have a different way to show things - which is often a complex for me by the way, in this century of hyper realism and hyper techniques where you are supposed to make drawings that resemble a photography - or don t ressemble anything and are supposed to be then "conceptual".

I just cannot work like this, and I create a bit like, probably, most do pray - I don t pray, it s something that has been broken in me a long time ago, when I was a little girl in a Swiss Banker family where faith was considered to be dumb and ridiculous -

And even though I have a strong faith, I just can t pray like anybody even now -

So I suppose one could say I pray when I draw, paint, sculpt, or write... I give myself to what I am doing, and ask the Big All to help me and use my body to give birth to what is right now.

I suppose also that's why I am absolutely unable to draw violence, hunt, death, or even fighting. The only fact to look at such a scene takes me out of where I am able to work, for it need happiness, light, joy, or at least real strength and  beauty in what I see, for me to be able to draw it 

Sometimes it comes as a surprise , even (surtout ?) to me. In my novel "lion or liar" , one of my characters obstinately refused to say and do what I was about to write , one morning. I had written a careful and detailed plan of my book, with all my characters well defined and my plan. And this character came to me one morning, smelling fire, to tell me "something had happened I had notplanned". I was pissed of. Being forced to change all my plans because of a stubborn functionary man, I had no idea if it happened to anyone apart me ?.. But I had no choice, words did not come as long as I refused to write down what he had to say and accept the change of plans.

Turned out it changed all my plans for the mystery, he suspend, and even the murderer, 

but I soon realised my history went better after that, 

and I have learned then (it was in 96-98) to trust my creations better than myself.

this happens all the times in what I draw and sculpt. I take a picture of what I feel encounter to work, I start my work... And sometime it s not who I think I am drawing who shows up. 

One of my first sculptures that made it to a French National exhibit happened exactly like this.... I started with a cub bear photography, and worked for an hour without  getting what I saw. 

Till I got from my clay bear this message : "the cub does not want to come, he is not the one for this situation, let me stay, I am the one for you today."

And this adult  bear I had not expected went all the way to my first exhibit...

I call it the "he has come " moment ("il est venu", in French.)

The moment when the animal or the character accepts to come and to give me something of himself which is not a "work of mine" 

Sometimes it does not work : nobody wants to come. And I feel empty like a lost abalone shell.

And most of the times (always ?) it s to me a disappointment once my art is done, even if the life comes, for it s NEVER what I has envisioned, 

and to me the finished work is always a suffering (I know the word may look strong, but to me  it is,) for I always have this "betrayal of beauty I have seen" feeling.

I am not sure if taking classes in art could have eased that feeling. Maybe, when a teacher praises your work, or when you get good grades, it helps make you feel better than what you originally thought of yourself. But I did not get a chance to study art, I had to study business and politics, as my parents had decided for me....

I am now far from my International Marketing and Business MBA as you can see !

So I work on who wants to come. And now, I slowly allow my pen to go for people - something I have never done before in fact, for I am soooo anxious to "betray" my models that I have never drawn people before - you generally don t get a painful remark or worse a strong interdiction to "ever do that to me again" from a bear or a gorilla - heureusement.

But here I feel the urge to draw what I see and have never seen before. Not only the nature. Not only the animals. Not only the landscapes.

But also the people.

Those who have a link with the world I have never met in France before. The horses whisperer, the wild souls tamers, the farmers loving their land and listening to the wind in the trees like old shamans.

I have no ideas where this will take me. 

I just let the ones who want to come in my work drop in. I use photography, old pictures, what I find that makes echo to what I see here in reality. 

And I have learned this morning that Apaches did say, a century ago, that some (not all) photographers were"shadow catchers", for they were able with their photos to steal a part of the soul.

I try not to steal, but I know that when I draw someone, I enter in deep understanding of who he or she is. I feel the pains and the broken smiles, I touch the skins and the muscles created by lives. I do feel sometimes I touch a part of the soul, for when you draw, you go , curiously, under the skin.

I thank those who let me draw them and forgive my "special style"

And I go back to this world where I have to find my son, gone for a tour in the neighborhood, while I was lost in my drawings...

Snow on the mountains

This morning, in Pojoaque, surprise !

I love snow on mountains, and cannot wait to see the sun rise

My African novel 'Lion or Liar' is on sale in the US !

The mystery book I have written after my African trips, "Lion or Liar ?",
has been translated in English (it was originally in French, "bien sur')

and is now on sale in the US !

You can now buy the paper book here 

(the novel is also available in a PDF version.
And I will let you know when it will be available on Amazon and the Apple Bookstore)

LION OR LIAR ?

Tanzania, Lion River Lodge: calm and luxury in the midst of one of the most beautiful wildlife reservations in Western Africa. Some billionaires have gathered for the annual convention of their international association for the protection of nature. Everything looks promising until the young and beautiful Sophie de Marçaignac is found brutally murdered. Who killed her? And why?  

Fanny Allema, field veterinarian, finds herself forced to lead the investigation. It’s up to her to search, observe, and understand. Who is lying? Who is telling the truth? Accompany Fanny in the unexpected investigation she leads with diplomacy and humor, and discover the protected yet fragile nature of this region of Africa, its magnificent fauna, and the efforts of those trying to protect it.  

Fanny will learn- but who doesn’t know it already? - that animals are not always the wildest ones, and humans not always the most civilized ones…  

So then, who is the lion, and who is the liar?

Desert morning

Here is a little 'postcard' from the desert, this morning...

Wish you all a nice day too !...

Sunday, Noé arrives...

My son, Noé (Noah , in French) arrives this week end in Albuquerque. I am so happy to see him again, I miss him. And I am sure he is going to enjoy Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and everything we are going to do all around here. I want him to meet the real west ! 

He is a great kid. I know Nature has mothers totally blindly madly in love with their children.

(Normally ... Hi Mom)

But I am also, though I am his mother, fairly able to see him for who he is.

And he is a nice guy. 

Cannot wait to see him turn into a man and make his path in the world. 

Do you know this beautiful words of Kalil Gilbran , in The Prophet

Children

      And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children." And he said: 
      Your children are not your children. 
      They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. 
      They come through you but not from you, 
      And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you. 
      You may give them your love but not your thoughts. 
      For they have their own thoughts. 
      You may house their bodies but not their souls, 
      For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. 
      You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. 
      For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. 
      You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. 
      The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. 
      Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; 
      For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

I love these words. I had copy them down a long time ago, before even thinking of having a child. 

And these words have always been there as a guide when I had to decide about what was the best for him.

Thanks to the great writers who can help in life !

Can t wait to introduce Noé to this place I am learning to love now.

Speaking of bad karma : the special case of the RV decorator in the US

I was very serious yesterday about (almost) everything.

But don't imagine I spend all my days praying hard, on one leg, on top of each mountain I cross here, while reciting mantras.

Actually I am very much into everyday life with my dogs, my cat, my parrot (who is still waiting for his CITES certificate to be able to arrive here - US Services please wake up !) and ... my son,  Noe, who is soon to arrive here for his holidays with me ( and  who is then to decide where he will be next September for his school return - here or in France - exciting !)

I am very much also in decorating.

I know many of you consider home decorating a sort of foolish and quite dumb thing,  mainly reserved to those rich "stay at home and get bored women" who spend their days "shopping for the latest trend -
"come on, zebra cushions ? no darling, that was last fall trend, this spring you HAVE to have Toile de Jouy, of course"-

That s not really the dicorating I am interested in.

I have been a professional decorator for several years in Paris, and have even been featured in several TV shows there,

but I worked not (only) on trends and fashion in home decorating

I worked mostly for the people who were my clients :
what did they need to live happy in their place, ?
what would suit their energy ?
what would make them comfortable and secure, and put joy in their life when they got home after work ?
what did they need to spent their week end together there with happiness for each member of the family.

To me, Home is important... it s a real base for the ;ind and the body, and I just love to help people who feel at loss when it comes to make their home confortable and fun.

and working as a decorator with clients, I have seen such incredible things...

A young couple desperate to have a child, and who had hanged in their living room above their sofa a huge painting of ... beheaded babies bodies, bathing in blood in red in black !

When I ask about this huge and terrifying painting
the husband got defensive "but it s a great painting from a French painter who got a prize at the Angouleme festival".
Sure. it was expensive, ad signed of a big name

But they both fell into deep silence when I asked them this simple question
"you look at dead babies on your wall every day in your living.
How do you think it makes your brain and you body feel ?
do you really think your body can relax, and feel trusting enough to welcome a baby in this world  ?"

Always remember that what you have around you is a DIRECT message to your body and brain.

Be careful with what you hang on your walls, what you choose as souvenir and  what objects you show... they are imprinting you, so get imprinted by joy and beauty, preferably ! Get rid of everything that is not a good "vib" for you, even if it s a gift or a souvenir. If it makes you sad or angry, or if it provokes any negative feeling : sell it, give it, trash it ! but keep only what makes you feel good or happy.

I will also always remember that middle aged lady who had turned in a real hoarder after her divorce, and with whom I have spent days , helping her to figure out how to... trash things.
For she was clinging to everything, with her brain still numb with the pain of her husband suddenly leaving
(that's what happens with sudden hoarding, by the way ; I spoke in a previous post of the limbic brain, the first part of the brain to develop that can be call the brain "of survival", for it is very basic and handle poor reflexion, and mostly two emotions : fear and agressivity,
Sometimes , with a shock in life - a death, a divorce, unemployment , or simply a situation that triggers in the person a feeing she is profoundly threatened - the limbic brain "takes control", and starts to behave in a way that for his (poor) thinking is 'survival"
Remember that real thinking, lucidity, common sense are all in the neo cortex

Limbic brain functions with very basic ideas and concept : always have food, dont let anyone get him, keep everything for you may need it someday etc...

And as long as the limbic brain is in control - because the stress is so high the person feels threaten in the most profound way -
the neo cortex is "put aside" on some subjects
and the limbic system works as n "emergency captain"
making often bad decisions
but sure that it s the best way to react for "survival'

This is why real hoarders, living in impossible conditions,  just don t see clearly their situation and can be incredible self liars, even confronted to truth told by their friends or parents ... They are, on this question, "thinking" with a brain in the state of a lizard feeling threatened and hiding under things, or keeping things for later, or preventing with things people from entering etc... The neo cortex is "turned off', and it s very difficult to have a rational and clever conversation with them as long as the limbic brain has not been calmed down.

(there are several attitudes of survival of th alembic brain  hidden behind the general word of hoarding, going from the fear to miss something very often to the idea that many objects can protect for external aggression - a good therapist must  be able to get down to that  "wrong equation" in the limbic brain, which is personal to everyone, and often relate to the family and personal story

Once the equation found and the fear discovered, it can be calmed down by "cleverly" addressing it (the therapist or the friend is essential there ; in many cases, when it s a recent thing, the hoarding phase can be closed by a friend , a spouse etc simply by finding how to control the fear when it comes back, instead of letting the stress build in till the limbic brain takes control)

By identifying what exactly is felt as a threat, the helper allows the hoarder to outgrow the stress, which shuts down the Limbic 'dictature' ,  and gives back to the neo cortex its normal role , and to the "temporary hoarder' his lucidity

 it s a bit different though with long time hoarders, and I will write about that one of theses day, for in France I have spent much time working on the subject and I am working since many years on a book on (partly) that subject.

Co;ing back to  this middle aged lady,
she had spent more than two years with her curtains closed in her living room, blocking all light and view from entering through her large beautiful windows on her garden... because it was his husband who used to take care of the garden and she could not stand to see it anymore.

What a delight whn we changed everything - not buying, just changing the place of things,  discarding the old ugly or unuseful, and when we opened the curtains on a cleaned garden !

she cried of happiness to be able to live with joy in her house again !

So, you see, with my clients, I did not talk much about "zebra trend" or how they should get a sofa "in the latest grey to be trendy"

I worked a lot on what they loved, what they wanted to do in their place, how they lived together as a couple or a family,
and helped them create their OWN perfect space.

And if they liked orange, at a time fashion has decided orange was not trendy anymore,
who was I to tell them no ?
I did work with their orange things ! and we did beautiful and happy homes !

All this introduction to say I love a beautiful home, I think it s essential to create happiness and comfort, and that I have spent MANY hours choosing my rv and it's color.

But  here is my point.

There must something wrong with the rv decorating designers in the US !

Is it bad karma ? Is it profound depression ?
I have no idea but, hell

It s all brown, and black, and geometrical, and dark, and sad in fact . 

And often also of the worst taste ! As soon as you spend over 150 grands on an RV, you get the worst of a what a Depressed Designer could think of after spending a week end in an old  Suite at Las Vegas Caesars Palace :
the shiny lamps in the ceiling,
the mirrors everywhere (yes, even on the ceiling over the bed AHHHHH horror !) 

the brown wood with the velvet chairs
and of course the ugly false marble.

Eurk....

Didn t any of you, Rv Guys,  take a train to a Homedeco Show ,
at least once since 1964,
to discover that there are other colors and other textiles than THAT

(Yes, this is the REAL 2014 textile of my chairs in my trailer - that s a punishment in itself, n est ce pas!)

So, you know what I did ? 

what I always do when I get to a place that is not my taste : I changed it. 

YES change !  

Dare to change what you don't like !

I see so many people living in a color or a setting they dont like - but never daring to change it because "they are afraid to make something wrong" !

Once I worked for a family whose living room had a nice view on Paris and a chimney, but whose sofa was curiously placed facing a wall and so close to the fire they never used it for they were too warm. 

On my first visit, before even having sold anything, I asked the owners their permission to make just a slight change - and I took the sofa and moved it in the middle of the room, facing the view on Paris, with the fire at a comfortable distance on the right

the couple was aghast to realize changing their life there was as simple as that !

And the mother then asked me that strange question 

"but, are n t you obliged to put sofa against a wall ?"

And when I asked her where she got this strange rule from, it turned out that the movers had set the sofa there, and when she had asked them if they could try another way, 

they had answered firmly that

"No, a sofa MUST ALWAYS be against a wall, you know"

(trust the movers to find a good way not to spend the end of their work day trying different setting for a client who is indecisive !)

And this family had spent YEARS like that, looking at their view of Paris with their neck and condemning the chimney for being too hot at their side !

Trust me on that : you are free to do what you feel the most at ease with 

in your own house

even if you have never seen it anywhere else !

For example, because of my brocken back, I almost always draw laying on my back, on my sofa, in a strange position 

(a bit like Frieda Kahlo, whose paintings I don t really like by the way... But I do think of her when I draw with my head on my pillow and my arms strangely bent to keep my paper high over my nose!).

Well, my living room is organized accordingly. My art stuff is in the bar. 

It s MY house, and it fits my needs...

So please, do the same at home. 

If your kids do their homework in the kitchen, have their office furniture in a drawer near the table, not in their room where they never work ! 

and if you do your nails at night in front of TV, have your polish near your sofa in a nice box, not stuck in the bathroom where NO sane woman would want to spend an hour, trapped behind a closed door, to do her nails seated on a cold floor...

Organize your life and your space according to what you are ! Home fashion comes long after that !

There is a saying I like

"Clever people don t look for a beautiful place, they make a place beautiful"

I have always done that,

always bought ugly places and turned them into little paradises (for me ! maybe not your taste !)

with work - and the freedom to do what I really love even if it s not 'trendy' or 'fashionable'

Here is an example of the complete make over of a house I have lived in with my son for many years in Paris suburbs, in Sevres, 

and which I have done mostly by myself :

The master bedroom looked like this when I bought it (I had a particular crush on the red ceiling !)

and with (some) work, it became this 

(the painting on the wall is a spring cherry tree with two birds... I love to paint on walls ! Try !

and if you are not too sure of yourself with painting , put nice stickers or art on it !)

the(hell's)  kitchen was like this

and with the help of Ikea (one of my best help there for years, but I can t wait to try different US sources !) and a few things found in flea market

it became this :

Seeing the kind of light and airy feeling I like in my places, you can imagine how strange it was for me to be suddenly stuck in a brown and beige - dark wood- geometrical decoration - in my trailer !

So, I decided to work on my RV decoration, and slowly but surely to make it more like my taste.

For you know what, Dear Depressed RV Decorator , there are ways to make an rv not too feminine (for I can understand your market is family AND also guys going on week ends or doing sports, and

you obviously can t go exactly for the under there design (lets say it can only be an option among other, for a few husbands and boy friends may have a problem with it  !)

(it s not from me, I pinned it in my pinterest boards

but unfortunately the source link is broken 

I can't tell you whose work this is ... but I love it !)

But, Dear Depressed RV Decorator,

there are enough styles with joy and color in the world to make better than what you have currently in mind and impose to us, 

think native, 

think mexican, 

think patchwork, 

think 60's 

etc !!!

I assure you, you can do a bit better than what you do currently.

In my next post. 

I will show you the beginning of my trailer revamp, with a few ideas for you, if you want to change a few things in your rv or trailer too.

And I will, as long as I work on it, post regulars pictures - so you can see how it is changing

Come back soon, more images to come 

And if your living room seems boring, or a little uncomfortable to you

try a few changes

just change the furniture place, take objects from one room and put them in another

Dare !!

home decorating must be FUN, and reflect what YOU are 

( and not the latest HGTV program !)

Oh, god, I think my plumber killed me in a previous life... What do I do ?

Laugh !

We have all, with our tons of previous lives behind us,

Killed and been killed

Stole and be stolen

Injured and been injured 

etc..

The idea of Karma is NOT to hold grudge for that, 

or even worse to seek revenge on what you think you have found. 

The idea of Karma is to get through your difficulties in life knowing that MOST of them have been caused by your past behavior and decisions,

To defend yourself of course if you are attacked

But to let go of the rest.

And to make the best decision for NOW.

Karma is automatic, 

which means that if really your plumber has killed you in a previous life 

(I swear , I have met in France a young woman who was obsessed with this strange idea... And terrified by the idea he could do that again. I am not really sure this has to do with karma and I have never seen this fragile young woman again...)

he will get through his own experiencing later in his life, 

or in another, later

and in fact, it s none of your business.

In life, we have to seek justice for the current problem we meet , the real ones - not the past that is obscure and difficult to see.

Thanks to our progress in society, most of the time we can get justice through the law and judicial system of our countries (not always though, and sometimes it has to do with karma also. If you have been a sanguinary Inquisition Judge a few centuries ago in Spain, sending innocent people to death on lies in court, you will have trouble with justice for many lives, till you will have paid the whole bill for your bloody choices !)

WE NEVER HAVE TO MAKE JUSTICE FOR THE PAST.

My God, people already find enough reasons to fight each other , from "are you looking at my girl?" To "turn down your stereo" 

without adding the "you burned me in the 11th century in France" scenario

Most of us do' t get back to our previous lives, which are locked.

They are hidden deep in our souls, and just sometimes take control of our life in strange looking behaviors (to be terrified by water or fire can for example be a old life revival)

The Jewish have a nice legend about that. They say that when the soul is ready to come back to a body, it descends in a baby, and the Guardian Angel puts a finger in his mouth so he won't be able to speak and remember what he has seen up there, and in the past. 

It s the angel finger print you have under your nose, this slight groove that s so important for expression... The seal of oblivion and silence.

So don t be obsessed with the idea of past lives (what have I done, what should I do to make it better)... 

The important is NOW.

Just remember that Karma is a tool to guide your conduct for the best of who you are, 

What is done in the past is done, by you or by the others, 

and cannot be changed anymore. 

move forward. Do good now (yes, good karma exists also, and it s too often forgotten. Do good and good will get to your life one day or another. Just don t expect it soon !)

And remember ,

The decisions you take NOW are the important one.

"Just 

don t do to others what you don t want others to do to you

And do to them what you would love them to do to you"

you ll be fine.

And you vcan even keep the same plumber ...

The laws of karma - and the "Willcomeback"

I am not absolutely sure of the exact place of the Karma concept in the native US culture - 

(and I also know that "native culture" is a false and ridiculous general concept. There was not one people, one language, one religion in the North American continent when the European "discovered" (!) it, but a whole kaleidoscope of tribes and civilization. You don t live the same way when you are sedentary near the Great Lake or in the Mountians, thanks to the caverns, or when you wander on the prairie following the wind and the food for your family. )

I have no idea how Karma is explained for the Apache, for the Zunis, for the Seminoles.... 

nor do I know in which myth it is explained. 

But I do know this for sure : 

karma, this absolute rule and main logic of life on this planet, was perfectly known by the best cultures and souls of this land. 

It is written everywhere in what I read, or see , of the past history or the natives I discover everyday here, 

And in the (partly) public culture I can get access to.

"Indians" knew about karma a long time before the European arrived and disrupted all the lives there. They lived till the 15th century accordingly - at least many if them, for in any civilization you have the rebels, and the young souls, who always find ways to live differently- . 

The main way of living took in account very profoundly the idea of Karma : what you do for good comes back to you - and what you do bad too. You will live through what you have done to another one human animal and even land -

It s important to understand the fact that Karma law was known here, just as well as in India or in Tibet and other Buddhist countries, for it explains much if what I am about to explain here.

Let me tell you before I start that, yes, you may not agree with me. And even laugh at what you ll read.

I am accustomed to that, because in France , believing in Karma and in previous lives is considered like an illness touching to insanity. I have hidden my inner philosophy for years, for I knew my family (a perfectly awful, money obessed , Swiss Banker family !) was totally unable to understand it and would at best make fun of it, and at worst try to use it against me (yes, Swiss banker family means lot of money, and you cannot imagine what people like my mother, obsessed with jewels, furs, palaces and first class flight, could do to put aside her own children and keep all the money ! Money for which I don t give a s.  anyway, and which will go straight to a foundation for my project when I ll get it, for it s money made awfully dirty with hate and stupidity).

But I have travelled, a lot (you may have understood that if you have read some of my posts already)

And I have suddenly realized that in Tahilande, In Bali, in Mongolia, in Tibet,

Not only were your free to say you believe in karma and previous lives

But it was even taken in account in your everyday life without any doubt or threat of "insanity"

If you tell a Balineese "I love your country and I think I have spent some time before, probably in previous life, for everything is so familiar" , the Balineese will smile with joy and give you a happy "welcome back".

So, yes, I do believe in Karma.

In previous lives,

And I even think we are sometimes able to find previous life images and souvenirs, often for a good reason : to finish, or to correct something bad.

And I must admit I somehow knew that coming to New Mexico (where I have never set a foot before, I have never been further than Flagstaff , coming from California) was somehow a coming back... 

Now, I know...

But I am not the most interesting part of this post, frankly, I am just an example among others. 

And what I am about to explain here is much, much larger than me,

We are several voices now coming back to say the same thing "a voix haute" (speaking openly)

the "willcomeback" are arriving, many are awakening, in many places, right now.

For the tough law of karma for the American natives taken in the terrible wars of the West - either with the whites, or even between natives of different tribes fighting for the living space and their survival- is coming to an end now,

And it s the end of a long tough time for those souls,

for many of the best native souls have been taken into violence and sometimes stupidity during the Indian wars.

You know the rigor of karma : what you do to other (human or animal - man, woman or child - even to possessions when they concern survival, like food or money needed to eat or be cured) you will live too, in your current life, or another ... It depends on the weight of what you have done

If you have stolen something in this life, you will get stolen too, so you learn. And in this life probably, for minor bad karma easily returns to its owner and backlashes.

If you have killed a woman, being a man, then you will experience death as a woman later - so obviously in another life, 

and it will be longer...

And as long as your bad karma won't have been paid for, you will be in a difficult life. For karma does make your life miserable if you have a large debt to pay as long as it waits (it s how you get the less than enthusiastic souls go for their lesson ! waiting and refusing is worse than going through).

"Red Skins" perfectly knew that 

(my God, I wish I knew how the Buddhist knowledge has spread within the American continent, stopping, if I am not mistaken, near here, for Central America and South America never got that knowledge and stayed in old violent faith much longer. There is a link between here and Central Asia !)

And they have lived for centuries careful lives, 

not at peace all the times, we all know that, 

but with high values and strong commitment to the respect of life.

Till the European arrived, with their terrifying brutality - for many of us may have forgotten that, but for centuries Europe has sent the worst of her society to this country : the thiefs, the murderers, the prostitutes, the poorest, or the less useful.

"Just send them there, we need people to occupy the land, they will do..."

Can you imagine the confrontation , the shock, between this highly developed culture that was "native",

Where tough conditions of life here had led to real brain developing - you cannot be too dumb, or too violent, or too lazy, if you want to survive in such a tough environment, you have to toughten your neocortex and be "brainy"-

And suddenly this clever and (quite) peaceful civilization is brutally confronted to the worst of what Europe can produce, people who were already considered as tough in their own countries, 

fighting for survival with neither value nor faith, 

Arrived there to survive, make money, gain land

Whatever the human price.

The natives did not have a choice, and had to come to war.

Karma is a tough law, for even if you take a life for protecting yourself, there is a price to pay.

It's a smaller price however if you do it without hate, and if it s really legitimate... But it s never free, to take a life, even in these terrible conditions, 

And I know the first native confronted with this choice have done the best they could - 

fighting but staying high in value and behavior,

But it rapidly went all wrong, for they were in front of men who had no rules, no word, no pity.

And survival to the tribes had to be paid a high, very high price.

Kill, destroy, hunt,

Even the feeble ones who should not have been part of he conflict - the women, the children -

 for yes, they were used as weapons to invade the land ...

And the best souls of the tribes, they did it, they had to

But they knew the price they would have to pay for this

Live during their following lives the bad acts they had done to others during this terrible war : be reincarnated to be killed, or raped, or kidnapped,  or starved,

as a child, as a woman. 

In order to pay the karma price.

For as long as the karma price was still to be paid, they had no right, no way, to come back to this earth they loved so much, and to the souls of the ones they had loved for many generations before.

If in your warriors life, you have taken from a man his family, form a woman his husband, then you are to live the same tragedy... 

And the best warriors, the highest souls, they accepted that.

to protect their loved ones,

Even if  they had to go through tough lives afterwards.

They have fought

And for most of them consciously accepted the sacrifice

Most of them, but not all, for some of them really let themselves go to hate and anger, and terryfiying violence

And some did forget the price of karma in the midst of all the horrors the Wild West was creating every day, 

With guns

Alcohol

Racism

And pure meanness first from the whites, and then from the two parties.

For with time, the situation became even more complicated : with the karma law, a cruel cow boy "killer of Indians" for many years, once dead, was most of the times set to be reincarnated ... as an Indian. 

And with lost souls, reincarnation does not always get the soul better at the first try. 

So after years of war

There was poor souls in both camps, 

and the war becomes even more dreadfull...

It s probably what should be remembered from karma today, by the way

Don t judge by the skin, for it may be the home of all types of souls

Judge by the values, they are the only way to know who you are dealing with

And remember Sitting Bull who adopted Annie Oakley, the woman who was such a good shot and worked with him at the Buffalo Bill spectacle : this was exactly his message 

"our warrior , you recognize them from the way they behave - even has women, even as white - they belong to our world whatever they look like, if they act right..."

The old souls who have taken the heavy burden to protect their loved one are now to return...

For they have accepted terrible lives since their last life here,

In order to pay as fast as possible the price for their terrible acts

And yes, they have been women beaten or killed, children taken to camps or adults executed for nothing... 

And even their first part of life on this earth now, during the last years, have been VERY difficult, 

for they , most of the times, still had some karma to pay before being free enough to be able to really help,

And they have lost custody of their children, or been unfairly accused, or have been lied to and persecuted without cause

Just because their "mission" implied they pay as much karma as possible before coming back

And start again their life in their beloved country

With no karma debt that could threaten what they have to do here

So don t judge to easily on what you see or hear, for the best souls have really chosen (and they don t know it consciously, of course !) the most difficult path to be perfectly ready

For their coming back,

Looking for the souls of the ones they loved 

and who have either spent their previous lives there waiting for them

Or are to return also, once karma paid

I call them the "Willbeback"

Because they have sworn,sometimes centuries ago, to come back here.

BUT

Not to fight

Not for war

Not for land

Remember what the first Warrior had been told (I heard that in a Longmire episode, and I have listen to that part many times, fascinated, for it s beautiful ...

and so right) 

"The Great Spirit gives the first warrior this land, and it is beautiful, with its mountains, its blue sky, its eagles and bears, its trees

And  the first warrior says "thank you, Great Spirit, that is wonderful. I will fight to protect this land"

And the Great Spirit says " No, you have not understood. 

You do not fight for the land, but for the ones who live on it with you, and who you love : your family, your friends, your tribe"

The warriors are to come back, but they won t make war, they won't fight like they had to during these terrible years.

They will come back to love the ones they have been missing so long, 

And 

to protect the land by their : 

. Art

. Knowledge

. Wisdom

. Education

. Technology

. Example

For that, the pure souls have learned too from the last wars

You loose a war if you only fight

You win with values, ideas, strength , and knowledge

And you win by convincing the rest of the world to change

"Willbeback" will change the world from here, 

inventing cars, or sending shuttle to the sky, or telling the truth about the past life's and karma in books or movies

They will inspire and work with the weapons that are the most powerful today

. Movies

. Books

. Internet

. Technology

. Medicine

For all these old souls have also taken all theses years to LEARN

and bring back the best of what Earth has developed in their beloved country

And to the one they love there,

And who will recognize them easily

If they let go the fear

And see the soul hidden behind the different skin...

Just, if you have a minute, go to YouTube and find Sade video

Soldier of Love

And listen to her whole album.

It s all there, the story of a soul who had to fight in the "wild Wild West" , 

Then the "long hard road"

Then the "bring me home"

And "skin"

She says exactly what I say here, in her own words

For some of us have chosen as weapons nor the sword, but the words...

And skin, or gentics and DNA don't matter

It much more beautiful than this. It s a question of heart... The "safest place" (Sade) where these great warriors have kept their faith, and love, and strength.

May you find this hidden place too,

Where love shines

And never forgets

Till he finds you...