"Raven Brings the Light" an Inuit story featured as the Storytime Yoga Kids Story-of-the-Month Club for December. Retold by Sydney Solis with illustrations by Andras Balogh

The sacred time is upon us. The stories call us within. The Inuit story of Raven Brings the Light takes us on a journey to align our minds, hearts and bodies with nature and the season.

Join me in bringing storytelling back to the world. Bring back our imagination and lead the people to light by telling stories. A recent article in The U.K. Guardian related endangered cultural traditions around the world. Storytelling, yes storytelling, is considered endangered. The Storytime Yoga League of Yogic Storytellers live call this month features leading a ritual celebration for your family or community to reconnect to this important art that is vital to our society. “Myths are narrative patterns that give significance to our existence,” says American psychiatrist Rollo May in his book The Cry for Myth. In these dark times, we need light-bearers of story and yoga wisdom for rebirth our world and protect our children. We need you.

Use the power of your voice and body to reconnect kids’ outer world with their inner worlds and make this holiday season magical. You don’t have to buy a thing but regardless will receive the greatest priceless treasures.

Begin your journey and subscribe to the Storytime Yoga Kids Story-of-the-Month Club and get the Yoga Story Kit that features a parent teacher guide. Learn to teach your child with your own voice in your own home through oral storytelling. Use the Kamishibai theatre cards to develop literacy and oral skills in your child, and combine it with movement and yoga for body-centered ritual family fun and health.

The public is invited to Community Day at The Good Hope School Thursday Dec. 8 in St Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Free Storytime Yoga Class with Sydney Solis featuring Raven Brings the Light, a story to celebrate the season. Art class follows, featuring shadow puppets with GHS art teacher Pedra Chaffers. 10 a.m. ages 3 and up with their parent. Younger children and siblings accepted with attentive parent. RSVP by Dec. 6. In the pavilion.

Community day at The Good Hope School Sponsored by the Storytime Yoga Children’s Mission, in memory of Frank Q. Solis. Peace to the World’s Children.

Namaste and Have a Magical Day and Season

SYDNEY SOLIS

The Goddess Lakshmi

Diwali is one of the most important festivals of India. It’s as big as Christmas, and many communities consider it their new year. Farmers of ancient times always prayed to the Goddess Lakshmi – the goddess of beauty, prosperity, good fortune and the home – after they finished the year’s harvest. They prayed for good crops and more wealth next year. Today Diwali is a festival of joy, prosperity and the triumph of light over dark, good over evil.

Most of all, it’s the festival of lights. The word “diwali” is from the Sanskrit “dipavali” which means “row of lamps.” The root word of diva is light. So the Goddess is light! The tradition calls for divas to be lit in every household to banish the dark and invite good fortune and luck. This action allows you to be like the gods, participate in creation, manifest your desires and identify with the divine! For it’s the light that shines in you brightly through the darkness – it’s your inner consciousness and light of knowledge that removes ignorance.

On Diwali celebrate with family and friends. Dress up in new clothes and jewelry. Share sweets and gifts. Draw some rangoli designs on your driveway to invite the Goddess in. Set off some fireworks. Decorate the house with flowers and light it up with candles. Come evening, make your prayers to the Goddess Lakshmi and Ganesha – the God of wisdom, good luck and the remover of obstacles from your life. Then leave the lights on all night, so that Lakshmi will feel welcome and enter your home!

This is the second year my family is celebrating this October ritual! When you participate in ritual using – the re-enactment of the myth using the body and story – you are manifesting your own fortune and luck! The big box stores now all have the tacky Christmas junk for sale, completely out of season and carrying no meaning other than consumption and profit. What meaningless foolishness! What an abomination! Ritual connects you and puts you into accord with the season – the darkening time – and creates meaning. There is nothing to be consumed or purchased but only experienced. Ritual is also an excellent way to bond with family and community and to remember what’s important in life. So celebrate Diwali and enjoy the light, luck and prosperity in your life that the Goddess bestows upon you and your family.

There are many stories associated with Diwali. My favorite has to do with the Goddess Lakshmi and a clever woman named Rohini.

The Story of Lakshmi and Rohini
Retold by Sydney Solis

A long time ago there was a King named Rawal Prithvi Singh. He had conquered many lands and became very prosperous. His city and palace of Jaiselmer were beautiful and marveled by all – a great testament of his success. However, his success made him foolish and narrow-minded.

One day a merchant came to the palace to sell the King some valuable and precious jewels. The King wanted to show off his extreme wealth. He purchased all of the glimmering jewels and diamonds, then ordered them tossed into a ditch.

This foolishness and arrogance infuriated the Goddess Lakshmi. “I’ll teach him a lesson,” she said. She cast a spell on him and led him into gambling. The King quickly lost everything. Despondent and humiliated, the King left his kingdom in poverty, along with his wife, the beautiful, intelligent and clever Rohini.

The couple ended up staying on the outskirts of the city of Patan to try their luck. Now, Rohini was not only beautiful, intelligent and clever, but a great devotee of Vishnu as well.

“There must be a spell on my husband,” she thought. “I will meditate and fast and perform pujas to break this spell and restore our prosperity.”

One day after her meditation and ritual, she stepped out of her hut and worshipped the tulsi tree. There she saw a dead snake. Just then, a bird with a necklace in its beak swooped down, dropped the necklace and snatched the snake before flying off again.

“This is a sign from God!” Rohini exclaimed.

The necklace belonged to the Queen of Patan, who was bathing in a lake and had left her necklace with her clothing on the shore when the bird took it. After bathing, the Queen was bewildered at what could have happened to her necklace and announced a reward for its return. News swept quickly through the city, and King Rawal – who was in the city at the time – heard the news as well. Upon returning home, he narrated the story to his wife.

“Oh, husband!” Rohini cried. “I am overjoyed at this news! We must go to the palace at once and explain how this necklace came to me!”

Rohini and her husband appeared before the Queen and King of Patan, told the story and returned the necklace. The Queen was overjoyed to have the necklace back and asked Rohini what kind of a reward she would like to have.

“I do not desire money nor land,” Rohini said. “All I wish is that on Diwali night, no house in the whole city, including the palace, shall be lit with lamps. Only my hut will have lamps. Those who want to light lamps may come to my hut and light them around it.”

The King and Queen were surprised by this wish, but agreed to grant it.

Diwali soon came, and the King ordered Rohini’s request. The whole Kingdom was dark. That night, The Goddess Lakshmi arrived, expecting to see the lamps lit light her way to their homes. She was surprised that all she found was blackness. Except in the distance, outside the kingdom, at Rohini’s hut – there she saw the light.

Lakshmi approached her hut, but Rohini was at the door with a stick and barred the Goddess from entering.

“Dear Goddess, please lift the spell from my husband. Promise to help get our kingdom back and grant us prosperity once again,” Rohini begged. “Then I will let you in.”

“It is done. I promise.” The Goddess said.

A large smile crept across Rohini’s face. She allowed the goddess to enter her hut, where she spent the entire night and blessed the couple.

Meditation

• Light candles and sit in meditation. Gaze at the candle flame, Focus on your breathing. Become the light.
• Place an image of Lakshmi before you and meditate on her image. Invite the beauty, joy and wealth into your life.
• Chant a mantra to Lakshmi – Om Shreem Maha Lakshmiyea Swaha.
• Meditate on the Lakshmi Ganehsa yantra.

Lakshmi Ganesh Yantra

• Sit in lotus pose, padmasana. Place your hands in downward mudra, the mudra of bestowing gifts. Feel the gifts of the goddess flowing through you and into your life. All the wealth, health, happiness you could ever need is available to you now.

More stories about Diwali

Rama and Sita. Hanuman rescuing Sita from the Demon Ravana

Another Version of Rama and Sita with a video as well.

Kali is also worshipped during Diwali.

More Activities

• Get some chalk and cover your sidewalk with Rangoli patterns.

• Get out the face paint and dress up as one of your favorite characters. BE the goddess Lakshsmi or Rohini!

• Cook up some of your favorite sweets to share.

• Discuss your “inner light.” What qualities do you have that you bring light to others? Is it your joy, cheerful smile, kind words and deeds?

• More Diwali fun!
Crossword Puzzles
Crafts”>Crafts

NAMASTE AND HAVE A MAGICAL DIWALI DAY!
SYDNEY

My son, the super chef!

I was impressed with the process he and his three other teammates had to go through. World Food Day, which was held at the University of the Virgin Islands Oct. 16, had selected three foods they were to cook with: lamb, pineapple and peppers. Children had to come up with recipes and understand the history and nutritional values of these foods. They also needed to understand how and why these foods benefit poor people. They also needed to understand and be able to articulate in front of a panel of judges these facts, as well as the economic and political reasons behind food scarcity and food insecurity. (I coached them on public speaking skills and economics for sure! Down with the banksters!)

In a nutshell, it promoted a return to local farming and sustainable communities, rather than globalized corporate controlled food products. It encouraged home gardening, resourcefulness, good nutrition and back to basics cooking. It helped kids develop their talents and speaking skills. It was a top chef competition for kids.

For my son, it was a fantastic experience. It sealed his destiny and desire to be a professional chef. He’s never been so interested in my vegetarian, healthy ways, but I think it will rub off in time. He did mention the other day, (to my surprise!) he was interested in vegetarian cooking, even though he requested as a reward after the championship to go to the supermarket and be able to buy Pepsi, processed meat, processed cheese food and Wonder Bread to make a sandwich! Having never eaten the last two in his life, I relented. Kids are such a mystery!

For me, it made me so aware of food and poverty. I continue my commitment to living locally and sustainably, which I set out with my kids over a year ago to achieve when we moved away from the Mainland US, lived in Argentina to study how they survived economic collapse, and ended up in St. Croix. I continue my fight to not live as a corporate slave of globalization and work to educate youth and my family about that. We start with our own backyard.

Tonio

Tonio has always been proud of the numerous coconut trees that he had planted years ago on the property. I have an agreement with him that he will take them down, bust them open, get the coconut out and I will make coconut milk and other food with it for all of us. I made delicious milk and used the shavings to make coconut pound cake! Delicious! And inexpensive!

One day when I was checking on the garden he shoed me the celery plant that was gorwing out of the compost and warned me to be careful not to cover it. What celery plant I wondered? A stalk that we composted was growing again. You just have to stick it in the ground and it will root again, he said. I was shocked. I had no idea. He had done the same with mangos and avocados that we composted. We have a little tree seedling farm going!

I looked in my fridge and saw a dwindled core of celery. To me, this little piece would just be compost, but it brought me to a new awareness what it is for others, billions of people, around the world. It is not trash; it is food.

Replanting celery. It will grow again!

Food is sacred. Food is live and it’s the ties to people and community. Garden and cook with your kids. Share your bounty with others. Make World Food Day every day by being mindful of your food, your life and the life of others on the planet.

Links of interest
World Food Day

Article on Food Insecurity

Spider c.ostume made from thrift store finds

When my kids were young and I had time, I loved sewing their costumes from scratch. My son was Robin Hood, a Native American or a vampire. The capes and hats and clothes were well used again in school theatre productions. Years ago after my husband died, I submitted to the steady stream of mail order catalogs and purchased costumes. But I found their quality so poor, the prices so high and the experience so alienating I decided to go back to creating our own. I vowed never to spend another dime on some poor-quality, pre-fabricated costume made by some corporate slave in Asia. Buying a costume from a catalog, which have turned into porn magazines of sexualized American little girls, is like throwing away your imagination, not to mention your hard-earned cash.

Searching the antique stores of Buenos Aires

It is far more rewarding to participate in the creation of a costume. You can cut up thrift store finds, resew them, experiment on them, throw paint on them. Only your creativity is limited! Sure, it takes time and planning to do this. But that’s the fun of it. And you get used to it. Now is the time to start! You’ll find the best stuff, and if you can’t find something, subsequent visits will turn what you need up or you can adjust your costume. I also love using my manifestation powers (and teach my kids to do the same) to attract what I need! My kids and I also love the hunt, the sheer pleasure of just seeing what turns up at these fun, funky and thrifty stores. This year

A bee in Buenos Aires costume by La Paloma

Make your own Halloween costumes by using thrift stores as your treasure chest. Your creativity, imagination, sewing and make up artist skills will flourish. It’s great a family time activity, and your wallet in these greatest depression times will thank you. The earth will also thank you for recycling and not participating in exploitive, consumer capitalism that deadens the soul, imagination and society. What a deal! Happy Halloween!

My son called me to be picked up early after school because he said he didn’t have any homework and that he wasn’t feeling well. In the car I asked him about the physical symptoms, and he said he was “all right.” It was his sister who quietly used her psychic abilities to say that a girl had broken up with him.

“No!” he said angrily.

I could feel my 13-year-old son’s sullen pain and I was in pain too! I instantly wanted to protect him, tell him that girl isn’t worth it! I also thought, uh, oh, how to deal with teen emotions! He didn’t want to talk about anything.

Back at home I gently insisted that he talk with me. “Is it about school work?” He nodded no. “Somebody in class?” “Sort of,” he said. “A bully.” “No.” “Did a girl break up with you.” That smile and blush and look away saying, “No,” made me know, from experience, that that was it. I wondered, what stupid girl wouldn’t think my son is the most handsome, sweetest, smartest kid in school? Instead of prying I said, “I understand how you may have feelings of rejection.” That gave him a sigh of relief and he seemed to open up.

“I know what it’s like to be rejected,” I said, and I began telling him stories of dates, breakups, hurts and rejection. I told him I was so shy and called ugly and never was even kissed until the tenth grade. “Boys snarled at me when I walked up to them in jr. high school!” My son laughed. “It’s true!” I told him in adulthood how a boy in college dumped me. I was crazy about him. Met him working at a Mexican restaurant in California. Then after a while, for no reason, he became mean and just dumped me. I was crushed, crying all the way back on the train home to Boulder. Then I told him a more recent story about how after his father died 8 years earlier and I started dating again three years later. A handsome Buddhist dentist from Scottsdale that I met on Match.com flew out to meet me, but after that in person meeting, flew right back, saying he just wanted to be “Friends.” I was crushed.

“But you just know there has to be something wrong with them! Not you! It wasn’t meant to be. You know in your Self that you are smart, handsome, kind, and wonderful. The right girl will come along.” I told him the story of two boys in a room. A man walked in, but didn’t even say hello or anything to either of them. The first boy thought, “He didn’t talk to me! There must be something wrong with me!” The other boy thought, “He didn’t talk to me. There must be something wrong with him!” It’s all about self-esteem, our sense of Self.

“There’s a new kid,” he shared. I was pleased that he was feeling comfortable enough to share more about what’s going on. Just recently he was the new kid, so now there is another. I told him that that’s one of the oldest stories in the book. Man takes another guy’s girl. I told him then stories of my own stupidity and mean behavior toward boys that I wasn’t aware of and now look back on and regret. There was a boy that I had liked since the fifth grade and had a huge crush on all through junior high school, and got a chance to date in college. Somehow I said something impolite about him, not being aware, and word got back. I killed my chance right there.

My son’s moon was lightened. “Thanks, Mom.” I knew by sharing my pain, I could help his. Stories are good for that. I never had to preach or just say it’s going to be OK. I just told stores that he could relate to. I had a good time laughing and remembering them too and having somebody witness my life. We really bonded as mother and son.

That’s pretty much how I teach teen yoga classes. I don’t come in with a set story or lesson plan. I sit down and ask them, “What’s going on in your life?” They will tell of the test anxiety, the stress, the mean girls, the family problems. I pull out a folktale or wisdom story from my head to tell that relates to their problem and add some yoga, breathing and meditation to the lesson. I also tell them the real stories of my teens and high school. My personal stories help me to relate on their level and they appreciate that connection. My stories expose my weakness, my flaws and it gives teens permission to make mistakes, let them know they are not alone. It let’s them know that in the end things turn out Ok and life goes on. You blaze the trail for them, so that they have a guide. Your stories are their salve and light. Do tell!